October is arguably one of the most colorful and festive months of the year, and we are almost at the end of it! The leaves have turned, there’s a chill in the air, and Halloween is mere days away.  There’s nothing wrong with throwing together some finishing touches for your Halloween costume or spooky party décor at the last minute, but in case you’ve missed all of the plastic skeletons and jack-o-lanterns around you, time is running out! It’s the little details that take things over the top, but to save you a trip to the store, some money, and the product and packaging waste from the seasonal odds and ends you only use once a year, here are 5 last minute upcycled Halloween DIYs you can whip up using things you already have.

1. Capri Sun Halloween Mask

Never underestimate the allure of a well-placed masquerade-style mask. Are you Zorro? A debutante? A superhero? Who knows! But even without full disguise grab, this nifty Halloween mask is an instant costume and adds interest and intrigue with its eye-catching, unconventional material. Click HERE for Capri Sun Halloween Mask DIY Instructions

2. Wellness Dog Cape

Dogs are the real MVP. They love us unconditionally, and just want to spend time with us. Include your furry friend in the Halloween festivities by crafting a handmade costume that speaks to the hero they are inside. Super dogs super upcycle! Design Tip: This sizing is for a smaller dog; scale accordingly for your pet. Click HERE for Wellness Dog Cape DIY Instructions

3. Nespresso Capsule Bracelet

It’s been said that 25% of your wardrobe budget should go towards your accessories; we disagree. Give your Halloween costume (and your everyday ensemble) that je ne se quoi at little cost; if you have all of the materials, it would be a negative cost since you’d normally throw out used coffee capsules and are tapping into a new resource for your DIY supplies: positively energizing! Click HERE for Nespresso Capsule Bracelet DIY Instructions

4. Chocolate Wrapper Barrettes

Don’t forget to jazz up your hair! Perfect for children who need a bit of help keeping their mane tame and tidy in general, this fun, voluminous hair barrette lends itself well to a costume for a baton twirler, a faux flower for a hula dancer, or, more literally, a topping for a sweet confectionary treat like a cupcake or lollipop. Click HERE for Chocolate Wrapper Barrettes DIY Instructions

5. Shampoo Bottle Chandelier

Get togethers and parties are an excellent reason to decorate, and this DIY shampoo bottle chandelier gives off a ghoulish green ambiance that’s perfect for All Hallows’ Eve. Bold, bright and boo-tiful (we had to!), a centerpiece you made yourself is sure to be a conversation starter. Don’t have enough bottles? Swap in some empties of other containers like lotions, conditioners, or beverages—better yet, ask your friends for their recyclables! Click HERE for Shampoo Bottle Chandelier  DIY Instructions Holidays are about having fun. Best part about these Halloween DIYs is that they allow you to use your creativity and your rubbish to make something amazing with items you already have. If you can make something out of “nothing,” just think of what else your resourceful self can do! Another option: make nature-inspired Halloween crafts from the world around you. Happy Halloween Upcycling!

Within the broad range of sustainability concepts and activities, recycling is without doubt the most easily understood and accessible: individuals and groups, old and young, communities and institutions can participate. When we buy a candy bar, we own the wrapper after the short life of the product; doing something with that branded possession, rather than adding to waste, feels good. Recycling is empowering to consumers and, in the case of traditionally recyclable materials such as glass, paper, rigid plastics and certain metals, economically viable. Recycling not only diverts potentially valuable materials from landfills and incinerators, it also offsets demand for virgin materials, helping to keep carbon in the ground. Recycling aligns human consumption with nature’s activities. But as human-generated waste streams continue to evolve in diversity and volume, the global community faces the mounting challenge of developing viable recycling and waste management solutions at a comparable pace. For example, electronic waste is currently the fastest growing solid waste stream, increasing two to three times faster than other waste streams. More broadly, industrial activities currently generate nearly 7.6 billion tons of solid waste in the US each year - that’s 3000% of the total municipal waste generated by Americans annually. As the world enters the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the ecological implications of not prioritizing sustainable resource management are dire. Economics, not high science, is what determines recyclability: a material is recycled only if one can make money collecting, sorting and recycling it. The environmental and health costs associated with trash are not currently included in the equations. These costs are considered externalities: society as a whole, rather than the manufacturer, retailer or consumer, absorbs those longer-term costs. Since the costs of not recycling are excluded from the value equation, linear disposal methods, such as land-filling and incineration, are the principle waste management options for most post-consumer waste streams. These linear solutions have come to haunt us: islands of plastic in the Pacific have begun to disintegrate, fish are eating the micro particles and humans eat the fish. Only by emulating nature and implementing the circular economy can humans arrest and, in time, reverse this vicious cycle. It is unlikely that manufacturers, retailers or consumers will voluntarily take responsibility for the end-life of their waste unless they are required to bear the cost of solutions for the products and packaging they produce, sell or consume. With varying degrees of success, governments across the world are implementing producer responsibility schemes; most of these, including the well known Green Dot programme in Germany, finance the collection of packaging, with much of the waste being incinerated - not much better than land-filling from an environmental perspective. Recycling is the more expensive option, but as the late, great eco-capitalist Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, posted on the side of her company’s trucks said: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” With evident limitations on what governments can or will realistically do, the impetus falls on the private sector. How can we find ways to provide incentives to cover the costs of collecting and recycling? For the past decade, my company TerraCycle has developed technologies to apply to difficult-to-recycle post-consumer waste streams that usually end up in the trash. Examples are cigarette butts, pens, water filters, used toothbrushes and toothbrush tubes, packaging waste, industrial adhesive containers and even dirty diapers, which have been processed into materials that are used to manufacture new products. Our R&D team is extremely innovative, but our true innovation is finding reasons for brands and manufacturers to justify paying for recycling when they don’t have to. We have found that recycling has become a sufficient priority for consumers, who patronize brands that enable the recyclability of their products and packaging. We have created business models allowing brands to see that incremental spending on recycling will produce incremental ROI; as a result, many waste streams that were previously unrecyclable are now being recycled. To achieve scale and generate efficiencies, we recently partnered with SUEZ, one of the largest waste management companies in the world. Through the deal, SUEZ can bring TerraCycle’s consumer-facing programmes to its customers in France, the UK, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, and we gain access to perhaps the world’s largest sales force dedicated to the circular economy. Recyclability is among the top purchase drivers for a range of consumer products and consumers around the world today have demonstrated a willingness to pay a premium for sustainable goods and services. We’ve demonstrated that sponsoring recycling can be a pathway to migrate a company’s post-consumer products and packaging from the linear economy to circular economy. While I’m proud of our accomplishments, there remains a huge values-action disparity, or “green-gap,” where changes in consumer attitudes have not yet translated to changes in action. Recycling rates have stagnated in the last decade in relation to the volume of waste produced globally, and while many countries in the developing world work without a formal recycling system, the US still only recycles about 34% of its trash. Recycling almost everything we use is already possible. Consumer buying power, with the right social and political commitments, can drive demand for comprehensive recycling solutions at multiple levels. The scale of the world’s waste problem mandates that everyone in the consumption cycle act together to work towards regenerative, circular solutions that bridge the gap to zero waste.

Em 2012, a Faber-Castell estabeleceu uma parceria com a TerraCycle e lançou um programa de coleta que permite a transformação de instrumentos de escrita em matéria prima reciclada, que substitui o material virgem que seria utilizado e evita o descarte de resíduos no meio ambiente.

In a highly competitive marketplace, one of the most significant challenges that companies and major brands face today is distinguishing themselves as a social agent. Gone are the days where being “environmentally friendly” automatically added value in a largely niche market for socially responsible corporate behavior. Today’s consumer is highly discerning, increasingly concerned with things like supply and production chain sustainability and product recyclability, and highly allergic to ethical claims that are inauthentic, vague or misleading. That consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and services is an understatement. More and more, consumers expect companies to dedicate themselves to making a positive social or environmental impact on society as a baseline, and want to be able to trust them to prioritize ethics on their end. It’s no new idea that consumer brands that have not embraced sustainability and CSR initiatives are at risk on many fronts. But creating the kind of value that grabs the attention of consumers also requires legwork beyond simply “doing good.” Leading industrial adhesive manufacturer Henkel has found a way to work sustainability into their brand DNA, rather than something that they simply “do.” In partnership with my company TerraCycle, Henkel is the first to offer a recycling solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging through the LOCTITE® Anaerobic Adhesive Recycling Program. Also the first time that TerraCycle is recycling this category, Henkel is a pioneer in their use of our sustainability platform in more ways than one. Henkel is our only recycling program sponsor that has created their own branded Zero Waste Box, a custom recycling solution from TerraCycle that allows consumers to recycle hundreds of waste streams through category specific boxes. Participants in the program can now purchase a postage-paid recycling box branded with Henkel’s copy, colors and logo that they fill with empty LOCTITE adhesive containers to send to TerraCycle for processing. Offering a custom, branded recycling solution adds value for current and potential customers by communicating that solving for its difficult-to-recycle anaerobic adhesive containers is part of who they are. In a currently inefficient global waste management infrastructure, companies like Henkel see the massive ROI potential for putting forth the resources to make their previously unrecyclable product and packaging waste nationally recyclable. By setting their own bar on sustainability and keeping it high, companies add value by pioneering environmental stewardship. Leveraging environmentally sound and socially responsible processes in the marketplace is in direct relation to how brands communicate to their consumer and differentiate offerings from those of brand competitors. USDA Certified Organic, Fair Trade Certified and Non-GMO Project Verified certifications, for example, are recognizable (often on-pack) demonstrations of a brand’s commitment to meeting necessary production and labeling requirements, indicating to consumers a certain promise of quality and incentivizing more brands to meet and exceed those standards.

This month, TerraCycle celebrates the important milestone of a decade Eliminating the Idea of Waste through free recycling programs and custom recycling solutions in Canada. Since opening in 2006, TerraCycle Canada has engaged two million people to recycle, diverting 150 million units of difficult-to-recycle waste from landfills and raising over $400,000 for charity.

In The Huffington Post, TerraCycle Founder and CEO Tom Szaky explains the benefits that come with integrating sustainable solutions into branding strategies. While consumers are willing to pay a pretty penny for sustainable products and services, they also expect companies to commit to making a positive social or environmental impact on society. In The Huffington Post, TerraCycle Founder and CEO Tom Szaky explains the benefits that come with integrating sustainable solutions into branding strategies. The Huffington Post has more: In a highly competitive marketplace, one of the most significant challenges that companies and major brands face today is distinguishing themselves as a social agent. Gone are the days where being “environmentally friendly” automatically added value in a largely niche market for socially responsible corporate behavior. Today’s consumer is highly discerning, increasingly concerned with things like supply and production chain sustainability and product recyclability, and highly allergic to ethical claims that are inauthentic, vague or misleading. That consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and services is an understatement. More and more, consumers expect companies to dedicate themselves to making a positive social or environmental impact on society as a baseline, and want to be able to trust them to prioritize ethics on their end. It’s no new idea that consumer brands that have not embraced sustainability and CSR initiatives are at risk on many fronts. But creating the kind of value that grabs the attention of consumers also requires legwork beyond simply “doing good.”

In a highly competitive marketplace, one of the most significant challenges that companies and major brands face today is distinguishing themselves as a social agent. Gone are the days where being “environmentally friendly” automatically added value in a largely niche market for socially responsible corporate behavior. Today’s consumer is highly discerning, increasingly concerned with things like supply and production chain sustainability and product recyclability, and highly allergic to ethical claims that are inauthentic, vague or misleading.   That consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and services is an understatement. More and more, consumers expect companies to dedicate themselves to making a positive social or environmental impact on society as a baseline, and want to be able to trust them to prioritize ethics on their end. It’s no new idea that consumer brands that have not embraced sustainability and CSR initiatives are at risk on many fronts. But creating the kind of value that grabs the attention of consumers also requires legwork beyond simply “doing good.”   Leading industrial adhesive manufacturer Henkel has found a way to work sustainability into their brand DNA, rather than something that they simply “do.” In partnership with my company TerraCycle, Henkel is the first to offer a recycling solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging through the LOCTITE® Anaerobic Adhesive Recycling Program. Also the first time that TerraCycle is recycling this category, Henkel is a pioneer in their use of our sustainability platform in more ways than one.   Henkel is our only recycling program sponsor that has created their own branded Zero Waste Box, a custom recycling solution from TerraCycle that allows consumers to recycle hundreds of waste streams through category specific boxes. Participants in the program can now purchase a postage-paid recycling box branded with Henkel’s copy, colors and logo that they fill with empty LOCTITE adhesive containers to send to TerraCycle for processing.   Offering a custom, branded recycling solution adds value for current and potential customers by communicating that solving for its difficult-to-recycle anaerobic adhesive containers is part of who they are. In a currently inefficient global waste management infrastructure, companies like Henkel see the massive ROI potential for putting forth the resources to make their previously unrecyclable product and packaging waste nationally recyclable. By setting their own bar on sustainability and keeping it high, companies add value by pioneering environmental stewardship.   Leveraging environmentally sound and socially responsible processes in the marketplace is in direct relation to how brands communicate to their consumer and differentiate offerings from those of brand competitors. USDA Certified Organic, Fair Trade Certified and Non-GMO Project Verified certifications, for example, are recognizable (often on-pack) demonstrations of a brand’s commitment to meeting necessary production and labeling requirements, indicating to consumers a certain promise of quality and incentivizing more brands to meet and exceed those standards.   Ultimately, when companies attempt to integrate sustainable enterprise into their branding strategy, transparency is essential. Establishing environmental initiatives is complex, but in order to inspire brand loyalty and trust, those green endeavors must authentically benefit the environment. Branding existing and emerging sustainability solutions is one method for communicating company accountability in a highly visible, valuable way for consumers, scaling for relevance and resilience in a changing marketplace.

In today’s world, the basic model for the production of goods is linear: Natural resources are extracted and turned into products that are used for a limited time. While some of these products are recycled, most eventually end up in the world’s landfills.  This model is becoming increasingly unsustainable and expensive for businesses. Commodity prices rose more than 150 percent between 2002 and 2010 and an additional three billion middle-class consumers are expected to enter the global market by 2030. This unprecedented demand for goods and services, coupled with increasing resource scarcity and price volatility, is causing companies to move from a traditional “take-make-dispose” model to a more circular strategy. Closing the loop with innovative logistic solutions In recent years, I’ve seen companies like Dell, Patagonia and TerraCycle focus their sustainability efforts on implementing seamless take-back programs that make use of turnkey packaging, pickup services and pre-paid return labels. With approximately 97 percent of business leaders listing logistics as important to transitioning to a circular economy, partnering with intelligent logistic providers will be crucial for companies to implement cost-effective circular strategies. The future of the circular economy I recently had the opportunity to participate on a panel at GreenBiz VERGE 2016 with Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, and Kevin Zweier, VP of Transportation Practice at Chainalytics, to discuss trends shaping the future of the circular economy. In addition to the critical role of logistics, major takeaways from the discussions included:

Tailoring the solution

Companies trying to implement circular strategies face a “first-mile” challenge with re-using products and resources for future consumption. Each product in a company’s supply chain must be analyzed based on its unique characteristics from raw material to end-of-life. Circular planning must then be used to determine whether reclaimed products and resources should be transported back to a central hub facility or dealt with on a local level.

Education is key

To build mainstream acceptance and support for a realized circular economy, governments and businesses alike should prioritize educating consumers about circular principles, including which products can be reused, recycled or upgraded. By helping customers make easy decisions when they are done using a product, we can ensure valuable materials don’t end up in landfills.

We all have a role to play

While companies are investing in innovative partnerships and creating more sustainable solutions, there is also a need for customers and consumers to take advantage of these offerings so that these investments can be supported by a strong business case. One of the most common misconceptions about the circular economy is that it will be impossible to achieve. I believe that when companies invest and collaborate to implement “smarter” supply chains and give others an opportunity to participate, the notion of a circular economy can certainly be realized. 

Have you developed a sensitivity to baking soda in deodorant? After a year, I finally found a natural baking soda free deodorant that works. I started doing some research and learned that it is very common to become sensitized to baking soda. I read story after story about people that had become sensitized to baking soda because of their deodorant, often after long periods of time like me. The Search for a Natural Baking Soda Free Deodorant So I started a new search. One for a natural, baking soda free deodorant that would work. I tried several brands over the course of a year and nothing worked. I was getting tired of washing my arm pits multiple times a day to keep myself feeling and smelling fresh. Then Tom’s of Maine reached out and asked if I’d like to try some of their Long Lasting Natural Deodorant. I decided that since nothing else had worked, I’d give it a try. So they sent me a box of a few scents to try. My husband and I each grabbed a stick to test it out. And both my husband and I have found that Tom’s deodorants work too. They offer clinically proven, 24-hour odor protection using odor-fighting hops, the mineral zinc and only natural fragrances. In addition to its new and improved, best-selling deodorant, this leading natural personal care brand makes high quality natural toothpaste, mouthwash, dental floss, bar soap and baby care products. Tom’s of Maine’s packing is fully recyclable through local municipalities or the TerraCycle Tom’s of Maine Natural Care Brigade. In addition, they give 10% of profits back to helping people and the planet and they never test their products on animals.