Through the month of April TerraCycle products will be available at Walmart locations nationwide. The best part about the partnership with Walmart is that the TerraCycle items are being sold in the same section of products from which they were made. From backpacks made from drink containers to totes made from chip packaging, TerraCycle takes recycling to a whole new level. The company specializes in affordable eco-friendly products that are created with materials that are typically non-recyclable. With help from individuals all throughout the country, TerraCycle runs a national collection program that pays schools and non-profits for collecting used packaging materials like energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, and cookie wrappers. The items are then turned from waste into high quality products including bags, holiday bows, shower curtains, clocks, corkboards, and more.

With a blockbuster deal announced yesterdayafternoon, in a modification of the age-old adage,TerraCycle’s trash has become Walmart’s treasure. The Trenton-based manufacturing firm said a large number ofits products, all made from recycled packaging material,will be available for sale at Walmart stores nationwide. Thedeal is a huge step up for the rapidly growing city firm. “We’ve done enough good business with them in thepast that this is them giving us our shot at the bigtime,” said Albe Zakes, the company’s vicepresident of communications. “This is a majoropportunity for TerraCycle. If it goes extremely well, thenit means that Walmart is going to want to do more businesswith us.” The products will be sold in 3,429 Walmart locations nationwide.

Whether you were in one of the PTA groups in question or the recipient being hassled by them for your trash (i.e.: empty juice pouches, snack wrappers, etc.) for the past year, all of that pestering and collecting of non-recyclable waste has finally payed off. That trash has been turned into some very useful products by TerraCycleand they’re now available in every Walmart in the US throughout the month of April! The 40th Anniversary of Earth day has rumbled some excitement among our “big box” manufacturers and retailers; finally we have huge companies like Kraft and Walmart getting in tow with small upcycling companies, namely TerraCycle, to close the life cycle loop of items destined for the landfill.

Look out, it’s nearly the 40th anniversary of Earth Day (now a month-long affair) and companies everywhere will be grasping at tenuous links to the occasion, vying for the green in your pocketbook. And what are we doing? A green pop up shop , of course, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, in the heart of the busiest part of New York. We are doing this in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance and NY’s Fashion Center Business Improvement District, which is trying very hard to bring more sustainable businesses and retailers to New York. Is this a wise thing for a green business to be doing? After all, creating a short lived store space, then carting off and disposing of all the related materials that went into making it can be quite wasteful. Pop up shops have been largely used by big companies in metro areas in hopes of drawing people out into the suburbs where their full time store is, encouraging additional driving. Why would a sustainability-focused business like ours do such a thing?

TRENTON -- With a blockbuster deal announced yesterday afternoon, in a modification of the age-old adage, TerraCycle's trash has become Walmart's treasure. The Trenton-based manufacturing firm said a large number of its products, all made from recycled packaging material, will be available for sale at Walmart stores nationwide. The deal is a huge step up for the rapidly growing city firm. "We've done enough good business with them in the past that this is them giving us our shot at the big time," said Albe Zakes, the company's vice president of communications. "This is a major opportunity for TerraCycle. If it goes extremely well, then it means that Walmart is going to want to do more business with us."

Those cute little Capri Sun purses and pencil cases you see in boutiques and Target, come from the juice pouches your little ones drink!  Don't throw those pouches away, your school can get 2 cents a pouch!   Totally awesome right? Now I will admit it can get a little messy, as I am the one in charge of cleaning them, but it is well worth it in the end: 1. We bring in cash for new school supplies and 2. We are making the earth a little cleaner. Go to your school's PTA and ask if your school is a part of the Terra-cycle program. New to the Terra-cycle program is the Elmer's Glue Crew!   Which come on, what school doesn't use a lot of Elmer's Glue? And at 2 cents a container!  WOW!  Find out more here! The best part of the Terra-cycle program is you can get your whole family involved!

This morning I went outside to check the weather and guess what I found..... a box with the word Terracycle on it.Yay!!!! My contest winning has arrived. I opened the box ..... and here is what was inside!

Ireland exports one and a half million tons of non-hazardous waste every year. Later this month the Department of the Environment will hold a one day forum to encourage business entrepreneurs to ‘upcycle’, to turn that waste into new products that people want.

Speaking at that seminar will be a 28 year old American, Tom Szaky who dropped out of Princeton university to set up Terracycle which is now one of the fastest growing companies in America. I’ll be talking to tom in a few minutes time.

We’re just beginning to talk about the smart green economy in Ireland but Valerie Cox has been to look at a company in Castlebellingham in Co Louth which has taken ‘upcycling’ on board.

Egads, almost three years ago now, I wrote about a New Jersey company (woo-hoo, go Jersey!) called Terracycle that uses discarded stuff of all sorts — discarded technology accessories, empty juice packs and so on — to create stuff like flower pots and tote bags (like the ones pictured below).

While many think of changing their habits on Earth Day, we bet you’re probably in the know and are taking green strides all month. It is Earth Month, after all! To make it easier for you to incorporate more fashionable green choices into your lifestyle, TerraCycle is hosting The Greenup! – a pop-up shop that opened on March 27th in New York City and will continue to be open until the end of April.