Photo Credit: Austin Loukas
Terracycle recycling boxes, like the ones above, are found in Evans Hall, University Towers, Stark Learning Center, the Student Union Building, and Breiseth Hall
You’ve heard of recycled, but how about upcycled? In another effort to “go green” at Wilkes, the Students for Environmental Sustainability club has recently initiated a sustainability collection project called TerraCycle using this process of “upcycling.”
Junior Environmental Engineering majors and SES club presidents Katie Cirone and Lizzie Helsel say that TerraCycle is a company that creates and manages collection systems for a variety of hard-to-recycle waste products, such as chip bags, gum wrappers, drink pouches, writing utensils, Ziploc baggies and other items.
Tom Szaky, creator and CEO of TerraCycle, had the idea that instead of recycling waste, it could be upcycled and used for another purpose. Cirone explained how upcycling is different than recycling.
Link to video
http://www.trentonian.com/video/?va_id=3000394&pl_id=21472&ref=synd
TerraCycle is an inspired company that began with the simple concept of eliminating everyday waste. Ten years ago, emboldened by this idea of “outsmarting waste,” Princeton student Tom Szaky started selling cartons of worm casting in plastic bottles. Now, a decade after its humble humus-based beginnings, TerraCycle is a multimillion dollar company with a global waste recycling program that turns common trash items into products like purses and swing sets. In partnership with companies such as Kraft and Nabisco, Tom has seemingly done the impossible— he has gotten some of the biggest corporations in the world to sponsor the upcycling and recycling of their own trash.
Here’s how it works: Everyday people throw away consumer packaging and other odds and ends that could easily be reused and recycled into something else. TerraCycle works by providing the means for anyone to collect and recycle these products. Schools, neighborhoods, or even individuals can sign up for a “Brigade,” or recognized cotillion of trash collectors. Each Brigade is provided with Collection Kits for goods like juice pouches and yogurt cups. Once their kit is full, a Brigade sends the box back to TerraCycle, earning money to donate towards the charity of their choice. From there, TerraCycle takes each waste item and upcycles or recycles them into products like kites, backpacks, and benches. These products are available online and from retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, and Wholefoods, thus bringing the whole circle back around. The same juice pouch purchased from Wal-Mart the previous year can now sit on the self as a CD case.
As students headed back to class this fall in dozens of area schools, they were reminded to think twice before dumping the remains of their school lunch in the trash. The schools- more than 50 of them in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties- are partnering with TerraCycle, a national "upcycling" and recycling company which comes up with creative ways to reuse non-recyclable or hard to recycle waste.
It seems like all we hear about these days is the “go green” movement. We are all told to drive hybrid cars, recycle and use paper — not plastic. In addition to this movement, the Virginia Tech Equestrian Team has joined the movement by collecting our food wrappers?
The Equestrian Team has joined a brigade through a company called Terracycle. Terracycle is a relatively new company that aims to create bags, purses, kites, picture frames and backpacks, almost anything you can imagine out of old food wrappers. It’s really not as weird as you may think, and the products end up looking quirky and cute.
Terracycle devotes its work to “upcycle” traditionally non-recyclable products and create usable items. The company statement claims that the products “keep waste out of landfills and contribute to a cleaner world.” It may seem a little far-fetched, but it’s amazing how one small movement can make such a large impact.
Some of the products are available at major retailers such as Target and Walmart, while the entirety of its products are available to buy online. You also have the opportunity to buy either a pre-made product or to “create your own.” In creating your own product, you or your specific organization can choose the item you want to create, and then learn about the wrappers you need to collect. Different products are made with different types of wrappers, and these wrappers are then mailed to Terracycle which then upcycles the wrappers into various products.
Though the tactics for reaching the audiences often needs to be different, it’s still most effective and efficient – you reach the mostpeople – when you combine audiences and catch everyone at once. The hard part, of course, is finding this middle ground. What will inspire and impact children and adults alike, without confusing one group or boring the other.
At TerraCycle, we’ve found that one of the best ways to do this is to put green lessons where they’re least expected. For us, this means retailers and playgrounds. By placing bins in stores like Old Navy and by partnering with stores such as Target and Walmart, which cater to both adults and children, we can catch the attention of both groups. Many people don’t expect to see backpacks made from Capri Sun drink pouches on the shelves – drink pouches belong in the food section! These items often get an equal gasp from parents and children alike, albeit for likely differing reasons.
TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky is part of a show called Biz Kids.
