Thirty-seven erasers, 15 barely used notebooks, 105 pencils, 4 holey backpacks and 2 smelly lunch boxes. That is our inventory of perfectly usable school supplies. And I only have one child! Even so, I just received the dreaded list of required school supplies from my daughter’s new teacher, and the pressure is on.

The 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) is no longer simply a mantra for environmental activists, it’s a ticket to saving you money while you consider the planet. The 3Rs ask you to buy less, reuse more, and recycle products at the end of their useful life-wonderful guiding principles for reducing our environmental footprint and bringing our lifestyles into balance with nature. But in practice, how many of us are really willing to cut back on the stuff we want to own, to reuse what we’d like to throw out, and to recycle when doing so is often incredibly inconvenient? Fortunately for budget-conscious Lazy Environmentalists, the 3Rs are receiving a twenty-first-century facelift, making them easy to implement and even easier on the wallet.

Recycle, the last of the 3R trio, is the most transformative of the Rs. When we recycle, we’re giving used products the chance to be reborn as something new. That’s especially the case thanks to companies like Preserve that has partnered with Stonyfield Farm to recycle its yogurt cups-from organic yogurt, of course-into ergonomic plastic toothbrushes, razors, and an assortment of colorful kitchenware (and now also does the same with Brita pitcher filters). TerraCycle, another green innovator, is on pace to redefine much of America’s relationship with trash. The company that began with its signature Plant Food-made from worm poop, packaged in empty Pepsi bottles and sold at the likes of Home Depot and Wal-Mart-has evolved into an innovation powerhouse that continually introduces new products made entirely from waste. Take the E-Water Trash Cans and Recycling Bins available at OfficeMax for $10.99 each and made from crushed computers and fax machines (that would otherwise end up in a landfill).

TerraCycle, another green innovator, is on pace to redefine much of America’s relationship with trash. The company that began with its signature Plant Food-made from worm poop, packaged in empty Pepsi bottles and sold at the likes of Home Depot and Wal-Mart-has evolved into an innovation powerhouse that continually introduces new products made entirely from waste. Take the E-Water Trash Cans and Recycling Bins available at OfficeMax for $10.99 each and made from crushed computers and fax machines (that would otherwise end up in a landfill). Or the rain barrels and composters made from Kendall-Jackson oak wine barrels that sell for $99 each at Sam’s Club. They’re both prime examples of a company that sees opportunity where others see garbage. In so doing, TerraCycle helps us make attractive choices that are mindful of the planet and our wallets.

How many juice pouches does one elementary school use over the course of about two years? One school, Anchor Bay's Lighthouse Elementary in New Baltimore, has used approximately 44,640 since October 2009, second-grade teacher Rebecca Eckstein said. The dedicated collection of the used drink pouches has earned the school a place in the top 100 collecting schools of TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. This is a program that has helped the recycling company reach the milestone of 50 million pouches collected; it has also assisted the school's Parent Teacher Group to benefit students. The school learned that it had earned the honor from TerraCycle in December 2010, and received a plaque made of recycled drink pouches in the mail in January, Eckstein said. The plaque is currently displayed in a school hallway.

The dedicated collection of the used drink pouches has earned the school a place in the top 100 collecting schools of TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. This is a program that has helped the recycling company reach the milestone of 50 million pouches collected; it has also assisted the school's Parent Teacher Group to benefit students.

With TerraCycle, one person's trash is another person's eco-friendly retail product. The brainchild of a 19-year-old Princeton University freshman in 2001, TerraCycle uses a wide variety of non-recyclable items to make more than 50 diverse products that are sold at major retailers, including Target, The Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Office Max, Whole Foods Market and Petco.

RUMSON, NJ - New Jersey based TerraCycle manufactures more than fifty products made from non-recyclable waste materials. Affordable, eco-friendly items such as shower curtains, purses and kites made from juice drink pouches and bulletin boards made from wine corks are sold in major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Office Max, Petco and Whole Foods Markets. The company has been featured on a National Geographic television program, (Garbage Moguls) won national awards and obtained high praise for its environmentally friendly products and for keeping hundreds of tons of garbage out of landfills. But, how do they amass the huge amount of materials needed to make their products? This is where the TerraCycle Brigades come in. The Brigades are part of a national program that pays school groups and non-profits to collect the items needed by TerraCycle to make its products.

Well I have read and heard some pretty awesome things about Terra Cycle so when I had the opportunity to share about them and check out one of their products I got really excited!! TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide  range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products  available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot,  OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the  fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to  eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for  materials others deem garbage.

We here the words 'reduce, reuse, recycle' a lot  when it comes to cleaning our our environment and cutting down on waste in our landfills but have you thought much about the word 'upcycle'? To ucpcycle an item would be to use the product again in a totally different way than it was originally used.  Terracycle  <http://www.terracycle.net/> has found a ton of ways to take our trash and recyclables and make them into something new. The great thing about this company is that YOU can get involved, too!  Here is a little bit about Terracycle from their website: