Terracycle recycles the trash you Freepost them and makes products out of them. They will donate a small amount of money to a non-profit organisation or school of your choice for every bit of rubbish they receive. When we mean trash, we literally mean trash.
For those not familiar with
"Terracycle", it is one of many organizations that work to create useful items out of waste products.
"Terracycle", in conjunction with both consumers and people from within the food and beverage industry, collects empty and discarded items like foil cheese packets, foil beverage pouches, potato chip bags, gum wrappers, beverage bottles and other items.
"Terracycle" then converts those items into a wide array of new items like insulated coolers, garbage cans, fences, plant food, household cleaners, photo frames, jewel cases, clothing and fashion accessories. Part of the proceeds from the sale of those items is in turn donated to area
schools and non-profit groups.
Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, Tom Szaky has been collecting and upcycling refuse since childhood, starting with discarded TVs and computer monitors.
"Even at a very young age, the excess and waste I saw surprised and intrigued me."
Inspired by seeing waste as a great opportunity, the landfill as a poorly organized factory, and that with a little innovation he could run a profitable business that was also good for the planet, Tom dropped out of Princeton and TerraCycle was born. Starting with sales of the brand's worm-converted waste fertilizer to the Home Depot and Walmart in 2004, TerraCycle has continued to flourish now working with major brands such as Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, Mars, CLIF BAR and others, in sponsoring the collection of post-consumer packaging that pays schools and non-profits 2 cents for every piece they collect. Today over 50,000 organizations have helped collect over 1 billion pre- and post-consumer wrappers that have been made into affordable eco-friendly products, such as totes and backpacks. In 2009, Tom released his first book, Revolution in a Bottle, and starred in 3 episodes on the National Geographic Channel series, Garbage Moguls. When asked what lasting impression he wants to leave on the planet?
She cited TerraCycle as one company that has done just that with its collection brigades at schools. TerraCycle—which calls itself an “upcycler”—partners with schools and consumer goods companies to recycle items such as candy wrappers, juice pouches, yogurt containers, toothpaste tubes, shredded cheese bags and snack bags and turn what otherwise would be waste into consumer products such as insulated coolers, recycling bins and fences.
This increase in repurposing materials has caused food and beverage manufacturers like
Kraft Foods to stand up and take notice. Proof in point is the company's recent decision to add foil cheese packets to their pre-existing
"Terracycle Collection Program."
In Packaging Everything Old is New Again
For those not familiar with
"Terracycle", it is one of many organizations that work to create useful items out of waste products.
"Terracycle", in conjunction with both consumers and people from within the food and beverage industry, collects empty and discarded items like foil cheese packets, foil beverage pouches, potato chip bags, gum wrappers, beverage bottles and other items.
"Terracycle" then converts those items into a wide array of new items like insulated coolers, garbage cans, fences, plant food, household cleaners, photo frames, jewel cases, clothing and fashion accessories. Part of the proceeds from the sale of those items is in turn donated to area
schools and non-profit groups.
i have heard of
terracycle before – who hasn’t seen those cute little pop art totes and pouches they make out of recycled juice pouches and gum wrappers? but i have only recently become aware of the business as a whole, with their model and goal. the company was started by a college student to win a “business start-up” contest of sorts. the idea was, “why pay for materials for manufacturing when there is so much usable material going to the landfills?” their first product was plant food/fertilizer which was quickly picked up by large outfits such as wal*mart. but as the company grew, so did their capacity to adapt and reuse the most common “land fillers.” terracycle now has almost 60,000 locations around the country (and more available all the time) where people can get paid to drop off juice pouches, zip top kitchen bags, cheese wrappers, yogurt containers, and many more. schools are one of the top producers of garbage, and one of the prime targets of terracycle. children deposit lunchtime recyclables into terracycle bins and at the end of the year they have raised a goodly amount of money to give back to the school – win win! i just want to encourage anybody who is not familiar with this business to go to the website. check out what they are doing and see how you and your business or school can participate.
On Monday December 21st, Michael Jasmin and his After School team
packaged and UPS’ed to a site in NJ approximately 1100 empty juice
pouches which will be “upcycled” in exchange for a financial contribution
to PS 261 via a company called TerraCycle. The funds raised won’t single-
handedly close 261’s budget gap, and the trash they collect won’t reverse
global warming on its own, but over the course of a year After School’s
collection team will raise hundreds of dollars for PS 261 while saving
thousands of square feet of garbage from a landfill.
The Environmental Awareness committee at
Canyon Creek Elementary is introducing
TerraCycle's Classroom Recycling program from January thru April 2011. This is a great way to help by saving: Elmer Glue Sticks, Papermate and Sharpies writing instruments and Scotch tape dispensers for recycling.
Parents need to send these items with their kids for collection in the classrooms. This is similar to their successful Box Top Contest. The winning classroom will be rewarded with ice cream! Even if you don't have students you can drop items off at the school to be distributed equally throughout the classes or to a designated
New Jersey-based TerraCycle collects waste packaging from over 60,000 schools and community groups nationwide and “upcycles” them into new, useful products. Known for their “Brigades,” which has students and groups collecting everything from single use drink pouches to empty yogurt containers, Terracycle pays for shipping, prints the shipping labels the Brigades use, keeps track of how many items each Brigade has collected and even provides the shipping boxes.
To make the Brigade program successful, TerraCycle has partnered with a number of well-known manufacturers like Kraft, PepsiCo and PaperMate to help turn the nonrecyclable into recyclable. Earlier in the year, TerraCycle partnered with Walmart to showcase and sell a wide variety of the repurposed products they’d created including tote bags made from Frito-Lay wrappers and purses and shoulder bags made from candy wrappers like M&M’s and Skittles.
New Jersey-based TerraCycle collects waste packaging from over 60,000 schools and community groups nationwide and “upcycles” them into new, useful products. Known for their “Brigades,” which has students and groups collecting everything from single use drink pouches to empty yogurt containers, Terracycle pays for shipping, prints the shipping labels the Brigades use, keeps track of how many items each Brigade has collected and even provides the shipping boxes.
To make the Brigade program successful, TerraCycle has partnered with a number of well-known manufacturers like Kraft, PepsiCo and PaperMate to help turn the nonrecyclable into recyclable. Earlier in the year, TerraCycle partnered with Walmart to showcase and sell a wide variety of the repurposed products they’d created including tote bags made from Frito-Lay wrappers and purses and shoulder bags made from candy wrappers like M&M’s and Skittles.
