Locals can now help to save used oral care items from ending up in landfill whilst also helping to raise funds for Midhirst School. Students in the Paritutu class at the school are in charge of running the Colgate Community Recycle Drive at the school, aimed at promoting the recycling of previously unrecyclable oral care items, including toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, dental floss containers and packaging. The drive, supported by international upcycling and recycling comapny TerraCycle, was launched at the school last week. "It is a great idea because it reduces the amount of stuff going in the landfill," Jessica Gavan (12) says she thinks it is great to be able to recycle items that otherwise end up in the household rubbish. "But no actual dental floss please!" Bethan Upton-Hansen (12) is hoping people use some common sense when they bring in dental items for the drive. "Put used toothbrushes in a plastic bag first, we need to think about hygiene as well." Keren Whareaitu (12) says the mitigative helps the school raise needed funds. "We get money back from TerraCycle for the amount of waste they collect, plus we have the chance of winning a share of a prize pool of $32,500." Tyler Smith (13) is impressed with the way the items they collect can be recycled. "They make them into things like benches and rubbish bins which is much better than them ending up IN the rubbish!" "It is estimated that seven million toothbrushes and 16 million toothpaste tubes are used in New Zealand each year. This exciting national challenge is a New Zealand first. We're calling on local residents to dig deep by saving all their used oral care items as part of Colgate's Oral Care Brigade and support Midhirst school," says Anna Minns, general manager, TerraCycle. "Even if we get just a small percentage of those items, we will be able to make a difference. Reducing landfill waste is important for everyone, not just us, but the students who will come after us." Jessica says she hopes people from all around the district, not just those who have children enrolled at the school, will make the effort to drop off their recyclable oral care items. "Our school values environmental sustainability and we have been encouraging our students to recycle with our council recycling programme." Colleen Tett, the teacher in charge of the project at the school, says they are excited that TerraCycle is providing a solution for previously difficult to recycle waste. Locals are encouraged to drop off their oral care items and packaging to the public access collection box at the Midhirst School Office at 8 Erin Street Midhirst, R. D. 24, Stratford, 4394, Taranaki during school hours. Two cents is earned for each piece of oral care waste that the school sends in for recycling so every bit will help. - Stratford Press By ILONA HANNE

New Zealanders can now save oral care items from landfill and help raise funds for their local school, club or community group. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive is a New Zealand first initiative to recycle all oral care items including the likes of toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, dental floss containers and any non-recyclable packaging. "We are working with TerraCycle to tackle oral care waste through this innovative programme called the Colgate Oral Care Brigade. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive engages local communities, schools, groups and households around sustainability whilst raising funds for local projects." said John Garside, Colgate New Zealand. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive will run between June-August 2015. Schools and groups can register for free to send in these items via New Zealand Post to TerraCycle for recycling. "It is estimated that seven million toothbrushes and 16 million toothpaste tubes are used in New Zealand each year. This exciting national challenge is a New Zealand first. We’re calling on local residents to dig deep by saving all their used oral care items as part of Colgate’s Oral Care Brigade and support their local group or school," said Anna Minns, General Manager, TerraCycle. "It’s a win and grin initiative for the environment and for the community. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive encourages everyone to send in all their oral care waste and not just cardboard packaging. Schools, clubs or community groups, that register as a Brigade and send in oral care waste before the end of August 2015 can have the chance to win a share of a national prize pool of $32,500 in cash as part of the recycling drive!" The Colgate Oral Care Brigade looks to extend the lifecycle of everyday oral care items regardless of brand. The items will be pelletised and then recycled into generic products such as park benches, watering cans and waste bins. The first 25 Colgate Oral Care Brigades in New Zealand to send in accepted oral care waste will receive $500 each. All Brigades that send in a shipment of accepted oral care waste will be entered into the final prize draw to win one of ten $2,000 cash prizes. For more information or to register as a Colgate Oral Care Brigade www.terracycle.co.nz/community-recycle-drive

The "Google of Garbage" TerraCycle and Colgate launches New Zealand’s first Oral Care Community Recycle Drive New Zealanders can now save oral care items from landfill and help raise funds for their local school, club or community group. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive is a New Zealand first initiative to recycle all oral care items including the likes of toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, dental floss containers and any non-recyclable packaging. “"We are working with TerraCycle to tackle oral care waste through this innovative programme called the Colgate Oral Care Brigade. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive engages local communities, schools, groups and households around sustainability whilst raising funds for local projects." said John Garside, Colgate New Zealand. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive will run between June-August 2015. Schools and groups can register for free to send in these items via New Zealand Post to TerraCycle for recycling. “It is estimated that seven million toothbrushes and 16 million toothpaste tubes are used in New Zealand each year. This exciting national challenge is a New Zealand first. We’re calling on local residents to dig deep by saving all their used oral care items as part of Colgate’s Oral Care Brigade and support their local group or school,” said Anna Minns, General Manager, TerraCycle. “It’s a win and grin initiative for the environment and for the community. The Colgate Community Recycle Drive encourages everyone to send in all their oral care waste and not just cardboard packaging. Schools, clubs or community groups, that register as a Brigade and send in oral care waste before the end of August 2015 can have the chance to win a share of a national prize pool of $32,500 in cash as part of the recycling drive!” The Colgate Oral Care Brigade looks to extend the lifecycle of everyday oral care items regardless of brand. The items will be pelletised and then recycled into generic products such as park benches, watering cans and waste bins. The first 25 Colgate Oral Care Brigades in New Zealand to send in accepted oral care waste will receive $500 each. All Brigades that send in a shipment of accepted oral care waste will be entered into the final prize draw to win one of ten $2,000 cash prizes. For more information or to register as a Colgate Oral Care Brigade www.terracycle.co.nz/community-recycle-drive -ENDS-

Anna Minns and the small local team that form TerraCycle are pulling off a ‘David & Goliath’ type feat in tackling the waste associated with major brands operating in Australia, writes Paula Wallace. It’s simple; it’s ingenious; and it seems to be working. Anna Minns told WME about how the start-up was collecting and storing massive amounts of waste in a Victorian warehouse that would have gone into landfills or otherwise entered the environment. But the big news is not the waste being diverted that had previously been considered unrecyclable but, instead, the programs TerraCycle is putting together with corporates to recycle/re-purpose it. “Virtually everything is recyclable,” TerraCycle general manager, Australian and New Zealand operations Anna Minns said. “The whole purpose for this business is to create markets for these materials ... so that eventually people aren’t throwing away chip packets because they’re actually worth something.” It’s true that companies have it within their power to take a greater stewardship role in the lifecycle of their products. It could even be argued that some progress has been made through industry-led initiatives focusing on packaging. But it has taken an innovator such as TerraCycle to disrupt the business-as-usual approach and show big brands how to close the loop on difficult-to-recycle materials. While many have complained about the blight of cigarette butts on the Australian landscape few have been able to make much of a difference, until now. Thanks to TerraCycle and its ‘Brigades’ program model, little parcels have been arriving from all around Australia, containing hundreds of thousands of butts – in fact six tonnes worth to date. Australia Post has partnered with TerraCycle to transport a range of waste items, including a new program launched at the end of May that will operate via specially created postal ‘bins’. TerraCycle is also gradually building up a national network of materials drop-off points that range from interested business, to the dentistry industry and other businesses. But back to the butts: Minns has achieved a first with the cigarette brigade program even for TerraCycle, which now operates in more than 20 countries, as she managed to get the three big brands to work together – British American Tobacco Australia, Philip Morris Limited and Imperial Tobacco Australia. “The entire tobacco industry is our partner,” Minns said. “They came together as a industry to fund the program and it’s a great example of industry funding a voluntary product stewardship scheme.” For every kilogram of cigarette waste that participants send in to TerraCycle they receive 200 TerraCycle points ($2.00), which can be redeemed for a payment of $0.01 per point to the charity of their choice. Shipments must contain a minimum of one kilogram of cigarette waste in order to receive a TerraCycle point donation. The postage is offered free and the whole program is underwritten by the tobacco industry. TerraCycle hopes that in the future it can work with established organisations such as the Australian Packaging Covenant to develop similar programs with major product suppliers. TerraCycle has similar programs operating for Dolce Gusto and Nespresso brand coffee capsules, toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes with Colgate, and triggers, sprays and pumps used in Natures Organics’ product range. “We don’t do any of the processing or manufacturing, that’s all third party suppliers ... we like to rely on existing technologies,” Minns said, adding that TerraCycle’s team of designers and scientists conducted the research and development on extracting resources from waste streams – IP which they share with local processors. According to Minns the lifecycle analysis that TerraCycle has conducted on various waste streams have all found conclusively that it’s a better environmental outcome to recycle than to landfill or incinerate. “Transporting is only a small part of the footprint, especially because we work through existing transport networks. We work with Australia Post so it’s just the extra weight on the truck,” she said. Creating markets What seems most remarkable about the TerraCycle story is that the Australian operation received no start-up funding from its US parent and no other forms or capital or government funding. TerraCycle is a private US small business headquartered in Trenton, New Jersey. It makes consumer products from pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and by re-using other waste materials. Minns, who previously worked in the legal field, worked at TerraCycle’s headquarters in the US for six months prior to bringing the business model to Australia. She worked unpaid for the first 12 months, managing in that time to devise programs with the tobacco industry and companies Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle and Nature’s Organics. The start-up’s marketing activities are primarily targeting companies and individuals, face-to-face presentations, online marketing and word of mouth. Minns said that recycled products would develop over time as they were able to build demand for the materials. “We pelletise the materials and sell them into an open market, we have a whole team that is focused on materials sales. That’s the overarching driver and purpose behind it all,” she said. “We collect so many chip bags in the US we are now able to sell that material. There’s a company in the US that buys the chip bag plastic for their decking products. She added that markets would not develop “overnight”. TerraCycle most recently launched its first user-pays program using Zero Waste Boxes, distributed through retail outlets for $100-200 each. Similar to programs running in the US and Canada which have seen two million pens collected in just one of the waste streams, the program will target businesses and households. Some of the materials accepted include coffee and tea capsules; office stationery such as pens, pencils and markers;  batteries;  mail room supplies;  binders; plastic gloves;  beardnets and hairnets; and snack wrappers. “We’re hoping to launch some new programs soon,” Minns said. “We’re working with councils on a cigarette programs with some councils already trialling bins around cities, hospitals and universities”.

WHO knew you could make bags out of toothpaste tubes and turn toothbrushes into pens? Students at Mary Help of Christians Primary School were delighted to discover the concept of 'upcycling' when TerraCycle general manager Anna Minns visited their school recently. TerraCycle is an innovative company that tackles difficult to recycle waste streams, turning 'unrecyclable' waste into new sustainable products. Year 6 students and environment ministers Isabella Treleaven and Jake Hicks were amazed to learn you could turn waste items into nifty, new products. "It's so interesting," Jake said. "They even turn babies' nappies into new stuff." The students got to take home items like fruit punch poppers-cum-pencil cases and cleansing wipe packages-cum-bags. In the lead up to World Environment Day on June 5, TerraCycle is calling on Coffs Coast residents to recycle their used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and floss containers. The primary school is participating in the nationwide program to save used oral care items from landfill, collecting these items from the community, sending them to TerraCycle to be recycled and getting two cents for every piece of waste in return. Principal Liz Watts said they are excited about starting the program and look forward to a big collection drive. Visit www.terracycle. com.au to learn more.

AN Australian first recycling program is now in the Shoalhaven. Nowra’s Ewing Electrical has teamed up with innovative recycling company TerraCycle to launch a scheme to recycle usually non-recyclable items. People can now recycle things like toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, cigarette butts and Nescafe Dolce Gusto capsules. Ewing Electrical has registered as one of Australia’s first public collection points for typically “unrecyclable” waste. Lisa Pearson from Ewing Electrical, who will administer the volunteer collection point, said the company wanted to support a program that would help stop more rubbish going into landfills. “We are excited to house a collection box at our shop to give the Shoalhaven community a drop-off location to recycle their used items,” she said. “This empowers us by allowing us to decide where our waste and packaging ends up.” Not only will people be helping the environment, they will also support the Shoalhaven Junior Baseball Club, the Mariners. “Two points are earned for each piece of waste that we send in for recycling,” Mrs Pearson said. “All the money raised will be donated to Shoalhaven Junior Baseball Club and so we encourage people to join us in this community recycling drive and drop off these items and tell all their friends and family to do the same.” Locals are now encouraged to drop these selected used items to the public access collection box at the building entrance of Ewing Electrical, 97 Plunkett Street Nowra from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday. Items that can be recycled are: * any brand of toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, outer cardboard packaging and floss containers - excludes electric toothbrush components * any brand of hand and body wash pumps, triggers, nozzles beauty product pumps, tubes and face wipes and Nescafé Dolce Gusto tea and coffee capsules. Only a specific type of capsule is part of this collection and cannot be contaminated with other types of capsules.

Used dental items are being sought by St Anne's School to be turned into new products such as bins, chairs or bottles. The Harvey primary school is urging the wider community to contribute items such old toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and floss containers. Program co-coordinator and Year 1 teacher Amber Carruthers said the donations would be used for the Colgate-TerraCylce joint program, an addition to the school's own sustainability and recycling initiatives. Miss Carruthers said more than 30 million toothbrushes and 80 million toothpaste tubes were thrown away every year in Australia and New Zealand. "The TerraCycle program teaches children about recycling waste and also shows them how old products can be used to make new ones," she said. "Students are encouraged to bring in their used dental products, which are collected and sent away to be melted down and made into new products such as bins, chairs and bottles. Students have been very excited and each day, more products are coming in but now we are extending it to the general public to join us." Miss Carruthers said the school would receive two cents for every item - including toothpaste tubes and caps, toothbrushes, and outer packaging and floss containers. "Money received for the recycling will be used to purchase resources for the school's sustainability centre," she said. She said the students had enjoyed making their own recycle boxes for collecting products and classes were competing to collect the most products. Items can be donated at the school office on Young Street, Harvey. The program runs until November 1 and the school recycling the most also receives a bonus cash prize.

Waikanae Kindergarten kids are sorting used toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes for recycling as the kindie pioneers a national programme to stop the items going to the tip. The Kapiti Coast kindie has registered as one of the first public collection points for TerraCycle and Colgate's oral care recycling programme, and is the first educational institution to become involved. Toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and floss containers are turned into pellets and recycled into plastic products such as park benches, watering cans and waste bins. Kindy pupil George Bidwell, 4, said he was excited to be involved after dropping off items for recycling, and being sent back a pencil and pencil case made from  them. "We are making lots of things from lots of stuff. Making space at the dump," he said. Kindergarten spokeswoman Pettina Meads said they were delighted to be one of the first communities to have a dropoff point for the used items. "Everyone goes through these items and, by bringing them to us, they will be put to good use." The kindie earns two cents for each item sent for recycling, and the money raised will be used to fund new display cabinets so children can easily access their own resources. TerraCycle general manager Anna Minns said the company was keen for schools and sports clubs to join the programme. "It is estimated that nine million toothbrushes and 16m toothpaste tubes are used in New Zealand each year. The programme is part of a big community effort to recycle waste that would otherwise end up in your landfill," she said. "The aim is for whole communities in New Zealand, like Waikanae, to collect together via a nationwide network of dropoff locations." Used items, excluding electric toothbrushes, can be dropped off at Waikanae Kindergarten between 8am and 5pm.