TerraCycle APAC general manager Eric Kawabata said the issue is that most fast-moving consumer goods were designed for single-use, with packaging ending in landfill or incineration. His company aims to eliminate the idea of waste by collecting waste materials and using them to create new products. His organization has already partnered with cosmetic companies such as Garnier, Colgate-Palmolive, and P&G.

Eco eye-opener: Americans use enough plastic water bottles in a single year to circle the Earth 350 times. You’ve no doubt seen the stats and lingered on photos depicting litter-strewn beaches and plastic-plagued fish on your newsfeed. 2018 was the year the world woke up to the plastic pollution crisis, and businesses, governments, and citizens responded to the call to find creative solutions to this overwhelming problem. At the rate we are tossing plastic water bottles, cups, bags, cutlery, and other one-offs, by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean, according to an estimate from the World Economic Forum. Scary stuff.   By making a few simple and sustainable (read: responsible and consistent) swaps, you can effortlessly slash your plastic footprint in 2019. Not sure where to start? Kick off your plastic diet with these eight reusable wonders.

Cool Sips

  EverDelights Stainless Steel Travel Straw Set with Wooden Cases, $20.99 Plastic straws are quickly becoming public enemy number one as scores of businesses rightfully eliminate them in an effort to cut down on plastic waste. Still, they arguably make sipping a favorite beverage even more enjoyable. Rather than reconcile yourself to an eternity of sucking down smoothies and iced matcha lattes sans straw, invest in a reusable set. These sleek stainless straws come with wooden cases for taking them on-the-go and brushes for keeping them clean.       Brita Monterey with Longlast™ Filter, $39.99 Investing in a reusable water bottle is an essential way to stem your use of single-use plastic. But what if you don’t like the taste of your tap water? Enter the 10-cup capacity Brita Monterey Pitcher. Its Longlast™ filter reduces odors, impurities, and contaminants like a boss, delivering up to 120 gallons of delicious water, so you can ditch disposables and stay fully hydrated. In one year, you can save 1,800 disposable 16-ounce bottles from ending up in landfills and oceans with just two Longlast™ filters. And those filters? TerraCycle recycles them into chairs, bike racks, park benches and more!         Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain Plus 850-Watt Juice Extractor, $145 You can breathe a sigh of relief—you don’t have to kick your green juice habit for the greater good. If your go-to juice joint relies on plastic bottles to serve up its sips, juicing under your own roof will drastically clip the amount of plastic you consume—and the dough you dish out—on the regular. This Breville version extracts 8 ounces of juice in about 5 seconds, so you can DIY and still be at work on time. The planet (and your wallet) will thank you.

Hot Sips

  KeepCup Brew Cup, $26 Less than 1 percent of the billions of disposable coffee cups used every year are recycled. This mostly comes down to the way they’re made, which prevents them from being recycled at standard plants. Coffee cup manufacturers and coffee chains are working on finding sustainable solutions, but the best fix now is to bring along a tumbler as you get your caffeine fix. Many coffee spots will even knock a few cents off the price of your latte for bringing in your own mug. It’s a win-win.   The Swag Tea Swag Set, $9.69 If you assumed all tea bags were compostable, think again. Many are sealed with polypropylene, a type of plastic. Who knew? If you needed an excuse to finally make the switch to loose leaf, this is it. These reusable organic cotton pouches can pull double duty — use them to steep a relaxing herbal infusion or bundle up herbs to flavor soups and stews.

Sustainable Storage

  Reusable Silicone Storage Bags - Multi Pack, $53.96 Plastic baggies are so retro. Made from silicone, Stasher’s storage bags are a smart alternative to standard sandwich and freezer bags. These bad boys hold everything plastic pouches can, without the eco impact. They’re endlessly reusable, handle stints in the freezer (good news for meal planning enthusiasts), and hack it under heat—up to 400F.   ECOBAGS® Market Collection Organic Mesh Drawstring Bag, $6.34 We’ve all been there—stuck in the produce aisle wrangling with those flimsy green plastic bags that seem like they were created for the sole purpose of giving store employees a good laugh. And if that weren’t offensive enough, the bags are barely used before ending up in the trash bin (and often ultimately in our seas). Reusable drawstring bags put an end to both dramas in one swift cinch. It’s the little things in life.   Bee’s Wrap Clover Print – Assorted Set of 3, $19 It seems like a benign everyday essential, but plastic wrap is well, wasteful. It’s convenient for covering leftovers and potluck meals, true, but trust us when we say you’ll be happy to see it go. Beeswax wraps are natural and reusable alternatives that use the warmth of your hands to soften the wrap and create a seal. The breathable material also boasts antibacterial qualities that help keep food fresh. Easy as that, you cut plastic and food waste.   So while the plastic pollution crisis can feel overwhelming, the solutions to it are refreshingly doable and specific. Whether filtering water instead of buying a bottle or reusable-bagging it at the grocery store, working these micro-habits into your day will soon become second nature–and they’re as good for you as they are Mama Earth.

Gottschalk Music Center in Old Town Clovis will be hosting a free restring and recycling event this Saturday.   Sponsored by D’Addario, a musical instrument manufacturing company, the public is invited to bring old instrument strings for recycling and get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with new, free D’Addario strings.   The old strings collected will be recycled through Playback, D’Addaroio’s free, national recycling program, which also happens to be the world’s first instrument string recycling program.   “Instrument strings have been a huge waste for us in the past, and it’s great that D’Addario has teamed up with TerraCycle to provide a program for dealers that confronts this issue,” says Gottschalk Music Center Manager Jeremy Bergmann. “We are looking to minimize landfill usage by collecting used instrument strings, regardless of brand, for recycling.”   The program was launched through a partnership between D’Addario and international recycling company TerraCycle. The program is also a part of D’Addario’s Players Circle loyalty program that allows registered users to recycle their used stings in exchange for extra Players Circle Points, which can be used towards merchandise or donated to the D’Addario Foundation.   The recycling event will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m at Gottschalk Music Center at 328 Pollasky Avenue in Clovis.  

Late July Snacks, Norwalk, Connecticut, and TerraCycle, Trenton, New Jersey, have teamed up to offer consumers a free, easy way to recycle packaging from the snack company’s entire product line.   Late July bills itself as a mindful brand that offers organic and nongenetically modified (non-GMO) ingredients.   “Based on the huge success of the recycling envelope program we offered through TerraCycle, we’re thrilled to expand into a free recycling program that will give consumers nationwide the opportunity to recycle even more Late July snack packaging,” says Theresa Miller, director of Late July. “Since our inception in 2003, our mission has been to provide consumers with organic, non-GMO snacks that the whole family will love. Through our new partnership with TerraCycle, we can add national recyclability to our promise.”   TerraCycle and Late July’s recycling program began as an envelope program. Now, rather than request an envelope to mail in the company’s packaging, consumers must first sign up on the TerraCycle program page at www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/latejulysnacks, and then they can mail in the packaging in any box or envelope using a prepaid shipping label generated from the website.   Once collected, the packaging is cleaned processed into a rigid plastic that can be molded into new recycled products.   Additionally, for every 2 pounds of material shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a nonprofit, school or charitable organization of their choice.   “Thanks to companies like Late July, consumers can enjoy their favorite snacks while being rewarded for doing the right thing,” says TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “Through the expansion of the program, consumers have an opportunity to divert even more packaging from landfills, as well as provide material for the manufacture of new products.”   The Late July Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office or community organization.

Late July Snacks, Norwalk, Connecticut, and TerraCycle, Trenton, New Jersey, have teamed up to offer consumers a free, easy way to recycle packaging from the snack company’s entire product line.   Late July bills itself as a mindful brand that offers organic and nongenetically modified (non-GMO) ingredients.   “Based on the huge success of the recycling envelope program we offered through TerraCycle, we’re thrilled to expand into a free recycling program that will give consumers nationwide the opportunity to recycle even more Late July snack packaging,” says Theresa Miller, director of Late July. “Since our inception in 2003, our mission has been to provide consumers with organic, non-GMO snacks that the whole family will love. Through our new partnership with TerraCycle, we can add national recyclability to our promise.”   TerraCycle and Late July’s recycling program began as an envelope program. Now, rather than request an envelope to mail in the company’s packaging, consumers must first sign up on the TerraCycle program page at www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/latejulysnacks, and then they can mail in the packaging in any box or envelope using a prepaid shipping label generated from the website.   Once collected, the packaging is cleaned processed into a rigid plastic that can be molded into new recycled products.   Additionally, for every 2 pounds of material shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a nonprofit, school or charitable organization of their choice.   “Thanks to companies like Late July, consumers can enjoy their favorite snacks while being rewarded for doing the right thing,” says TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “Through the expansion of the program, consumers have an opportunity to divert even more packaging from landfills, as well as provide material for the manufacture of new products.”   The Late July Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office or community organization.

Late July Snacks, Norwalk, Connecticut, and TerraCycle, Trenton, New Jersey, have teamed up to offer consumers a free, easy way to recycle packaging from the snack company’s entire product line.   Late July bills itself as a mindful brand that offers organic and nongenetically modified (non-GMO) ingredients.   “Based on the huge success of the recycling envelope program we offered through TerraCycle, we’re thrilled to expand into a free recycling program that will give consumers nationwide the opportunity to recycle even more Late July snack packaging,” says Theresa Miller, director of Late July. “Since our inception in 2003, our mission has been to provide consumers with organic, non-GMO snacks that the whole family will love. Through our new partnership with TerraCycle, we can add national recyclability to our promise.”   TerraCycle and Late July’s recycling program began as an envelope program. Now, rather than request an envelope to mail in the company’s packaging, consumers must first sign up on the TerraCycle program page at www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/latejulysnacks, and then they can mail in the packaging in any box or envelope using a prepaid shipping label generated from the website.   Once collected, the packaging is cleaned processed into a rigid plastic that can be molded into new recycled products.   Additionally, for every 2 pounds of material shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a nonprofit, school or charitable organization of their choice.   “Thanks to companies like Late July, consumers can enjoy their favorite snacks while being rewarded for doing the right thing,” says TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “Through the expansion of the program, consumers have an opportunity to divert even more packaging from landfills, as well as provide material for the manufacture of new products.”   The Late July Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office or community organization.

Garantir a proteção do capital natural (água, solo, ar) também garante a vida, a existência da economia e o funcionamento dos negócios. Na 36ª edição do Prêmio Eco, reconhecemos 15 projetos que buscam esse objetivo, seja através da conscientização, de uma gestão mais responsável com esses recursos ou com programas de reciclagem.

We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

1. A copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up because the first step to a truly decluttered space is actually getting rid of stuff — and this will show you how.

    I mean yes, you can also totally watch the Netflix show an learn everything you need to know to get started! But the book's packed with extra motivation and tips. (Although I don't think it's the end-all be-all of how to live, I've used her system for my clothes and shoes, and it really does work.) Promising review: "It's soaked with knowledge and super inspiring! As a chronically messy person, this book completely changed my perspective on 'tidying,' what to throw away or get rid of, and how to find joy in your space again, how to reclaim it! Honestly pretty awakening, and I think absolutely everyone could learn something from it." —rainydayshopping Get it from Amazon for $10.45, Barnes & Noble for $10.58, Indiebound, or find a copy at your local library. (If the whole system seems a little — or very — impractical to you, though, I also recommend Rachel Hoffman's Unf*ck Your Habitat, $15.29 on Amazon).

2. A Zero-Waste Box from Terracycle, where you (or you + your neighbors, or high school, or dorm) team up to buy a box that you then stuff with hard-to-recycle items, and mail back to Terracycle to be recycled.

    Yes, basically you're paying for your stuff to be recycled (the reason your curbside collection doesn't take all of the things = recyclers want to make money. If they can't make money on it, then you have to pay for it to happen). Read more on Terracycle, and order a small "everything" box (well, almost everything) for $184, or a beauty products and packaging pouch for $41. There are also tons of free recycling programs through Terracycle, where the companies pay for you to recycle the stuff you bought from them (that your municipal program won't accept). And these aren't only hippie/earthy brands! They include Colgate, eos, Febreeze, Flonase, Hasbro Toys, and many others.  

Late July Snacks, a mindful brand that distinguishes itself with organic and non-GMO ingredients, has expanded their partnership with international recycling company TerraCycle® to offer consumers a free, easy way to recycle packaging from their entire product line of snacks. “Based on the huge success of the recycling envelope program we offered through TerraCycle, we’re thrilled to expand into a free recycling program that will give consumers nationwide the opportunity to recycle even more Late July snack packaging,” said Theresa Miller, Director, Late July. “Since our inception in 2003, our mission has been to provide consumers with organic, non-GMO snacks that the whole family will love. Through our new partnership with TerraCycle, we can add national recyclability to our promise.” Through the Late July Recycling Program, consumers can send in their empty snack packaging to be recycled for free. Participation is easy: sign up on the TerraCycle program page https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/latejulysnacks and mail in the packaging using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. Additionally, for every two pounds of waste shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice. “Thanks to companies like Late July, consumers can enjoy their favorite snacks while being rewarded for doing the right thing,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “Through the expansion of the program, consumers have an opportunity to divert even more packaging from landfills, as well as provide material for the manufacture of new products.” The Late July Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization.

For more information, visit www.terracycle.com.