If you're like most parents, right now is a bittersweet time. Sure, the kids are back in class, but with it comes a barrage of fundraisers. Just about every school - public or private - needs more money.
And I'm not against it by any means. However, when the boxes of chocolate bars or the order forms for gift wrap arrive in the book bags, it's difficult to suppress a groan. On more than one occasion, I've told my husband I wish they'd just send us a bill for our portion and cut out the middle man.
My girlish figure really doesn't need any candy, and I have enough wrapping paper to take care of Santa's Village. But we do it for our children.
This year I'm chairing the fundraising committee for my younger son's school. My goal is to incorporate projects that teach as well as bring in money. I mentioned one a few weeks ago, Box Tops for Education, that's run by General Mills. But in my quest, I've found another I must share.
The company is called TerraCycle, and its aim is to make eco-friendly, affordable consumer products from waste.
When I broke into a bag of peanut MnMs this morning, I noticed a familiar logo on the back of the package, Terracycle, and was reminded that I have not been sending much material their way lately nor have I plugged them enough on the blog.
So... In case you haven't heard of them, Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> is a fantastic, award-winning small business which specializes in "up-cycling," that is, making consumer products from post-consumer materials. Founded by a few guys from Princeton and headquartered in New Jersey, the company that used to produce natural plant products (worm waste products) has diversified to collecting millions of waste units to be transformed into useful products - all while collecting a ton of money for charity. You've probably seen their logo on various back-to-school items on sale at major retailers like Target and Walmart or possibly recognize the name from the Terra-Team's reality show "Garbage Moguls" that premiered Earth Day of 2009 on National Geographic. All this even after the company founder, Tom Szaky, turned down a million dollar prize from the Carrot Capital Business Plan contest because he didn't like the direction Carrot Capital wanted to take the company. Love it. Donate, shop, and learn all about Terracycle here <http://www.terracycle.net/> .
Programs that encourage environmentally benign buying pay off for both consumers and businesses. Manufacturers and retailers are participating in green rewards programs that give shoppers the chance to earn points toward purchases of other products by living sustainably.
Consumers get some welcome greenbacks for making environmentally friendly choices. Meanwhile, companies get to burnish their environmental reputations, attracting more consumers who already make a point of buying green products from good environmental stewards. At the same time, the distribution of associated coupons and rewards raises foot traffic and brand awareness.
Advocates of eco-conscious living hope the programs will spread environmental awareness to more-mainstream consumers, who may be deterred by higher prices for organic food or the extra time it might take to separate out their recyclables. The economic downturn is “a great time to introduce an incentive” for sustainable living, says Tiger Beaudoin, the founder and vice president of marketing for EcoBonus, a green rewards program that will launch on Earth Day 2011. “People have good intentions, but price is an important purchase driver.”
If you think most reality TV is garbage, TerraCycle’s reality show should fall right in line. Except it’s actually a good show…it just happens to be about garbage.
Called Garbage Moguls, TerraCycle’s now-in-its-second-season TV show follows the enterprising young minds at one of the countries most promising recycling-related companies, and their exploits in the eco-world are anything but boring.
Environmentally-conscious individuals will get a kick out of seeing how products get “upcycled” from someone’s trash to a new treasures sold in stores like Target and Office Max. Like a conversion of used dog food bags from Pedigree into a whole host of pet products that include leashes, toys and clothes, which are subsequently pitched to some dog accessory execs.
“Send us your trash – we’ll make it into cool products.” That's the simple premise and promise of New Jersey-based startup TerraCycle, a green recycler founded by two former Princeton University classmates who dreamed up the idea in 2001 for a business plan contest.
Now full-time "eco-capitalists," they're making good business from trash by partnering with brands to create recycling campaigns for their products, and a halo effect for their affiliates.
Atenção. A
TerraCycle anda a fazer dinheiro com o nosso lixo. Mas, se fazem bem ao meio ambiente, qual é o problema? Tom Szaky e Albe Zakes, criadores daquela empresa norte-americana, não viram problema nenhum, apostaram neste conceito e durante o passado mês de Abril conseguiram que a Wall Mart – o maior retalhista a nível mundial – aceitasse vender os produtos feitos de lixo nas suas lojas. Se tudo correr bem, os jovens empresários terão direito a um acordo mais alargado. Bom para eles e para o ambiente.
Paul Smith wrote a series of articles about Terracyle <http://inspiredeconomist.com/2009/02/28/home-depot-and-petco-targeted-for-terracycles-newest-recycling-efforts/> last year. Founded by Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer in 2001 while students at Princeton, Terra Cycle <http://www.terracycle.net/bb/> started as a way to spread the benefits of vermicomposting (that is, composting <http://kellibestoliver.greenoptions.com/wiki/composting> with worms) to a larger audience. Szaky and Beyer were eventually able to earn startup funds, and by 2004, Home Depot <http://www.homedepot.com/> was carrying Terra Cycle <http://www.terracycle.net/bb/> Plant Food <http://www.terracycle.net/products.htm> on their website.
The BP oil brief has zero upon a hundreds of miles of rubbish floating in a Atlantic Ocean, as well as a bigger sibling, a Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a plastic-soup in a Pacific Ocean estimated to camber a distance of a continental U.S. Our oceans have been a landfills, a actuality which nags during me with each take-out enclosure as well as alternative square of rabble we draw up of in my kitchen. I’m usually a single chairman creation all this trash, as well as my internal-dialogue right away sounds similar to a hitchhiker lady in Five Easy Pieces: “Pretty shortly there won’t be room for anyone!”
The BP oil brief has zero upon a hundreds of miles of rubbish floating in a Atlantic Ocean, as well as a bigger sibling, a Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a plastic-soup in a Pacific Ocean estimated to camber a distance of a continental U.S. Our oceans have been a landfills, a actuality which nags during me with each take-out enclosure as well as alternative square of rabble we draw up of in my kitchen. I’m usually a single chairman creation all this trash, as well as my internal-dialogue right away sounds similar to a hitchhiker lady in Five Easy Pieces: “Pretty shortly there won’t be room for anyone!”
