TerraCycle is a company that is in the forefront of the recycling movement – they have a recycling program for just about anything you could imagine; things that aren’t easily recyclable in curbside programs. According to TerraCycle, everything can be recycled, it’s just about allocating the money and the resources to do so. And they are taking the initiative to do just that! So this is their “Zero Waste Box”: you can put anything and everything into this box* that is sitting around your house that you no longer brings you joy being in your space, but that you don’t necessarily know how to get rid of. TerraCycle will take care of it! For those of us who don’t want to contribute to landfill waste, this is an invaluable resource!

What do you think when you see this word on a product? Most of us who are not involved in the manufacturing process, hold a PhD. in Plastics or work in recycling can find this term confusing or just plain misleading. We are naive when we think “recyclable” means that the item can be recycled when you place it into a common recycling bin. Sometimes it might mean that, but in reality it’s unlikely.

Dive Brief:

• The Hurstville Interpretive Center in Maquoketa, IA, home to the Jackson County conservation department, has been attracting attention for its crayon recycling efforts in recent months, as reported by WQAD.
• Students and residents have become engaged in the program, bringing in an estimated 200 pounds of crayons over the past six weeks. Though the cost of shipping these crayons to a company called Crazy Crayons (about $19 per box) is too high for them to continue. They plan to stop the program in June unless enough donations are received.
• Colorado-based Crazy Crayons recycles the old writing utensils into new products for schools and nonprofits. The company estimates that more than 12 million crayons are manufactured each day, though minimal recycling options are available for them.

Dive Insight: Compared to the many, many tons of other refuse and recyclables that the industry deals with every year, crayons may seem like a minor element.