Trending Now on Patch The Battlegrounds at Cedar Lake, the Midwest's only permanent mud run and obstacle course, recently held its fourth bi-annual race and collected 350 pairs of shoes for the less fortunate. The Battlegrounds teamed up with Barrel Aid, which partners with the non-profit Mission-Haiti.org to supply clean shoes, fresh water, food and schooling for more than 1,600 unserved children in Southern Haiti. Barrel Aid attends mud races from around the country and collects donated shoes, which are laundered and transported in barrels to Mission Haiti in Ti-Rivier. After the shoes have been distributed, Barrel Aid's barrels are fitted with an easy-to-use gutter in order to capture clean rain water for drinking and cooking. Barrel Aid donates all of the broken and unusuable shoes to TerraCycle, which refurbishes them for people in the U.S. For every 25 pounds of recycled shoes they receive from Barrel Aid, 10¢ is donated to Mission Haiti. "This year we had our biggest run ever with 850 mud runners plus more than 1,000 spectators," said Carl Bolm, owner of The Battlegrounds and Cedar Lake Cellars. "We are so honored to be a part of Barrel Aid's mission to help children in Haiti." The Battlegrounds is located at 960 State Highway 00 in Wright City, Mo. next to Cedar Lake Cellars winery and event center. The mud run is held on the first Saturdays in May and October. For more information, contact Barrel Aid's president Nic Zahasky at (563) 419-7465 or visit www.barrelaid.com. For mud run details, call The Battlegrounds' Bob Holm at (314) 569-3005 ext. 114 or visit the website at www.thebattlegrounds.com.

Tonya Huber For the Ruidoso News The average American throws away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year. That adds up to about nine million tons of reusable items that are sent into the waste stream, according to the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Solid Waste. In 2012, Americans generated about 251 million tons of trash and recycled and compacted almost 87 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.5 percent recycling rate. On average, we recycled and compacted 1.51 pounds of our individual waste generation of 4.38 pounds per person per day, leaving 2.87 pounds per day to go to landfills or be incinerated. Every TerraCycle participant who joins the campaign to reduce waste expresses a common concern: "I wish I'd known about TerraCycle sooner!" If you are not already TerraCycling, join us now! Although resale shops like Sweet Charity Repeat Boutique are a good option for clothes that still have some fashion value, an alternative for shoes exists through TerraCycle. Each month take wearable shoes and boots to Coyote Howling, The footwear is shipped to TerraCycle headquarters to be sent to communities in dire need. Flip flops and sandals need not apply; TerraCycle sends shoes that can protect feet and carry the walker for miles in communities where many people travel by foot. And, as with all TerraCycle the shoes are re-used, recycled and up-cycled, Rebates are paid directly to the designated not-for-profit: Feed My Starving Children.

Be green and save some green on St. Patrick's Day at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. If you have an old cell phone, aluminum cans (1 lb. minimum), shoes and/or cooking and dining supplies you'd like to recycle, drop it off at the Zoo's box office on March 17, and you'll receive a $2 discount on Zoo admission. Volunteers will accept the above mentioned recyclable items from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. outside the Zoo's box office. These special offers are redeemable on March 17, 2013, only. Limit one discount per person. Proceeds from the aluminum can recycling will support the Zoo's Cans for Conservation program, which helps fund conservation projects here and abroad. The Cans for Conservation collection this year will benefit Slow Loris Conservation, The Little Fireface Project. Cell phones and cooking and dining supplies will be recycled through various organizations; and Terracycle will recycle paired shoes in good condition shoes (all types except sandals, slippers, skates).

Pocono Medical Center's Environmental Awareness Council set up red bins to collect shoes through the TerraCycle Shoe Brigade in December. The goal was to recycle old shoes through TerraCycle to help raise money for the Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center. It keeps shoes out of landfills and reuses new or gently worn shoes by donating them to the needy in the community. To date, the efforts of the council have resulted in more than $300 being donated to the cancer center.

America Recycles Day, a program of Keep America Beautiful, is a nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States. Every year on or around November 15 (America Recycles Day) events take place across the nation. This year, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is hosting an event from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Bring your recyclables to the Zoo and enjoy a wide array of activities that promote Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The Zoo will be accepting the following items for recycling on November 10:

• ALUMINUM CANS (funds to benefit Bat Conservation International)
• CELL PHONES AND ACCESSORIES
• NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, CATALOGS, JUNK MAIL
• INK JET AND TONER PRINT CARTRIDGES
• HOUSEHOLD PLASTICS with a recycle symbol and number 1 – 7
• COOKING & DINING SUPPLIES & UTENSILS (presented by Recycle Pots & Pans)
• ON-SITE DOCUMENT SHREDDING (presented by Northcoast Inc. Recycling Specialists) Shredding ends at 3 p.m.; Limit 3 recycling bags / boxes.
• ELECTION SIGNS (presented by Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District)
• PAIRED SHOES in Good condition (presented by TerraCycle)

Bring your recyclables to the Zoo and receive one free admission with the purchase of one regular admission, which is $8.25 for adults and $5.25 for children ages 2 - 11. For more information on America Recycles Day at the Zoo, call 216-661-6500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 216-661-6500 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit clemetzoo.com

On Saturday, Oct. 13, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Branchburg Woman's Club will host an indoor craft show and bake sale at Branchburg Central Middle School, 220 Baird Road, across from White Oak Park. The craft show features handmade crafts, a bake sale, a cafe and door prizes. This community fundraiser benefits club’s philanthropic fund for charitable donations and student awards. There is free admission and free parking. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Featured crafts include handmade chocolates, cookie pops, sea glass and fused-glass jewelry, floral arrangements, themed gift baskets, pottery, baby gifts, photo art, cards and pet gifts. Doll collectors will find clothes and accessories for 'American Girl'-sized dolls and wooden doll furniture. Home decor items will include carved wood wares, stained glass decorations, soy candles, holiday ornaments, handmade collectibles and more. For the fashion conscious, there will be a wide variety of handbags, totes, apparel, plus crocheted and knitted accessories. Too many shoes taking up closet space? If your family has still-usable, but no-longer-needed shoes or boots, consider donating them to the new Terracycle Paired Shoe Project, which benefits the club's philanthropic fund. There will be a collection box inside the entrance of the craft show.

Here at UC Davis we recycle bottles and cans, cardboard and Styrofoam, CDs and DVDs, fluorescent bulbs and sticky notes, toner and inkjet cartridges, batteries and electronics, and even wine corks. And paper, of course.   But what about our pens? Starting today (Sept. 14), we can recycle those, too, and other, selected writing implements — adding more “cool” to UC Davis’recent ranking as the nation’s “Coolest School” in Sierra magazine’s evaluation of sustainability in higher education.   Materiel Management, a longtime champion of campus sustainability efforts, is spearheading our newest recycling opportunity, by joining up with theTerraCycle Writing Instruments Brigade.   “Writing instruments?” Why not just call them “pens?”   Because TerraCycle Inc. takes any type of plastic-encased device: pens, mechanical pencils, markers and highlighters (the caps too!). And those correction tape dispensers that we sometimes use to erase what we wrote! But nothing encased in wood or metal. TerraCycle wants only the plastic for reuse in the company’s line of consumer products — storage bins, for example.

Last week I was on my way into the Phillies game… and RIGHT before they searched my bag, I blew out my flip flop… just like Jimmy Buffet once did. After mourning my beloved Havvies (and darting to the Clubhouse store to purchase a pair of Phillies Flippy Floppies), my next dilemma was where to recycle my flip flops.   Good news… Terracycle has partnered with Old Navy for a Flip Flop Brigade recycling program. For every 25 pairs of flip flops sent, you’ll receive coupons for Old Navy. It’s as easy as downloading a prepaid shipping label from Terracycle and dropping off at a UPS location. Don’t have 25 flip flops? There’s a guide to holding a successful drive on Terracycle’s website. Or, you can recycle other types of shoes like boots, sneakers, pumps and more in thePaired Shoe Brigade program. (Good news for me – I just did some fall cleaning and have quite a few pairs for Terracycle!)