Andrew Stewart works behind the snack bar at The Fox and The Revue Cinemas, two of Toronto’s independent single-screen movie houses. There’s one thing that’s always bothered him: Garbage. A lot gets generated and dumped quickly as customers exit and staff blitzes the theatre between screenings. Naturally, recyclables, trash and compostables get all mixed up. “I’ve always felt bad about it,” he confessed at a recent matinee.

Imagine: Cigarette butts, whether on the street or in an ashtray, can now be turned into something useful. They could even help organizations do some modest fundraising. Yes, butt recycling has arrived in Canada, thanks to a program launched mid-May by an innovative company called TerraCycle Canada (terracycle.ca). What will those butts become? Skids or pallets made from the plastic filters, according to TerraCycle. The organic leftovers — the tobacco and paper — will be composted.

"Nothing needs to go to landfill. We're about finding solutions for as many types of waste as possible," says Denise Barnard, Director of Communications at TerraCycle Canada. I spoke with Denise to better understand the company behind the ever-increasing line of products I've been noticing around me. Upcycling is now a recognizable term for using every aspect of waste to create another product. How has the Canadian market been responding to the TerraCycle line of solutions and products? If the company's growth here is any indication, it seems that Canadians are ready to help change the concept of garbage fromwaste to useful.

Toronto-based recycler TerraCycle has launched the “first national collection and recycling program for cigarette waste.” Participation in the Cigarette Waste Brigade program is free – thanks to tobacco-industry sponsorship – and covers all types of cigarette waste except the (already widely recyclable) cardboard boxes. Participants amass filters and cigrettes’ aluminum and plastic packaging in plastic bags, and when enough waste is collected, they log into their account and print a free prepaid UPS shipping label to send it off for recycling. Contrary to popular belief, cigarette butts are non-biodegradable and do not break down quickly. Waste collected through the Waste Brigade program will be recycled into plastic pallets for industrial use. www.terracycle.ca

Maybe this is a scenario that's happened at your house—an empty shampoo or conditioner bottle that finds its way into the bathroom bin rather than the recycling bin. Or hair dye boxes, makeup packaging, or even used lipstick cases that are tossed in a convenient garbage can. Here's an incentive that might inspire you to save those items and bring them to your local London Drugs Customer Service Counter for recycling—starting this August, 2 cents per beauty package or container you drop off for recycling will go to the Canadian Cancer Society! London Drugs, who has partnered with TerraCycle.ca and Garnier, is the first major retailer in Canada to introduce recycling collection boxes for all beauty packaging! The program fits in perfectly with the London Drugs mandate to divert as much weight as possible —currently over 42 million pounds!— away from landfills. You can read more about the London Drugs recycling program called the Green Deal at greendeal.ca.

EMC News - A world leader in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, ranging from food and beverage packaging to hospital waste, TerraCycle takes its goal of outsmarting waste one step further with another environmental breakthrough: the launch of a free program to collect and recycle cigarette waste in Canada.

July 9, 2012 - TerraCycle, a world leader in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, ranging from food and beverage packaging to hospital waste, has taken its goal of "outsmarting waste" one step further with the launch of a free program to collect and recycle cigarette waste in Canada. The Cigarette Waste Brigade program – in partnership with Canada’s largest tobacco manufacturer – will divert used cigarette butts, along with cigarette foil and plastic packaging waste, from landfills.

Cigarette butts are often discarded without thought, but thanks to a unique program that tiny plastic filter could have a new lease on inanimate life as a plastic pallet in a factory. The new innovative eco-program designed by TerraCycle Canada is called Cigarette Waste Brigade. The smoker simply collects all parts of the extinguished cigarette, including the filter, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging and rolling paper – even the remaining ash – then packages it all up and mails it to TerraCycle. As of June 25, 2012 more than 5,700 units have been collected from 81 different locations, according to company officials.

EMC news - A world leader in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, ranging from food and beverage packaging to hospital waste, TerraCycle takes its goal of outsmarting waste one step further with another environmental breakthrough: the launch of a free program to collect and recycle cigarette waste in Canada. The Cigarette Waste Brigade program will divert used cigarette butts from landfills, along with cigarette foil and plastic packaging waste. Cigarette filters were the number one item recovered during the annual Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup in 2011, with 351,238 collected. Contrary to popular belief, cigarette butts are non-biodegradable and do not break down quickly. This program will make this pervasive waste easily recyclable for the first time.

If you visited households throughout Canada, chances are you’d find at least one pair of flip-flops (if not more) in each. Unfortunately, every pair of flip-flops Canadians throw out ends up as waste in landfills. That is changing thanks to a partnership between Old Navy and TerraCycle Canada that now makes flip-flops recyclable.