NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A new show wants to redefine the meaning of trashy television. "Human Resources," which debuts Friday on the Pivot network, will focus not on hard-partying beachgoers but on a socially conscious recycling company. The "reality docu-drama" chronicles what it is like to work at the Trenton-based company TerraCycle Inc. Founded in 2001 by then-20-year-old Princeton University student Tom Szaky, TerraCycle collects hard-to-recycle items, from potato chip bags to cigarette butts, and transforms them into colorful consumer products. It donates a portion of its proceeds to charity. Szaky hopes the show will inspire a new generation to become socially conscious business entrepreneurs. "A lot of people have said the show is like a 20-something socially conscious reality version of 'The Office,'" Szaky said, referring to the long-running mockumentary-style comedy that had British and American versions. "I'm a big fan of content with a purpose; there isn't that much TV out there like this." Szaky is confident the show will have wide appeal, and he sees it as part of "trying to accomplish different ways of getting our message out." A trailer for the premiere episode features quick-cut edits of droll and jokey asides from employees who both embrace and mockingly disdain TerraCycle's workplace culture. The indefatigable, Budapest-born Szaky, now 32, is a main draw, as he offers a frenetic tour of the graffiti-walled, recyclables-filled office and evangelizes about a trash-less future and his goal to "eliminate the concept of waste." With its "superhero socks" theme days, Nerf gun fights, dogs wandering the office and yoga breaks, a green company that is both successful and socially conscious can be a lot of fun, he says. "The main point is to get more people to know about TerraCycle," Szaky said. "The second is to really inspire young people to look at becoming entrepreneurs for socially responsible reasons." The company is committed to remaining in Trenton, Szaky said, bringing what he describes as a "Silicon Valley vibe" to the city that once boasted "Trenton Makes, The World Takes" — words that still appear on the Lower Trenton Bridge spanning the Delaware River — but has since fallen on hard times with the large-scale flight of manufacturing. Szaky said the company's 22 other offices around the world are located in similarly economically depressed areas. Szaky says he wants people to feel inspired when they watch the show and to realize they can make a difference, one cigarette butt or discarded juice box at a time. "If people like the show, send us your garbage — totally free," he added, pointing out that TerraCycle's website offers free pre-paid shipping labels for people to mail in their trash. Belisa Balaban, executive vice president of original programming at Pivot, said the network was immediately impressed by TerraCycle's employees and mission. "We knew they were a perfect fit for Pivot, perfectly aligned with everything we want to do, to create positive social change through entertainment," Balaban said. "TerraCycle is an amazing company that's doing amazing things," she added. "It's a funny place to spend time at, a place with great bold characters who are unique individuals and extremely passionate about what they do." The network plans to air 10 episodes of the show in its first season.

This weekend is Jersey Fresh Jam, New Jersey’s premier Hip Hop and graffiti festival. Aerosol artists from far and wide will converge to adorn the walls of Terracycle INC, in Trenton, with their signature masterpieces while local and regionally known emcees, bands and DJs provide the soundtrack. Jersey Fresh Jam is free and open to the public, so come out this Saturday, from noon-6 p.m. to see public art in the making! On August 15 the Stampede will join these great works of public art. Visit hvartscouncil.org to learn more.

TerraCycle will collect accepted waste items from 5 to 7 p.m. July 17 at Heath Brook School, 165 Shawsheen St., and from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at Trahan School, 12 Salem Road, Tewksbury. Accepted waste items include food pouches, bottles, filters, phones, toothpaste tubes, diaper packaging, glue sticks, inkjet cartridges, jewelry, cameras and laptops. For information: terracycle.com.

Disclosure: We were sent a free product for review purposes. All opinions are my own. What a cute backpack for back to school, don’t you think? What if I told you that it was also eco-friendly? Well that’s exactly what it is, cute and eco-friendly! Our friends at TerraCylcle sent us this adorable backpack made from Clif Kid ZBar packaging material and someone is going to be a stylish little one headed back to school this year. About TerraCycle:  TerraCycle® offers school supplies that allow students to express their personalities while also caring for the environment. TerraCycle, an international recycling and upcycling company, uses traditionally non-recyclable items to create a variety of affordable, eco-friendly products. TerraCycle offers a line of products that include a drink pouch pencil case, made from upcycled Capri Sun packaging and much more. The backpack we were sent is adorable and great for little ones enter pre-k and kindergarten. It’s a backpack like no other and is sure to have little ones asking your student where they can get one too! I love that it’s eco-friendly and uses recycled items that would otherwise end up in our landfills. TerraCycle did a great job at putting the Clif Kid ZBar material throughout the backpack and giving it a unique look. The material is even stitched inside the front zipper part of the backpack. How neat!!This backpack is lightweight and easy for little hands to carry or strap on their shoulders. It’s not too big but large enough to hold folders, notebooks, and any other items your little one needs to carry to and from school. This year, you can opt for some pretty cool, yet eco-friendly back to school products from TerraCycle. Find more information about TerraCycle and how to purchase their products by visiting here and as always, have a wonderful school year!!

TRENTON — Hip-hop will culture will return to Terracycle for the ninth year in a row. Local artists and musicians will descend upon the New York Avenue Terracycle headquarters on August 9 for the Jersey Fresh Jam, the eco-friendly company said in a release Wednesday. Artists will spray the building with works of art. Last year, a mural depicting the popular “Game of Thrones” television show was painted on one of the building’s exterior. Terracycle, according to the release, has opened its doors to local artists and the community. The event began in 2005 and has gone from a small celebration of local talent to the state’s premier hip-hop festival, the release said. Among local artists who will be performing are DJ ITSJUSTAHMAD, Black Collar Biz, NAMEBRAND (featuring Sonic Assad and Rell Gambino) and more. The full list of performers can be found at the event’s website. The Vicious Styles Crew, based out of Trenton, coordinates the event and is hosting a pre-party show called Cantankerous, which according to the release, is being sponsored by Momentum Art Tech. That event begins at 6 p.m. on Friday August 8 and runs until 10 p.m. at the Terracycle office. The Jersey Fresh Jam, which is free to the public, begins on Saturday August 9 at noon and runs until 6 p.m. at 121 New York Avenue. For more information regarding Cantankerous or the Jersey Fresh Jam go to:jerseyfreshjam.comor the Jam’s Facebook page

AHHH it's already August! That means summer is over and kids are back in school! Now the money spending starts, you have school supplies which now seem to cattier to the whole class, clothes, uniforms, shoes and backpacks. TerraCycle is a very cool way to help the environment not only can you purchase things like pencil cases, binders and backpacks you can even send your "waste" to be recycled into something you later might purchase! School is back which means more small bags of chips which means more waste but what if you started collecting those bags which could be turned into your most favorite backpack ever! This year make a box which could be placed in the garage or kitchen write on it bags of chips. Now every bag of chips you eat once you have finished lay it flat in your recycle box. After you have collected all your bags click here (you will have to make a account), and get a shipping label which is sent to TerraCycle. Next thing you know you will see your chip bags marketed as a backpack, pencil case and more! You can purchase recycled school supplies by clicking here. I love that each backpack is unique so my kids always know that is there backpack. TerraCycle not only helps the environment by recycling waste it also makes eco-friendly products to clean the home. I was able to test out TerraCycle Bathroom Cleaner which I was in shock of how well it worked. I love that it did not have a harsh odor so I was able to really scrub and not have to take breaks to breath as most harmful chemicals make it hard to do. TerraCycle has a long line of cleaners they even have repellents to keep animals such as deer out of your yard, without harming the deer or the human. Disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned in this post to help facilitate my review. All opinions are mine and I was not influenced in any way. Please contact Casey@themeparkmamablog.com with any questions.

Students and teachers at Keene’s Crossing Elementary reached the third level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s 2013-14 Drink Pouch Brigade milestone program by collecting more than 40,000 drink pouches to be recycled. For its accomplishment, the school won a vinyl banner announcing its achievement, TerraCycle wristbands and a storage bin that can be used for more collections. The students also earned close to $2,000 for KCES by collecting the drink pouches. The school is one of only 17 in the nation to earn this achievement.

Despite the fact that their school closed this year, Concord Elementary School students earned more than $1,300 by collecting and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom Concord students achieved this milestone by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches through the TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest. It is a free recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle. Surplus funds that Concord Elementary PTO has raised will go to the North Clackamas Education Foundation, which will administer teacher grants for elementary school teachers within the Rex Putnam High School feeder system. Sondra Mitchell, Concord PTO co-president, and other organizers are aiming to replicate the program at public schools that Concord Elementary kids are going to next year. "We're very excited at how successful it was and hope to continue it at another school," she said. "Leftover student funds from Concord are going to support outdoor school for Concord Alumni sixth graders at Alder Creek Middle School next year." Mitchell, who will have a fourth-grader and a first-grader next year, was so upset by the School Board's vote to close Concord that she considered moving her children to a private school. But she let her kids choose betwwen a private school and their neighborhood school, Bilquist, one of four remaining elementary schools in the Rex Putnam feeder system. "They both decided to go to Bilquist, so we will see how it goes," she said. The Milestone Program began in September 2013 when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts. Now, in addition to the money they earn for each piece of waste collected, participants can win prizes made from recycled drink pouches, such as park benches, recycling bins and a playground. To learn more about the program or to sign up, visit terracycle.com. The program is free to any interested organization or individual, and all shipping costs are paid.

The US City of New Orleans and the city’s Downtown Development District (DDD) are launching a pilot program to collect and recycle cigarette butts using an extension of TerraCycle’s Cigarette Waste Brigade – a nationwide, mail-in recycling program that is sponsored by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co, according to a NACS (Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing) story. New Orleans is the first city in the US to implement a city-wide collection system, which launched last week with the installation of 50 new cigarette-recycling receptacles on several blocks in the city’s Downtown District. Cigarette butts collected through the nationwide program are recycled into a variety of industrial products, such as plastic pallets. Any remaining tobacco is subjected to tobacco-specific composting methods. The entire program is free to the city and its tax-payers, as TerraCycle supplies the receptacles and Santa Fe, through the Cigarette Waste Brigade, covers the ongoing program costs. Additionally, for every pound of cigarette waste collected, $4 is to be donated to the DDD to help fund green jobs throughout the city.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In New Orleans, discarded butts are being turned into something useful. The first of 50 cigarette butt recycling receptacles was installed at a downtown intersection Monday. Developers of the program say New Orleans is the first U.S. city to participate in a large-scale recycling effort launched in Canada last year. Trenton, New Jersey- based recycling company TerraCycle Inc. developed the program in 2012. The first citywide receptacles were placed in Vancouver, British Columbia, in November 2013. "Globally we have collected 25 million butts since November of 2012," said company spokesman Albe Zakes, adding that the company is in talks with officials in Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, Phoenix and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Officials with the New Orleans Downtown Development District said joining the program was a no-brainer. Smokers flock to curbside trash bins and public benches for nicotine fixes, and smoking is still allowed in bars that do not serve food. The downtown area is just blocks from the French Quarter and is home to the huge Harrah's Casino. That adds up to a lot of cigarette butts. District president and CEO Kurt Weigle said a one-day sweep in 2011 turned up nearly 7,000 cigarette butts downtown. According to TerraCycle, New Orleans will be paid $4 for each pound of cigarette waste collected. The organic materials, such as tobacco and paper, are composted. Cigarette filters, though they look and feel like fiber, are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic. Once collected, they are shredded and bio-toxins removed with the use of gamma radiation, Zakes said. "It's the same exact process used on fish and other meats to assure there are no bio-contaminants, so it is very safe," Zakes said. The filters are then melted into plastic pellets for industrial use in the same way a plastic bottle would be recycled, Zakes said. "We only use the pellets for industrial applications, such as plastic lumber and plastic shipping pallets," he said. "We don't make any consumer products from this material, mostly because of the stigma around butts." Outside a patio bar and restaurant about a block from where the first receptacle was installed Monday, 23-year-old Ryan Schumacher puffed on a cigarette and said the receptacles may help break some "bad habits." Schumacher said he's among many smokers guilty of throwing cigarette butts on the ground. "I'm happy that we have somewhere to put our cigarette butts now," he said, but added that there will be smokers who just don't care. "There's still going to be the people who are stubborn about it and just throw it on the ground because that's what they're used to doing." Weigle said he is hopeful the receptacles will get used to help keep downtown clean, improve the quality of life for residents and visitors alike and promote environmental awareness. "That's something that's important to us and our stakeholders, so every chance we get to become a greener downtown, we grasp it," he said.