I watched the conveyor belt whiz past and recognized the brand of toothbrush I use. And was that the same takeout sushi container I get all the time? Could those plastic items heading to the landfill have been mine? As the founder of Sea Hugger, a nonprofit organization working to protect the marine environment from plastic pollution, I was invited to tour Recology’s San Francisco Recycling Center to see how the recycling process works. Recology is employee-owned and committed to recycling as much waste as possible. But with the average American producing 4.4 pounds of trash per day, the sheer volume of materials that pass through the facility is astounding. According to Robert Reed, Recology’s Public Relations Manager, “Six hundred tons of material comes through the tipping floor each day, that’s equivalent to the weight of 38 Muni buses.” Recology said the most efficient way to manage our waste isn’t to rely on recycling; it is to consume fewer single-use items. I stood on that tipping floor and saw those muni bus-sized piles of rubbish spilling out of Recology’s trucks into a massive jumble of paper, plastic, glass, and metal. The beep beep beep of the reversing trucks and the cacophony of crashes, crunches, and breaking glass assaulted my ears. As did the unpleasant odor; it was as if I had stepped into my recycling bin. We left the tipping floor and climbed a flight of stairs to the landing of the first conveyor belt where the initial sorting is done by hand. The conveyor belt moved at high speed as five sorters stood on each side grabbing plastic bags and tossing them into a shoot marked Landfill. Now that China stopped buying our recyclables, the plastic wholesale market has dropped from $120 to just $5 a ton, and there is no market for plastic bags, which despite being banned in San Francisco in 2007, were found throughout the facility in startling numbers. The second stage of the sorting involved an optical sorting machine that shot a blast of air when it identified a piece of plastic ejecting it into a large bin for baling. There are two issues here: first, the optics cannot identify black plastic on the black conveyor belt; and second, no small items (straws, utensils, lids, stirrers, etc.) are recognized by the optics. Off to the landfill they go. I hear the excuse all the time, “I use single-use plastic, but I recycle it, so it’s OK.” Unfortunately, that is not the truth. Approximately 91% of all plastic waste ever created has never been recycled. I witnessed this shocking statistic while standing alongside the conveyor belt. There is no way to ensure that everything you place in your recycling bin and wheel to the curb each week is actually getting recycled. “Low oil prices make it cheaper for companies to just make plastic from scratch,” according to TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. There is little incentive to use recycled materials, and even if all plastic was recycled, it is made from crude oil and cannot be recycled indefinitely. At some point it is discarded, takes centuries to degrade, and current scientific research shows it is toxic to us and our environment. Are we really OK with this? We are at the tipping point. We now know that plastic exists in one form or another forever and has caused severe damage to our oceans. An estimated 100 million aquatic animals die every year because they mistake plastic debris for food. If this does not disturb you, consider that microplastic (plastic pieces less than five millimeters long) has been found in our water supply, soil, salt, beer, seafood, bottled water, and has recently been discovered in human feces. Marine plastic is impacting our food chain and as it breaks down, releases greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. Furthermore, the health of the ocean is unequivocally vital to the health of our planet. Americans consume twice as much as those in developing nations, and our buying patterns affect what large corporations offer. If we demand change, support ecologically responsible companies, and replace our consumables with reusables, our collective voice will be heard. A great example of this is when the public’s demand for organic produce and ingredients persuaded mainstream food producers to offer more organic options. As one of the wealthiest nations, Americans have a lot of power to affect change. If the pen is mightier than the sword, then the wallet is mightier than the corporate board. Let’s stop assuming we can recycle our way out of the plastic pollution epidemic and refuse, rethink, and reuse. We caused this problem. Together we can fix it. Shell Cleave is the founder of Sea Hugger, a nonprofit organization based in Half Moon Bay, CA is focused on eliminating marine plastic pollution.

Building on its commitment to developing sustainable laundry solutions, Tide announced its strategic partnership with international recycling leader TerraCycle. This will allow the new Tide Eco-Box packaging to be 100 percent recyclable from bag to box. The new Tide Eco-Box is designed to be environmentally friendly. Its new ultra-concentrated Tide formula is produced with 30 percent less water, and its package has 60 percent less plastic than the equivalent bottled size. The boxed design doesn’t require wasteful secondary packaging and takes up less space than the equivalent bottle, which means fewer trucks needed to transport it to stores. “TerraCycle is the logical next step for us, because we want to ensure that not only is the product designed for more eco-friendly shipping and usage, but that every element of it is 100 percent recyclable, and recyclable through a very seamless process,” said Procter & Gamble Brand Manager Isaac Hellemn in a statement. Through the Tide Eco-Box Recycling Program, consumers can recycle all of the packaging from the Eco-Box for free. Once finished with the Eco-Box, consumers can separate any plastic waste from the cardboard box and mail it in using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the plastic is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. Additionally, for every pound of waste shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a nonprofit, school or charitable organization of their choice. “Each year, more than 79 percent of waste that ends up in landfills has the potential to be recycled,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky in a statement. “TerraCycle, in association with companies like Tide, works every day to reduce that number and integrate single-use packaging into new products.” The Tide Eco-Box Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office or community organization.

Jesuit High School in Portland is trying change that for their families. The private, Catholic school has an ambitious plan to become a “zero waste” school. It means everything that would come on campus could either be composted, recycled or repurposed into something else. Recycling is already front and center in their cafeterias. There’s the normal receptacles for paper and cans. But new bins collect odd plastics brought from home by students. Those can’t go to the city curbside. They are destined for a conveyor belt across the country in New Jersey. A revolutionary company called Terra Cycle is teaming up with schools and businesses nationwide to get those drink pouches or markers shipped here. They’re shredded into tiny bits, then pummeled into pellets. Those pellets are bought by other companies to be made into new plastic products: gardening or garbage cans, frisbees, plates, the options are endless. “Ideally we’re going towards becoming a zero waste school, which is a huge undertaking because it means everything we take into the school has an end purpose and an end life,” said Jesuit physics teacher Jennie Kuenz, who’s headed up the recycling program. It’s become a movement that kids are getting behind. A few years ago, the school started an environmental science elective class. Grace Wetzler is a junior and has taken the class. “We made a water filter and studied micro-plastics in the ocean and that kind of inspired me to look at what we throw away and how that pretty much ends up in the ocean,” she said. Alex Guitteiu, a senior, agrees. “Yeah it’s definitely a mindset shift. I think it has to do with your perception of when you throw something away, what happens to that.” “You can see students applying what they have learned and internalizing it and recognizing that their decisions actually matter,” says Kuenz. Becoming zero waste will realistically be a 10-year process, but Jesuit could become the first Oregon school to do it. They’re already switching to refillable dry erase markers, looking at pumps instead of packets for ketchup and mustard, and yes, straws are going bye-bye.

Building on its commitment to developing sustainable laundry solutions, Tide is proud to announce its strategic partnership with international recycling leader TerraCycle. This will allow the new Tide Eco-Box packaging to be 100% recyclable from bag to box. The new Tide Eco-Box is designed to be environmentally friendly. Its new ultra-concentrated Tide formula is produced with 30% less water, and its package has 60% less plastic than the equivalent bottled size. The innovative boxed design doesn’t require wasteful secondary packaging and takes up less space than the equivalent bottle, which means fewer trucks needed to transport it to stores. “TerraCycle is the logical next step for us, because we want to ensure that not only is the product designed for more eco-friendly shipping and usage, but that every element of it is 100% recyclable, and recyclable through a very seamless process,” said P&G Brand Manager Isaac Hellemn. Through the Tide Eco-Box Recycling Program, consumers can recycle all of the packaging from the Eco-Box for free. Participants are invited to sign up on the program page at www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/tide-eco-box. Once finished with the Eco-Box, separate any plastic waste from the cardboard box and mail it in using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the plastic is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. Additionally, for every pound of waste shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice. To recycle the corrugated cardboard box, participants can enter their address into the interactive map at teracycle.com and search for available recycling options, including TerraCycle drop-off locations and municipal recycling programs. “Each year, more than 79 percent of waste that ends up in landfills has the potential to be recycled,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “TerraCycle, in association with companies like Tide, works every day to reduce that number and integrate single-use packaging into new products.”

Pensando nas gerações futuras e nas questões socioambientais, o Núcleo de Sustentabilidade do Tribunal de Justiça de Mato Grosso encerrou nessa semana a primeira etapa do projeto “Reescreva a história do planeta”.

Building on its commitment to developing sustainable laundry solutions, Tide is proud to announce its strategic partnership with international recycling leader TerraCycle. This will allow the new Tide Eco-Box packaging to be 100% recyclable from bag to box. The new Tide Eco-Box is designed to be environmentally friendly. Its new ultra-concentrated Tide formula is produced with 30% less water, and its package has 60% less plastic than the equivalent bottled size. The innovative boxed design doesn’t require wasteful secondary packaging and takes up less space than the equivalent bottle, which means fewer trucks needed to transport it to stores. “TerraCycle is the logical next step for us, because we want to ensure that not only is the product designed for more eco-friendly shipping and usage, but that every element of it is 100% recyclable, and recyclable through a very seamless process,” said P&G Brand Manager Isaac Hellemn. Through the Tide Eco-Box Recycling Program, consumers can recycle all of the packaging from the Eco-Box for free. Participants are invited to sign up on the program page at https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/tide-eco-box. Once finished with the Eco-Box, separate any plastic waste from the cardboard box and mail it in using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the plastic is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. Additionally, for every pound of waste shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice. To recycle the corrugated cardboard box, participants can enter their address into the interactive map at terracycle.com and search for available recycling options, including TerraCycle drop-off locations and municipal recycling programs. “Each year, more than 79 percent of waste that ends up in landfills has the potential to be recycled,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “TerraCycle, in association with companies like Tide, works every day to reduce that number and integrate single-use packaging into new products.” The Tide Eco-Box Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization. For more information on TerraCycle’s recycling program, visit www.terracycle.com. About Procter & Gamble P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands. About TerraCycle TerraCycle is an innovative waste management company with a mission to eliminate the idea of waste®. Operating nationally across 21 countries, TerraCycle partners with leading consumer product companies, retailers, cities, and facilities to recycle products and packages, from dirty diapers to cigarette butts, that would otherwise end up being landfilled or incinerated. In addition, TerraCycle works with leading consumer product companies to integrate hard to recycle waste streams, such as ocean plastic, into their products and packaging. TerraCycle has won over 200 awards for sustainability and has donated over $25 million to schools and charities since its founding 15 years ago. To learn more about TerraCycle or get involved in its recycling programs, please visit www.terracycle.com.

Diaper manufacturer Procter and Gamble is partnering with AEB, TerraCycleand FaterSMART to use innovative diaper recycling bins for the collection of used diapers in Amsterdam. The pilot  program, first of its kind worldwide, is facilitated by the Municipality of Amsterdam. to help the partners learn from families what works for them in separating diaper waste.  Recent research among Dutch parents shows that almost 70% of families would participate in a diaper recycling project and that 82% of Dutch parents would not mind separating their diaper waste from other waste. In addition, half of the Dutch parents say they feel that establishing a viable diaper recycling program is primarily the responsibility of diaper producers. The pilot program will involve about 200 and 10 diaper recycling bins in two neighborhoods in Amsterdam—Amsterdam Zuidoost and Amsterdam Oost. Parents can deposit diaper waste from all brands in the bins at locations they often visit, such as nurseries and drug stores. The bins, designed by TerraCycle and can be opened by parents with a special Pampers Recycling app. The app also shows the location of the nearest bin. The advanced diaper recycling technique that will be introduced in the Netherlands in the future was developed and patented by FaterSMART, a business unit of Fater, a joint venture of Procter & Gamble and Angelini Group (the manufacturer of Pampers in Italy). This machine uses high temperature and steam under pressure to separate human waste from the diaper materials. It sterilizes the products and neutralizes the odor. A specific mechanical system separates plastic, cellulose and super absorbent material from each other, and these raw materials are used to produce new materials. For example, cellulose is used for the production of fabric bags, the superabsorbent material is used in various moisture-absorbing products and plastic produces diaper pails or bottle caps.  The technology is currently already being used on an industrial scale in Italy and will be introduced in Amsterdam as the first city in the Netherlands and in the first place outside Italy, in collaboration with AEB.  

Building on its commitment to developing sustainable laundry solutions, Tide is proud to announce its strategic partnership with international recycler TerraCycle. This will allow the new Tide Eco-Box packaging to be 100 percent recyclable from bag to box, according to TerraCycle. The new Tide Eco-Box is designed to be environmentally friendly. Its new ultra-concentrated Tide formula is produced with 30% less water, and its package has 60% less plastic than the equivalent bottled size. The innovative boxed design doesn't require wasteful secondary packaging and takes up less space than the equivalent bottle, which means fewer trucks needed to transport it to stores. "TerraCycle is the logical next step for us, because we want to ensure that not only is the product designed for more eco-friendly shipping and usage, but that every element of it is 100% recyclable, and recyclable through a very seamless process," said P&G Brand Manager Isaac Hellemn. Through the Tide Eco-Box Recycling Program, consumers can recycle all of the packaging from the Eco-Box for free. Participants are invited to sign up on the program page at this LINK.  Once finished with the Eco-Box, users separate any plastic waste from the cardboard box and mail it in using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the plastic is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. Additionally, for every pound of waste shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice. To recycle the corrugated cardboard box, participants can enter their address into the interactive map at teracycle.com and search for available recycling options, including TerraCycle drop-off locations and municipal recycling programs. "Each year, more than 79 percent of waste that ends up in landfills has the potential to be recycled," said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. "TerraCycle, in association with companies like Tide, works every day to reduce that number and integrate single-use packaging into new products." The Tide Eco-Box Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization. For more information on TerraCycle's recycling program, visit www.terracycle.com. Procter & Gamble, which manufactures TIDE, is one of over a dozen brands which have partnered with TerraCycle on the recently launched Loop - a new packaging model launched in the U.S. and France. Loop, debuted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland at the end of January, is a new shopping system and the first of its kind to offer hundreds of name brand products in reusable and refillable packaging. The pilot program is expected to launch this spring in the Paris metro area and the New York City area - including parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.