Let’s face it. We’re not all cloth-diapering mamas. For many of us disposable diapers are the practical choice. But just because you use disposables, doesn’t mean you don’t consider your impact on the environment and try to make greener changes in other ways. But now a partnership with Huggies and TerraCycle–a recycling powerhouse company that thrives on waste, we can do a little bit more to offset those diapers that end up being tossed into landfills. TerraCycle is known for taking things like CapriSun wrappers, Doritos bags, or circuit boards and turning them into reusable products like grocery totes, clocks and outdoor fencing. But as part of a program with Huggies, called the Huggies Brigade, they are collecting the plastic packaging from Huggies Diaper bags and recycling it into other products. This keeps it out of the landfill and re-worked into another purpose.

TerraCycle’s food packaging recycling programs began with drink pouches. Those programs have expanded from Capri Sun and Honest Kids drink pouches, to Flavia Fresh Packs, Sprout baby food pouches, and Method Cleaner Refill packs. Clif Family Winery is soon launching a Brigade for their Climber Wine Pouches and other wine pouch packaging. Nowadays, pouches are in every aisle of every big-box retailer. They’re convenient, durable, lightweight, affordable, an all around “win”… that is until it is time to recycle them.

Broward College's TerraCycle is one of nation's best collection program. TerraCycle pays for material collected. Money from the program go towards the Michelle Lawless Scholarship Fund which supports female Environmental Science majors. Last year the program collected more than 200,000 pieces. In 2012, the goal is 300,000. Trash to Treasure is a proud participant in the program. You can drop off your items at T2T during regular business hours.

Community of Faith's Stepping Stones ministry participates in TerraCycle, a fundraising through recycling program. The following list of items may be brought to church and droped off in the TerraCycle bin located next to the Stepping Stones registration desk. Last year this program raised over $1,200 for use in commuity and other special projects.

Sprout brengt een  hersluitbare, steriliseerbare stazak voor biologische babyvoeding op de markt die verschillende voordelen biedt. De multilaagse structuur (PET/alu/OPA/PP) is BPA-vrij. Hoewel de aluminium barrièrefolie de smaak en voedingsstoffen beschermt, betekent het ook dat het zakje niet kan worden verwarmd in de magnetron. Deze keuze is bewust gemaakt om het energieverbruik van de consument te minimaliseren. Het voedsel wordt koud gegeten of in een gesloten zakje een paar minuten in heet (niet kokend) water verwarmd. Ampac leverde de stazak, voorzien van een steriliseerbare hersluitbare zipsluiting en Ampac's Lineaire Tear-technologie voor een rechte afscheuring, die de noodzaak elimineert voor laser- of mechanische inscheuring. Het multi-laagse gelamineerde zakje kan niet worden gerecycled. Sprout en Terracycle hebben een retouractie opgezet, waarbij gebruikte zakjes worden omgezet in onder andere boodschappentassen.www.terracycle.net / www.ampaconline.com

To help, one company is offering consumers a way to reduce their household garbage while earning money for local schools or charities. Through free collection programs called Brigades, upcycling pioneer TerraCycle is collecting and paying for packaging waste from household staples -- from the bathroom to the kitchen to the classroom. Many major brands are getting on board with upcycling. Scott tissues and Huggies are sponsoring programs to collect plastic packaging waste from paper products and diapers. And since most oral hygiene products aren't recyclable, Colgate and TerraCycle have partnered to collect used toothbrushes and toothpaste cubes.

You all may remember a fabulous company I stumbled across last summer, Terracyle. Terracycle was founded in 2001 and is currently one of the fast growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. What exactly IS TerraCycle you ask? In a nutshell, TerraCycle makes cool stuff from your trash. Seriously. I am absolutely in love with this company. Their mission is to eliminate waste by taking what others deem trash and turning it into affordable, eco-friendly items for purchase. Brilliant! Here are just some of the innovative items you can purchase thanks to TerraCycle: pencil cases made from Chips Ahoy packaging, backpacks made from drink pouches, kites made from Skittles packaging, laptop cases made from juice pouches and 3 ring binders made from chip bags. We have a pencil case and lunch bag which we use all the time.

Fisher’s Creek — Jaynee Haygood’s short essay about the steps she’s taking to make this world greener for her children was chosen as the grand prize winner in the Protecting the Planet for Baby Contest, sponsored by TerraCycle and Sprout Organic Baby Food. In her essay, she mentions everything from recycling to vermicomposting and says she wants her growing babies “to see the simple changes that I make so they can teach their babies when they grow up.” For her efforts, she will receive a $100 cash prize for the green project of her choosing, a month’s supply of Sprout Organic Baby Food, and TerraCycle products. Because her kids are no longer babies, Haygood said she will donate the baby food to an area emergency-services provider to the homeless, Share. TerraCycle is a recycling and “upcycling” company that collects nonrecyclable and difficult-to-recycle waste, and uses it to make affordable, eco-friendly products.

TerraCycle® and Sprout® Organic Baby Food challenged TerraCycle participants to submit essays explaining why and how they are “Protecting the Planet for Baby”. They have narrowed it down to the top 4 submissions and now they need help choosing!  Take a moment to read through the storiesand submit your answers here! Who are you going to vote for? Voting ends June 20, 2011.  Winners will be chosen June 27, 2011!

To enter, comment on this post through 11:59 PM Central on Sunday June 5 and let me know why a baby you know would love to try it. One entry/comment per person, and U.S. entries only, please. If you are reading this through email or Facebook, please click on the title of this post (up at the top where it says “Giveaway — Sprout…”) to go back to the blog. Scroll down to the bottom of the post and you will see a box to enter your comment; just comment there to enter. Email and Facebook entries will not be counted. If you are reading the Mashup Mom homepage on the web, look at the bottom of this post where it says “___ comments.” Click on that to get the box to enter your own comment. The fine print Sprout and TerraCycle provided the information and prizing for this giveaway. All thoughts and opinions here are my own. The winner will be chosen on or around 6/6/11 through random number generation at random.org. The winner will have two days to respond to email notification; Mashup Mom reserves the right to pick a runner up winner in the event I don’t receive a response.