Are you looking for a great earth-friendly gift for your friends and family? Well a backpack made out of juice pouches, or a wallet made out of candy wrappers would be perfect for this holiday season. Lucky for you, TerraCycle makes those kind of products. TerraCycle is a company that diverts trash from landfills and creates new products out of it. Terra means earth, so TerraCycle is earth-cycling. TerraCyclewas founded in 2006 by Tom Szaky, 29. It all started in college when Tom and his friends started feeding the leftovers from their cafeteria to worms, and selling liquid worm poop in used bottles at hardware stores. Since then, they have grown to become "one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world." In only three years, more than 20 million people are helping to collect trash in more than 70 thousand worldwide locations. In 2006, Inc. Magazine named TerraCycle "The Coolest Little Start-Up in America!"

Saintly Recyclers mail in their trash. Terracycle.net will recycle (usually postage is free) and donate to charity your candy wrappers, yogurt cups, drink pouches, cookie wrappers, Flavia Freshpacks, Frito-Lay chip bags, energy and granola bar wrappers, Bear Naked wrappers, Kashi packages, cell phones, Huggies and Scott tissue wrappers, Aveno tubes, Scotch tape dispensers, corks, cereal bags, Sharpies and Papermate writing instruments, Neosporin tubes, coffee bags, lunch kits (like Lunchables), Colgate tubes and packaging, Ziploc bags and containers, Inkjet cartridges, and Sprout and Revolutions food containers. Preserveproducts.com recycles your No. 5 plastics (same company that has the receptacles at Whole Foods) and water filters into toothbrushes and razors.

The items will be recycled by Terra Cycle when goals are reached and the program is aiming at collecting more than 500 items from each category each month. Following is the list of items which can be dropped off: Mars or Wrigley brand candy bar wrappers; energy bar wrappers; drink pouches; Nabisco cookie wrappers; Kashi brand wrappers or boxes; toasted chip bags; Bear Naked brand wrappers; wine bottle corks; Aveeno product tubes; Scotch tape dispensers and cores; Frito Lay chip bags; Malt-O-Meal cereal bags or boxes; Elmer's glue; Huggie's brand diaper or pull-up bag packaging; Scott's brand packaging; Neosporin brand packaging; lunchable kits; spread (butter) containers; gum wrappers; cell phones; Colgate brand packaging; yogurt cups; writing instruments; Starbucks coffee bags; plastic bottle lids; and used gift cards

Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  is always coming up  with fun and cool ways to recycle, but they also have come up with a way  (actually 6 ways) Moms can go green, reduce waste at home, AND raise  money for their kids school and/or favorite charity. Terracycle realizes  Moms have enough things to think about without wondering how to reduce  the amount of waste leaving their home and heading to the local  landfill. So they have come up with six new Brigades (read as free  collection programs!) to make it easier than ever for parents to  eliminate waste from their home while raising money for a school or  charity of their choice. All you  need to do is collect and send in the  packaging you discard every day, TerraCycle pays the postage and  contributes two cents per unit of waste returned! Participating Products  include Colgate, Ziploc, Country Crock, Neosporin, Aveeno and Many Many  More!

Another Recycling day is planned by Girl Scout Troop 3263 for September 11 at Market Square in South Hill.   New items have been added to the recycling collection and the Recycle campaign will include collecting several different items (all trash) to help raise money and awareness for recycling and they have found a company that will pay us for our trash or you can drop it off at Airtec in South Hill.  Some of the young ladies are earning awards with this project.  Several of the items that we will be collecting are: Ink jet and toner cartridges, Newspapers, Magazines, And paper, Used drink pouches (ex Capri Sun), candy wrappers, chip bags, cookie wrapper, Gum Packages, Cell Phones, Scott Toilet Paper wrappers, Kashi Packages, Used Neosporin tubes, Huggies Diaper wrappers, Malt-o-Meal cereal packages, Used Colgate Toothpaste tubes and boxes, Stonyfield Yogurt, Elmer’s Glue, Scotch Tape, and Phone Books.  If you would like additional information please go to http://www.terracycle.net If you would like to register please make sure you list Girl Scout Troop #3263 as the charity.  You do not have to register to participate in this event.  You only need to register if you wish to mail the trash to the company directly, however, the troop is currently registered and the above trash is what we are in need of to help this troop start saving the planet.

Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>   is always coming up with fun and cool ways to recycle, but they also  have come up with a way (actually 6 ways) Moms can go green, reduce  waste at home, AND raise money for their kids school and/or favorite  charity. Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  realizes Moms have enough things to think about  without wondering how to reduce the amount of waste leaving their home  and heading to the local landfill. So they have come up with six new  Brigades (read as free collection programs!) to make it easier than ever  for parents to eliminate waste from their home while raising money for a  school or charity of their choice. All they need to do is collect and  send in the packaging you discard every day, TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  pays the postage  and contributes two cents per unit of waste returned. I keep mine in a  bag by the pantry next to the bag for Box Tops to make things easier.

I t’s back-to-school time and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the shopping you have to do, especially if you want to be eco- friendly. you needn’t worry. Companies like TerraCycle are making back-to-school shopping and green living compatible and easy.

OK I admit it.  I LOVE trash!  I love seeing that Upcycle It! barrel filled to the brim at the Farmers Market.   It certainly shows Westford's support and commitment to sustainability. Many of us are parents. Seems like the “green bug” bites a little harder when you look at those tiny faces.  TerraCycle has a few new Brigades ideal for parents. Which would you like to see us join? 1) The AVEENO Beauty Brigade – ANY brand and ANY type of personal care beauty tubes. Examples include lotion, sun tan lotion, face wash tubes, body wash tubes. A tube is a container that is crimped at one end and has an opening at the other. 2) The SCOTT Brigade – the outer plastic from ANY brand of paper towel, napkin, toilet paper or similar paper products – no paper wrappings 3) The HUGGIES Brigade – the outer plastic on ANY brand of diaper/personal product packaging; excluding boxes and bins (from baby wipes). Examples would be the overall outer plastic package wrapping on diapers, depends, pull ups, pads, etc.  Does not include the clear plastic wrapping inside a box of diapers. 4) The Home Storage Brigade – This brigade includes ANY size storage bags (freezer, storage, regular, sandwich) and containers. We would need to remove any crumbs and pieces of food, but stuck on ingredients (i.e. peanut butter) are acceptable. 5) The Neosporin Tube Brigade – Any size Neosporin brand antibiotic and ointment tubes 6) The Sprout Brigade – Sprout baby food pouches; excluding glass baby jars.

Terracycle realizes that Moms are the main shoppers, organizers, and most involved in the school activities. Because of this, they have new, Mom focused brigades. Parents want to make their children's world greener.  Unfortunately, daily life can get in the way of that with limited time and budget, but going green doesn't have to be difficult, time-consuming or expensive. In fact, a smart and savvy parent can go green and even earn green at the same time!

TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  has the best business model — “Send us your trash… we’ll make it into cool products!” If you despair of all the waste generated by things like Capri Sun pouches, sign up your school or nonprofit organization for various TerraCycle “brigades.” <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades>  Collect used pouches, candy wrappers, and other items, send them in to TerraCycle, and get paid a couple cents for each. (Given the amount of these products kids go through, that can add up pretty quickly…)