This is like the ultimate way to be green… having NO trash. I like to think we’re pretty green – we recycle, we compost, we barely have any trash. But we do have trash. Look at this way: in nature, there is no trash. What is waste from one, becomes food or shelter for another. Everything is used. Why can’t we do that? That’s where TerraCycle comes in! They take what cannot be recycled and they “upcycle” it to make products you can use. TerraCycle is fairly new, but is quickly spreading around the world. They pay schools, daycares, families, anybody! 2 cents to send in waste that would otherwise sit in a landfill. How do you get involved and help save the earth?

According to a Keep Blount Beautiful press release, TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With more than 50 products available at major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Their hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage. Free collection programs pay schools and non-profits nationwide to collect used packaging such as drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, cookie wrappers, chip bags, corks and more. The collected materials are upcycled into affordable, high quality products ranging from tote bags and purses to shower curtains and kites.

15. Sweet speakers. A must-give gift for the iPod generation: A set of TerraCycle portable speakers made from upcycled M&M wrappers.

"We'd see kids throwing out their Capri Sun pouches after every class party," recalls Blacow Elementary Booster Club President, Emily Swanson. "It was such a shame to see so much waste." It did not stop with just Capri Sun pouches; paper and food waste desecrated the school with waste. Collecting ideas on solutions to the problem, the school now earns money from students' litter. Blacow Elementary recently joined with a nationwide "Brigade" program operated by TerraCycle, a recycling company. TerraCycle accepts waste materials and recycles them to form new products. The company pays about two cents for each acceptable wrapper or bag collected. For example, for an empty Lays chips bag, the school receives two cents. Brigades are basic areas that collect and pay for the donated items. Officially founded in the fall of 2001 by college student Tom Szaky, TerraCycle has grown to create various products ranging from Capri-Sun rectangular lunch boxes to a circuit board clipboard. This merchandise is sold to leading corporations such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot. Instead of going into a landfill and increasing carbon emissions, waste is turned into something useful.

Once in a while, you come across an idea that just makes so much sense that you wonder why it hasn’t been done before.  I had that feeling when I received an email from Emily Bradford-Sytsma, spokesperson for eco-friendly company TerraCycle. <http://www.terracycle.net/> Emily sent me a recycling craft project that uses five empty Colgate® toothpaste tubes to construct this colorful Recycled Toothpaste Tube Toothbrush Holder <http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/toothbrush-holder.shtml> . But, more than that, she explained the new recycling program at TerraCycle, which provides an opportunity for non-profit organizations to make a little cash, while diverting waste products from the landfill.

Would you ever consider SELLING your trash?   Do you think anyone would ever PAY for it? What if I told you that I found an amazing company that would? Terracycle pays schools, families, and communities to collect non-recyclable waste, which is then upcycled or repurposed to make fun, eco-friendly products like shower curtains, potted plants, and soon, baby bibs and diaper bags!  Amazing!

Terracycle <http://terracycle.net> , an upstart up-cycling company that turns packaging material into affordable and high quality items, has teamed up with Malt-O-Meal <http://www.malt-o-meal.com/index_en.php> , the largest family owned cereal company in the U.S. By recycling Malt-O-Meal brand cereal bags through Terracycle's Recycling Brigades <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades> , consumers have the opportunity to create zero (cereal packaging) waste. The Recycling Brigades provide charitable organizations, including schools, an opportunity to help reduce our impact on the environment while earning some extra cash for the charity in exchange for the effort.

Recycling company TerraCycle is making it easy for Americans to start trash cleanup projects. Simply sign up at terracycle.net <http://www.terracycle.net/>  to have collection bags with prepaid return shipping labels mailed to your home or business. Fill them with chip bags, cookie <http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/terracycle_trash_recycle/green_living/191#>  wrappers, drink pouches, and other food-packaging waste and send them back to TerraCycle; the trash will then be “upcycled” into tote bags and pencil cases (you can buy these accessories at Target stores or target.com <http://www.target.com/> ). Thanks to partnerships with food <http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/terracycle_trash_recycle/green_living/191#>  giants like Frito-Lay, Mars, and Nabisco, plus well-known natural brands such as Kashi, Clif Bar, Honest Kids, and Bear Naked, TerraCycle will donate $.02 for every wrapper you collect to the charity of your choice. At the end of last year, volunteers had raised more than $100,000 for public school organizations and groups like the Arbor Day Foundation.

Well, obviously, Home Grown Families LOVES green!  We love green products, green ideas, green caring, green based in the US, and new green innovative products!  So, again, obviously, we LOVETerraCycle!  Have you heard of TerraCycle, yet?  Chances are, you have seen their green products whether you realized it or not.  I was at Wal-Mart a few months ago and noticed Capri Sun lunch boxes but I didn't know about TerraCycle, yet.  I went back to check them out and sure enough it was a TerraCycle product.

A company founded in 2001 by a 19-year-old Princeton University freshman is increasingly finding a home for "un-recyclable" plastics and bridging the gap between consumers of everyday items like drink pouches and the brand owners that create them. Now, Tom Szaky, a grizzled 28-year-old that was named to Inc. magazine's 30 under 30 <http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060701/coolest-startup.html>  list at 24, and his company, TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  (Trenton, NJ), are reaching out to the plastics industry.