TerraCycle is a company renowned for turning trash into treasure. Here's an inside look at the graffiti-clad warehouse in Trenton, N.J. where much of the upcycling magic happens.Late last week, I had the pleasure of touring the Trenton, N.J. offices of TerraCycle, a “waste solution development” firm with the most admirable mission to "eliminate the idea of waste."

Grid Magazine ‏@gridphilly Join @TerraCycle & @TomsofMaine in keeping their products out of landfills, & win $1000 for a school or nonprofit http://ow.ly/emP0f Facebook Post:

ortland, Maine - After a brief September hiatus, organizers embraced a bigger goal for the weekly Frugal Fridays series and renamed it "Sustain Maine". The Sustain Maine series is designed to raise awareness of local sustainability and community initiatives, and to connect the public with opportunities to become more involved. The 24-week series now culminates in a fundraiser on March 23rd at the Pirates' home game at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Last week's return of the series at Empire Dine & Dance was a huge success featuring Maine game-changers Tom's of Maine and their collaboration with Terra Cycle . Fans of the Portland Pirates, rock 'n' roll, and great local food and beer got together to celebrate sustainable ideas and build community. Judging from the success of this and August's inaugural events, the Pirates' have kicked off this season winning. The series continues this Friday, October 12th. Environment Maine will present on important and timely issues and initiatives.

Hayhurst Elementary in Southwest Portland has gone from using seven 30-gallon bags of waste each lunch period to just half a bag. What’s the school’s secret?   Hayhurst PTA sustainability chairwoman Kendall KIC, (who legally changed her name to all caps), says that back in November of 2009 she discovered a program online called TerraCycle and has since kept 9,000 juice pouches out of the trash.   Capri Sun and other juice pouches had been among a slew of items difficult for schools to recycle, so kids ended up just throwing them in the garbage. But TerraCycle provides Hayhurst’s sustainability “brigade” with prepaid labels to ship out hard-to-recycle items, such as drink pouches, candy wrappers, chip bags and flip-flops.   The New Jersey-based company makes money from recycling the products and shares its earnings by granting points for the brigade to earn cash for the school or a favorite charity.   “Over time, it’s slowly building so people realize that we’re doing this,” KIC says. “My goal is at least 5,000 juice pouches collected during this upcoming school year.”   She keeps them packed in a yard-debris bag in her garage, but recently a school custodian allowed her space in the Hayhurst boiler room, where the juice pouches can dry. Some money comes back to the PTA for funding school activities, but that’s not the emphasis for organizers.   “About $200 a school year is not really what it’s about for us; it’s more about the sustainability piece,” KIC says.   Apparently, the secret is getting out, as this will also be the third year of a TerraCycle program at Sojourner School in Milwaukie. “Sojo” is an alternative magnet school and, at about 186 students, the smallest elementary in North Clackamas School District. Known for a high number of volunteer hours parents put in, it turned out to be a perfect early adopter of a TerraCycle program.   Starting with juice pouches in the first year, the Sojo program added toothpaste tubes, flip-flops, glue sticks and tape rings last year. TerraCycle program coordinator and former PTA Vice President Polly Lugosi says the brigades have extended their reach to neighbors not usually involved with the school. They’ve taken to collecting from soccer games.   “I find that people don’t throw them away even when they’re not at school,” Lugosi says.   At a holiday assembly this year, Lugosi says students will get a chance to vote on charities to donate about $100 collected from the program.   TerraCycle spokeswoman Lauren Taylor says a lot of people find out about the programs through the packaging, such as by seeing the labels on Capri Sun juice boxes, and then they go to the website. “It’s very easy for people to sign up based on the waste stream they’re looking to collect,” Taylor says.   Nationally, TerraCycle says its programs have raised $4.5 million for charity, thanks to nearly 31 million people collecting trash.   All schools are eligible, Taylor says. A tax ID number is necessary so the money can go to charity. The revenue from recycling can go to any charity — even the National Rifle Association (we asked).   The growing list of Portland-area schools getting involved includes Menlo Park Elementary School, David Douglas Arthur Academy, Faithful Savior Ministries, Earl Boyles Elementary, Mount Scott Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, John Wetten Elementary, Chief Joseph Elementary, Sauvie Island Academy, John Jacob Astor Elementary, Markham Elementary, Laurelhurst Elementary, Parklane Elementary, Lynch Meadows Elementary and Creative Science School.

Under new “brigade,” Tom’s will accept a range of personal care product packaging, regardless of brand. New initiative launches with a sweepstakes competition. Tom’s of Maine, a provider of natural oral and personal care products, has partnered with recycler/upcycler TerraCycle to give a second life to product packaging with the launch of the Tom’s of Maine Natural Care Brigade®. In keeping with the Tom’s of Maine stewardship model, this free collection program enables consumers to keep packaging from all Tom’s of Maine products and other brands out of landfills. To celebrate the launch, the company has announced the Tom’s of Maine Less in Landfills Sweepstakes,through which Brigade participants can earn $1,000 for the nonprofit or school of their choice. The Tom’s of Maine Natural Care Brigade accepts toothpaste tubes and caps, mouthwash bottles and caps, deodorant/antiperspirant containers, plastic soap wrappers, and floss containers, regardless of brand. For each piece of packaging collected and sent in, the collector earns points that can be put toward charity gifts or converted to cash and paid to any school or nonprofit organization. Any individual, family, group or school can join for free, and all shipping costs are pre-paid. Through the Less in Landfills Sweepstakes, Tom’s of Maine Natural Care Brigade leaders have up to three chances to earn even more money for their school or charity. Until Nov. 30, 2012, each shipment from a brigade location will count as an entry into the sweepstakes to win $1,000, with a maximum three entries per brigade location. Tom’s of Maine is constantly working to reduce its waste stream in Maine and in communities across the country. For example, all Tom's of Maine deodorant sticks are made of a single plastic that can be recycled from canister to cap—a first of its kind in the industry, says Tom’s—and all product boxes are made of recycled/recyclable paperboard.

We all use deodorant to avoid a stinky situation, but all those tubes can present a disposal dilemma. What exactly are deodorant tubes made from? Can I recycle them? And what local options do I have? Earth911 gets to the bottom of these questions and more in our latest recycling mystery.

Can I recycle my deodorant tubes?

Answer: Yes.

How are Deodorant Tubes Recycled?

So, why are deodorant tubes difficult to recycle in the first place? In almost all cases, the tubes themselves are made purely from plastic. The only trouble is that it can be difficult for consumers to determine what kind of plastic their tubes are made from, making it tough to tell if their local recycler accepts the material.   Most deoderant tubes are made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE or #2 plastic), low-density polyethylene (LDPE or #4 plastic) or polypropylene (PP orplastic #5), but materials may vary by brand. To make things even more complicated, many brands have a dial on the bottom of the tube that is made from a different plastic polymer than the rest of the container.

Only recently, Tom's of Maine, a company that specializes in manufacturing and supplying markets with natural-ingredients-only personal care products, decided to team up with TerraCycle, a company whose business agenda revolves around turning waste into affordable environmentally-friendly products. This partnership is expected to help find new uses for discarded packaging, meaning that items such as toothpaste tubes, mouthwash bottles, soap wrappers, deodorant containers and the like are all to enter a free recycling program, officially known as “Tom's of Maine Natural Care Brigade.” Apparently, the decision to launch this new recycling program stems from the fact that Tom's of Maine is seriously committed to cutting down on its ecologicalfootprint, by making sure that the waste resulting from the products it sells is put to better use, rather than simply being discarded as landfill. As the official website for this recycling program reads, “Each and every year, the products we use everyday to make our bodies clean, our teeth bright and shiny, and keep us smelling fresh, end up being thrown away after use and ultimately end up in a landfill.”

Tom’s of Maine has partnered with recycling company TerraCycle to keep product packaging out of landfills. The free recycling program, called the Tom’s of Maine Natural Care Brigade, accepts toothpaste tubes and caps, mouthwash bottles and caps, deodorant/antiperspirant containers, plastic soap wrappers and floss containers, regardless of brand.   For each piece of packaging collected and sent in, the collector earns points that can be put toward charity gifts or converted to cash and paid to any school or nonprofit organization. Any individual, company, group or school can join for free and all shipping costs are prepaid.   To coincide with the new program, the company has also launched the Tom’s of Maine Less in Landfills Sweepstakes, through which Brigade participants can earn $1,000 for the non-profit or school of their choice.   TerraCycle collects more than 50 different kinds of products and packaging through its Brigade programs, which are open to any individual or organization. The company says it has already kept more than 2 billion pieces of trash from going to the landfill, and with its partners, dispersed almost $4.5 million to charity.

La société américaine Tom’s of Maine a conclu avec la compagnie de recyclage TerraCycle un partenariat visant à soustraire les déchets d’emballages des circuits menant à la décharge.