Se trata (de nuevo) de una historia de éxito empresarial salida precozmente de una universidad estadounidense. Terracycle se fraguó en primer curso de Económicas de Princeton hace nueve años y en estos días llegará a España. La compañía se dedica con una sencillez pasmosa a lo que hasta ahora parecía imposible de realizar. Es la pieza que faltaba en el reciclaje de millones de productos de consumo que cada día terminan en incineradoras y vertederos de muchos países europeos. Terracycle, a diferencia de los sistemas públicos de reciclaje de envases, “lo recicla todo”.

I love TerraCycle!  From turning Capri Sun and other drink pouches into purses to recycling Solo plastic cups, TerraCycle makes it fun and easy to recycle items that are normally difficult to recycle. Now TerraCycle has teamed up with Old Navy for their Flip-Flop Brigade!   Old flip-flops can be recycled and upcycled into all sorts of things, although they usually wind up in landfills.   It's super easy to donate your old flip-flops.  It doesn't matter if they're dirty, broken, or very worn -- all you have to do is stop by an Old Navy store and drop them in a box near the front of the store.  After the program is over, Old Navy will send the boxes off to TerraCycle, where they will turn them into playgrounds!  A few schools or community organizations who participate in TerraCycle Brigades will be the recipients of these upcycled playgrounds.

As I’ve built TerraCycle, one of my priorities has been maintaining our unusual company culture. While I don’t believe in overdoing it — we have no pool tables, yoga studios or climbing walls — I have found a few affordable yet surprisingly effective ways to build morale and have some fun. 1. LUNCH: About a year ago we adopted a lunch program whereby we order lunch from a nearby restaurant for participating employees, changing up the menu every day. We ask for a $4 contribution per person, but the company picks up the rest. We bought plates and installed a dishwasher. The effect on productivity has been amazing. Instead of various teams taking long one- or two-hour lunch breaks (where people have to drive to a local restaurant, wait to order and then eat) everyone grabs lunch, eats and typically is back at their desks within 20 minutes or so. Funny how spending about $6 per person (on top of the $4 employee contribution) can make a difference.

CARBONDALE - Going green can be as easy as slipping off an old pair of flip flops and popping them into a collection bin. Thanks to a promotion by TerraCycle, an international upcycling and recycling company, and clothing giant Old Navy, used flip flops can be recycled and turned into playground equipment. The promotion is an example of upcycling, or converting previously hard-to-recycle materials into new materials or products. The nationwide program began Friday and will continue through May 21 at any Old Navy store, including the Carbondale location. Old Navy shoppers can deposit their used flip flops in colorful collection bins found inside the stores. TerraCycle will then recycle the flip-flops into playgrounds, which will be donated to communities around the country. By bringing in these hard-to-recycle products to their local stores, consumers help keep waste out of their community landfills, according to a TerraCycle release.

One of the activities that many of Michigan Green Schools participate in is the recycling of used packaging and products such as chip bags, candy wrappers and juice pouches. The waste is collected through TerraCycle's Brigade program (www.terracycle.net), which pays the schools and nonprofits for their efforts and then recycles the material into cool products.

With funding in short supply across Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, folks are looking everywhere for extra money. Bain Elementary School Art Teacher Carrie Vizzini has found a creative way to earn a little extra money for her school. Through the TerraCycle program, available to any nonprofit, she's turning school trash into cash. Since Vizzini pioneered the program at Bain in August of 2009, the school has received almost $2,500 from empty juice pouches, cookie and chip bags, plastic sandwich bags, energy bar wrappers, empty pens and markers, and other items. She got the idea after buying a carton of juice pouches for her four-year-old daughter, Mia. "I saw the TerraCycle website on the side of the carton and I looked it up online. When I thought about all the recyclable items that our students throw away everyday, I knew it would be a great idea. We could keep all that trash out of the landfill and earn money for our school," said Vizzini.

Cinco de Mayo is right around the cornor, Monroe! The Mexican holiday is all about feasting on spicy and tangy dishes as well as dancing to vibrant melodies. This is the perfect opportunity to prepare and enjoy some new meals that are loaded with spicy flavor. Spice up your menu and try the following meal ideas that a good friend of mine from Mission Foods has shared with me for celebrating Cinco de Mayo:

To commemorate Earth Day this weekend, Old Navy and Office Depot location in Pasadena have partnered with TerraCycle The Old Navy and Office Depot locations in the Pasadena area have teamed up with my company, TerraCycle to provide local consumers a chance to recycle starting Friday and lasting through May 21. Shopper can drop of their used pens and flip-flops to Pasadena Office Depot and Old Navy locations which will then be recycled by TerraCycle into playgrounds to be donated to communities around the U.S. Between April 17-23, ten used pens, markers or mechanical pencils to Office Depot will earn shoppers a coupon towards new Sanford products (Sharpie, Expo, PaperMate). Used writing instruments will be sent to TerraCycle will recycle the used writing utensils into new office products like trash cans and desk organizers.

Old Navy stores, including its location at the Laurel Mall near Hazleton, are celebrating Earth Day with the kickoff of "The Flip-Flop Replay" campaign on Friday.

Old Navy Public Relations Manager Stacey Cusack said shoppers can deposit their used flip flops in the colorful collection bins found inside any Old Navy store. TerraCycle, a Trenton, New Jersey-based company that provides free waste collection, will then recycle the flip-flops into playgrounds which will be donated to communities around the country.