Terracycle Speakers: these M&M speakers done by Terracycle are made with recycled M&M boxes, in fact everything Terracycle makes were previously trash, which in the green world, we call this process upcycling. They also donate a small percentage of each trash a school or an individual sends them and so far have donated over $1.5M. You can also find other cool gift ideas such as a circuit board desk clock, a bike chain frame or an Oreo wrapper kite.
For the Earth loving person on your gift giving list, consider a couple of gifts from
Terracycle.
I personally think that Terracycle is just a wonderfully brilliant company, who produces beautiful items from recycled trash. I myself own one of their tote bags and a few of their pencil cases. They are made ridiculously well and are always a conversation starter.
Terracycle upcycles consumer waste into new salable goods. They primarily harvest their raw material from schoolchildren as part of charity drives, though they are now placing recycling stations at certain Walmart stores. At the Walmart centers they pay 3 cents per piece, but only for a narrow range of product packaging; the website supports a wider range of recyclables.
The spirit of the project is wonderful, but the problem is that it creates zombie advertising and branding for these undead consumer objects. Which is actually not all that surprising, as the Walmart program is sponsored by the very brands whose packaging are featured in the upcycled goods.
Terracycle upcycles consumer waste into new salable goods. They primarily harvest their raw material from schoolchildren as part of charity drives, though they are now placing recycling stations at certain Walmart stores. At the Walmart centers they pay 3 cents per piece, but only for a narrow range of product packaging; the website supports a wider range of recyclables.
2. Walmart installed TerraCycle recycling and garbage bins outside of New Jersey stores <
http://www.causeintegration.com/2010/walmart-recycling-program-pays-cash-for-trash-with-terracycle/> , and may expand the program nationwide. TerraCycle <
http://www.terracycle.net/> takes an innovative spin on recycling and waste, taking things most people think are garbage -- like empty Capri-Sun juice bags, or Oreo cookie wrappers -- and fashioning them into cool products that kids can take to school as backpacks and more. TerraCycle has successfully "upcycled" $1.85 billion worth of garbage since its inception (and as a plug, TerraCycle is founded by a Fellow of StartingBloc <
http://startingbloc.org/> , Tom Szaky).
Terracycle recycled products, Terracycle.netThe next time you throw out that bag of potato chips or box of M&Ms, it could end up in your next consumer electronics gadget. Terracycle.com offers a whole bunch of cool items made from recycled material, and the company sent us a bunch of fun stuff. My favorite was the pair of speakers made from a box of Peanut M&Ms, which created a nice pair of portable speakers for my iPod. The cool part? The passive speakers required no batteries! We also got a clipboard made from a recycled motherboard, a set of circuit board coasters, and photo frames made from old circuit boards.
Today's featured project isn't my own. It comes to me from a company called TerraCycle <
http://www.terracycle.net/> . I can hear you scratching your head and questioning, "A corporate craft?"
Yes, friends - a corporate craft. But, TerraCycle is no ordinary corporation. Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky (when he was 19 years old and a freshman at Princeton University,) TerraCycle is a multi-category eco-friendly upcycle company.
Basically: They profit by taking waste and turning it into new goods which they then sell. Things like Capri Sun drink pouches, Oreo cookie package wrappers, Cliff Bar wrappers and other assorted non-recyclable waste becomes purses, picture frames, clip boards and other cool items.
There are many companies out there that do really cool things to help recycle. One of my favorites is Terracycle. You can mail in your items such as caparison pouches or candy wrappers and they will make really neat items for instance lunch bags and pencil cases! I love that Terracycle makes recycling fun for the kids. They are here to help our environment and make the kids look "cool" while doing it!
You know it's pretty amazing what you can make from trash! You've heard me mention TerraCycle <
http://www.terracycle.net/> a few times and you may have just entered the giveaway we ran a couple of weeks ago! If you haven't checked out the TerraCycle <
http://www.terracycle.net/> website, please take some time out of your day to do so! Seriously, with just a few extra steps that each of us take it really does make a difference!
