• Clothes: Clothing that’s too worn for donation shouldn’t go in the trash. If it has holes, stains, or other severe damage, you can repurpose it into rags for cleaning the house. But if you just want those old clothes out of your sight, send them to a recycling service like TerraCycle. Goodwill also sends unsold clothes to textile recyclers, so that’s not a terrible home for your damaged items. Just make sure not to donate wet or moldy clothing, which will go straight to the landfill.

Everyone has them: dead pens and markers lying in the bottom of your desk drawer like a sad literary graveyard.   And as a writer, I've got more than my fair share of used writing instruments. I didn’t know what to do with them, until now.   The REAL Deal Reuse Store allows you to drop off your used pens and pen caps, mechanical pencils, markers and marker caps, permanent markets and permanent market caps, highlighters and highlighter caps. REAL then delivers them to Staples, which runs a recycling program out of their store in partnership with waste management company, TerraCycle.   The two companies have partnered up in an effort to provide a second life for used writing instruments. Once collected, they're separated by material composition and then are cleaned, shredded, and made into new recycled products. Through the in-store collections across Canada, over two million writing instruments have been diverted from landfills.     Looking for ways to recycle household waste that isn't available through recycling programs offered through our municipalities has become really important to me. Lately, I've become more and more critical of things I'm throwing in the trash. Before, I wouldn't have thought twice about tossing another dead pen in the garbage.   Now, I've got an alternative. Although the pen recycling program isn't run by REAL, president Barb Hicks, said offering to collect the items at the reuse store, an effort that started last fall, helps make recycling the items more accessible for everyone.   Hicks said it's a small thing, but recycling them instead of throwing them out can make a difference.   I've now got a box for people in our newsroom to put their dead pens in. I've committed to disposing of them through this recycling program. It'll be interesting how many pens, pencils, highlighters and markers we can divert from the landfill over the next couple of years.   To find out more about products REAL can help you recycle, visit: https://www.realaction.ca/.

White Pines students who take what they learn in the classroom and put that knowledge to work in the community are up for a national environmental award. A Grade 12 environmental geography class at the Algoma District School Board school is one of 100 finalists for the 2019 Superpower Your School contest. The finalists are split between elementary and high schools. Ten schools, five high school, five elementary, will each win $20,000 of technology products from Staples Canada. The winners will be announced before Earth Day on April 22. White Pines was also a finalist in 2016. The 12 students in Kevin Magilll’s class held tutorials on how to grow microgreens, do composting, demonstrate how to make natural cleaning products, plant trees and maintain a section of the Voyageur Trail at Robertson Cliffs in Goulais River. The activities were done between September and December of last year. “It gets them out of the classroom and into the world to see what we’re learning about in the classroom in the broader community,” Magill said of student involvement outside of White Pines. “That was really beneficial from a teacher’s standpoint of seeing them engage so actively.” His students chose what they wanted to do. Magill worked to make those priorities happen. “I was a facilitator,” he said. “They were the leads, for sure.” Students fromWhite Pines are also helping with the creation of a nature preserve with Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy. Signage highlighting biological information and traditional Indigenous use of flora and fauna and a boardwalk were created by students at the high school. Six groups, including Wilfrid Laurier University, TerraCycle Canada and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, are Ontario judges for Superpower Your School. Criteria schools will be judged on include incorporating environmentally responsible behaviour into daily school life, demonstrating a long-term commitment to backing a healthier environment and giving the school community, including parents and staff, and the wider community a chance to get involved. For White Pines to be nominated a second time in less than five years is “awesome” for Magill, who teaches geography at the high school. “I think that it shows a great interest in the kids,” he said. “They have an interest in these issues.” His environmental geography class brings together students who have past experience in green projects and others who are new to helping the Earth. “At the end of the day, everyone’s working together and learning,” said Magill, who has taught at White Pines for 15 years. “That experiential learning really is the way to go. That’s what I’ve always preached as a teacher.” Technology White Pines identifies as priorities for the possible $20,000 prize includes colour printers, cameras and MacBook laptops.

Back in December, Stittsville Central asked everyone to vote for A. Lorne Cassidy in the TerraCycle, partnered with Staples, “Box that Rocks” contest. The school had submitted their environmental project using recycled markers. From entrants across Canada, the school was placed in 8th position as one of the top finalists.   The school found out about the contest as they already recycle through the TerraCycle program. They had registered in 2017 with TerraCycle because the company provides fundraising opportunities to schools across Canada.     Well, obviously a lot of Stittsville people voted and Thank You because A. Lorne Cassidy has won! First prize was a chance to win two outdoor garden beds and a picnic table made from 100% recycled plastic, as well as a $1,000 donation to any school or non-profit organization of choice, along with a $300 cheque for garden supplies. The school is going to donate the $1,000 to the Dunrobin Disaster Relief fund. A. Lorne Cassidy is named along with the 2 other schools who won second and third place as the winners.   Congratulations to all of the students and teachers who were involved in this project.   Thanks go to Mandy Hambly for sharing this follow-up information with us.   Stittville will be watching A. Lorne Cassidy for future winning environmental projects!  

Some members of the ALC WE Team (Photo: Jenny Flowers)

Staples Canada, in collaboration with TerraCycle, held a contest for schools from across Canada entitled, “Staples Box that Rocks’. The students had to submit an environmental initiative to create something from recycled writing implements. A. Lorne Cassidy Public School, of Stittsville, enthusiastically entered the contest. The students used their creative talents to develop and construct their project using their recycled writing implements and this was submitted for consideration to the contest. A. Lorne Cassidy students and teachers are pleased to announce that the school has been chosen from entrants across Canada as one of the top finalists in the #8 position. Karen Swerdfeger, a parent volunteer, said, “we found out about the contest as our school registered with Terracycle (who partnered with Staples for the marker recycling and contest) last year when we learned what they do and how it can lead to fundraising for our school. But most importantly, we wanted to bring the marker recycling initiative to the school. Last year was the first year we collected markers.” She went on to say, “entering was as simple as submitting two pictures and a small blurb on the kid’s creation. I wish I could tell you what it took to get this far but it was not transparent. I got a blanket email today about voting and saw the kid’s box!” First prize is a chance to win two outdoor garden beds and a picnic table made from 100% recycled plastic, as well as a $1,000 donation to any school or non-profit organization of choice, along with a $300 cheque for garden supplies. The students have decided to donate any winnings to the Dunrobin Tornado Relief Fund. In order for A. Lorne Cassidy students to be awarded the top prize and able to donate to Dunrobin, they are asking everyone to vote for photo #8 before December 28, 2018 at the link below: Click here and vote by selecting #8 on the submission form Give the students and teachers Stittsville’s support at #8 by December 28!

Get your community involved in recycling materials you would normally be chucking in the garbage by going in on a Terracycle Zero Waste Box together. For instance, a group of parents could get their children’s classroom a Zero Waste Box for snack wrappers (and for the month of August, this box is 20% off with the code AUGUSTBOX20) or try an Office Supplies Box for the whole school.

To give you an idea of how popular pens still are, consider this: Through a popular recycling program available at 300 Staples locations across Canada, TerraCycle and Staples have worked together to provide a second life for many writing instruments. How many? 1.4 million so far! That is a lot of school permission notes! In fact, these stores will accept almost any writing utensil, including all brands of pens and caps, mechanical pencils, markers and marker caps, highlighters/caps, and permanent markers.

TBG offers and hosts many and varied events. Over the last two years we have implemented the following practices and procedures to reduce the ecological footprint of these events... We initiated recycling programs through Terracycle to further divert waste. Staff and volunteers can recycle coffee packaging and used writing instruments from home and the office.

Some recycling programs facilitated by private companies — including the manufacturers of products that aren't easily recyclable — are filling the gap in order to divert some of that waste away from the landfill... "Everything technically has a recycling solution," said Jessica Panetta, marketing manager for the Canadian branch for the New Jersey-based TerraCycle.

If you're feeling guilty about all the coffee pods or squeeze pouches you're tossing in the trash, here's some good news: There are ways to recycle these and many other "unrecyclable" items... TerraCycle is one company aiming to "recycle everything."