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.

Phoenix Public Library and the city of Phoenix Public Works Department kick off Recycle Write on Monday, Nov. 1, 2010. Visit any one of 16 library locations or nine OfficeMax retail stores in Phoenix to deposit used pens, pencils and markers of all types in designated collection containers. The collected writing instruments will be shipped to TerraCycle, a company specializing in making consumer products from post-consumer materials.

All items that TerraCycle accepts to upcycle into new products will now be collected at five Walmart stores on the East Coast, the first retail outlets to test the new collection system, according to Green Biz. All told, the new collection system will accept 28 types of trash that can’t be recycled and would otherwise go to landfills, which TerraCycle turns into new products such as tote bags, plant pots, backpacks, pencil cases and portable speakers.

In their latest move to increase their upcycling of materials that normally end up in landfills, TerraCycle has partnered with five East Coast Walmart stores to test a new collection system for 28 types of trash that TerraCycle will then turn into new products. The New Jersey-based company collects waste through their Brigades programs, which not only keep waste out of landfills but bring financial benefits to schools and organizations as well. This new collection system, which began October 1st, will allow anyone to drop off any waste that TerraCycle accepts in converted 20-foot trailers at Walmart stores in Secaucus, Vineland, Deptford East and Lanoka Harbor, all in New Jersey, and Tullytown, Pennsylvania.