In an ideal world, it’d be easy to recycle everything we didn’t need. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple – but these 13 tips will make it a little easier to recycle more. Even if you were part of the generation of Australians who had ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ drilled into you during the last decade – recycling can be hard to do. It’s not always clear what can and can’t be recycled in your local council area. recycle bins Even if you were part of the generation of Australians who had ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ drilled into you during the last decade – recycling can be hard to do. It’s not always clear what can and can’t be recycled in your local council area For recycling plastics, we’ve put together this handy guide - but what about recycling beyond your yellow bin? Here are the best tips for recycling all that you can. SHAREONFBSHAREONTWSUBSCRIBE 1: ‘Green’ polypropylene bags, and plastic packaging that you can’t recycle at home, such as biscuit packets, bread bags, rice and pasta bags, can all be recycled in the dedicated bins at both Coles and most Woolworths supermarkets. They might even be remade into things like garden benches for schools. You can read more here. 2: Mobile phones (but not cables) can be left at Sony Centres and Leading Edge Computers. Here, mobile phones are recycled and the money raised will be used to build specialised youth cancer centres for 15 to 30 year old cancer sufferers through the charity YouCan. 3: Domestic batteries can be disposed of sustainably in bins at most ALDI stores. Learn more from our friends at Planet Ark. 4: Used stamps are accepted as donations by many organisations – for example, Guide Dogs in Tasmania. You can find a full list of organisations who collect used stamps at the Give Now website. 5: Used prescription glasses and sunglasses can be donated to OPSM or Personal Eyes, who will pass them on to someone who can’t afford glasses in a developing country. 6: Unused mini shampoos, soaps and lotions from hotels can be given to your local homeless shelter or women’s refuge. 7: Corks from wine or champagne bottles might be recyclable at a location near you. Use Planet Ark’s Recycling Near You tool to find a drop-off point. 8: Used bras and swimwear can be donated to Project Uplift, which sends them on to women for whom bras are unobtainable or unaffordable. You can find participating stores across Australia here. 9: Wire clothes hangers can be returned to dry cleaning shops. 10: Joggers that are not too worn can be given to Soles for Souls who will donate them to orphanages or use them to help fund microfinance projects in developing countries. 11: Used plastic children’s toys in good condition can be recycled with Second Chance Toys. 12: Empty toothpaste tubes, brushes, floss containers, some coffee capsules can be recycled with Terracycle. Just remember to check in and arrange it with them first. 13. Printer cartridges can be recycled at Officeworks, JB HiFi, Australia Post, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith. SHAREONFBSHAREONTWSUBSCRIBE 'Arctic 30' Take Part in a Recycling Day in St. Petersburg Being environmentally conscious on recycling day and sorting your rubbish into compost, recycling and general waste bins is fantastic – but it’s important to think about producing less rubbish to begin with. To help consume less ‘stuff’, try asking yourself these three questions when you’re buying something new: 1. What resources went into creating, producing, packaging, and delivering this product to me? 2. Will my use of this product achieve a good return on investment for those resources? 3. Is there another way? Do I already have something like this at home? Could I borrow this from someone I know? Is there a less resource-intensive alternative? Could I buy this second-hand? Could I make this out of something I already have? TIP: If you can’t recycle it, maybe you can upcycle your trash into something new. Learn more about upcycling and check out some easy DIYs here. Want to do more? Sign up to join 400,000 Greenpeace supporters and get opportunities to create change straight into your inbox!

TERRACYCLE is calling on local community centres, schools and businesses to register, for free, as a collection point for ‘unrecyclable’ items and raise money for non-profit groups. These items can then be recycled into sustainable items or materials and, with 21.3million tones of waste sent to landfill each year, it is an opportunity for local residents and groups to send their waste to a public collection point. The unrecyclable items include toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, cleaning and beauty product pumps, triggers and wipes, cigarette waste and coffee capsules. These items are currently being diverted from landfill. General Manager of TerraCycle Australia, Anna Minns said everyone should think about getting involved. “National Recycling Week and the Christmas period is the perfect time to learn more about recycling and how to get involved in your local community,” she said. “TerraCycle believes anything can and should be recycled and we have developed solutions for waste that are deemed unsavoury or difficult to recycle, such as cigarette butts. “Since TerraCycle’s launch in March on Clean Up Australia Day we have collected more than three million cigarette butts as well as other unrecyclable waste. “We’ve saved this from landfill, thanks mainly to local litter groups, workplaces, community centres and households.” Interested groups are encouraged to register on the TerraCycle website as donations will be given towards a local group or cause. For every piece of waste collected and dropped off at your local collection point two cents goes towards a great local cause or non profit. To register as a collection point, go to www.terracycle.com.au.

Anna Minns is General Manager of Terracycle Australia, a company dedicated to creating recycling solutions for just about anything. What’s involved in developing a recycling solution for “difficult” waste like the Nescafé capsules? More often than not, companies approach us about a solution for their product’s waste stream. Nescafé Dolce Gusto joined with TerraCycle to provide a second life for used Nescafé Dolce Gusto capsules, so Australians can now collect, store and ship their capsules from home or work for free. For the current Nescafé Dolce Gusto Capsule Brigade we do not collect any other brand of capsules, only Nescafé Dolce Gusto capsules. If consumers are interested in a particular waste stream we suggest they let their favourite brand know about TerraCycle’s work! We hope in time to be collecting more and more “unrecyclable” waste. Can goodwill be infectious enough for the majority of manufacturing companies to take responsibility for end of life of their product, or will they need to be pushed into it by legislation? As the circular economy is increasingly gaining traction in our region many companies are looking to circular solutions rather than linear solutions of ‘take, make, then dispose’. TerraCycle works with many major FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies, as well as small brands, to create a voluntary product stewardship scheme that diverts everyday consumer products and packaging that are difficult to recycle such as toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, coffee capsules and even cigarette butts, from landfill, and instead into new products creating circular solutions. The recycling system creates a collection model open to the public. Australia has one of the highest rates of waste generation per capita in the world and in fact, world waste is also expected to double by 2025. Government schemes and extended producer responsibility laws may be slow in coming to effect to deal with growing waste issues. TerraCycle’s solutions are readily available and the onus is on both brands to consider a solution to an increasing problem as well as consumers to use their buying power as a ‘vote’ for sustainability. What would you nominate as the most unlikely or surprising items that you have created recycling solutions for? Cigarettes, chewing gum, feminine hygiene products and nappies! TerraCycle has proven that (almost) anything can and should be recycled. Do you get to shovel rotting food to the worms occasionally? No. But we are offering a copy of Tom’s book “Revolution in a Bottle” for a Switch Report reader that outlines the origins of TerraCycle as a company turning worm poop into fertilizer! To win a copy of Revolution in a Bottle by Terracycle’s founder Tom Szaky, just sign up for our newsletter by midnight on Sunday 16 November, and you’ll be in the draw. If you are already on our mailing list you don’t need to do anything. You are automatically entered.

In 2001, Terracycle founder (and the man they now call the Zuckerberg of trash) Tom Szaky was just another university undergraduate trying to come up with an idea for the Princeton Business Plan Conest. An Autumn trip to Montreal introduced him to the wonder of worm farming and he was soon singing the praises of the fertilizer that they produce. Years of back breaking work and diversification later and Terracycle is now a global leader in waste minimisation – operating in 21 countries around the world, with 60 million consumers collecting waste for their repurposing operations. This extend far beyond fertilizer, with Terracycle now targeting the waste that has not traditionally been recycled, at both the pre and post-consumer level. What does this include? In the USA, Terracycle has 60 different waste streams, converting everything from used gum to cigarette butts to dirty diapers into (respectively) rubbish bins, assorted plastic products and compost – not bad, for what we once considered trash! In New Zealand, Terracycle is currently limited to two waste streams: Oral Care products (toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, floss containers etc), and Nescafe Dolce Gusto Capsules (from coffee machines) – but more are on their way. Of particular interest to sports clubs is the pending collecting for confectionary wrappers – stay tuned! So how does it work? Their system is simple. Interested individuals sign up online at www.terracycle.co.nz, choose a category of waste that they would like to collect and start collecting it. While Terracycle don’t provide a box for this (they want to encourage reuse of existing ones!), once your group has collected enough to fill a container your leader can request a free shipping label. This is affixed to the box and off it goes! For every piece of waste received, TerraCycle credits the group with a small donation (2 cents per item in NZ) that can be donated to any charity or school of their choice – meaning that your sports club can directly benefit, as well as reducing the waste sent to landfill. As LiteClub co-founder Michael Campbell says, “if we all do a little, together we can achieve a lot.”

TerraCycle has designated more than 40 waste collection groups or "brigades" in which to collect recyclables. Wassom's brigades include the Chip Bag Brigade, Lunch Kit Brigade, Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and the Candy Wrapper Brigade, among others.

There is a popular topic that I like to tackle every so often. It's how to recycle items that may be a bit tricky. Never fear, you can Do Your Part to find eco-friendly solutions. Here are few items that I get asked about and ways you can get them all responsibly recycled. Toothpaste Tubes and Toothbrushes How many tubes of toothpaste do you think you've thrown in the trash after you've gotten that last squeeze? What about old toothbrushes? Once you're done with them there are ways to get them recycled. In fact, Terracycle will pay for you to send them in. From there, they are made into plastic pellets that can then be molded into everything from playground equipment to garden tools. Do Your Part and to get your trickiest of items recycled. It's actually a whole lot easier than you might have thought.

How many tubes of toothpaste do you think you've thrown in the trash after you've gotten that last squeeze? What about old toothbrushes? Once you're done with them there are ways to get them recycled. In fact, Terracycle will pay for you to send them in. From there, they are made into plastic pellets that can then be molded into everything from playground equipment to garden tools. Do Your Part and to get your trickiest of items recycled. It's actually a whole lot easier than you might have thought!

  Georgia Army National Guard Capt. Andrew Lane is a man on a mission. If it’s recyclable, “Captain PLaneT” aims to keep it out of the local landfill – and earn cash for his parish while he’s at it.   Lane launched a Tithing with Trash program at St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia, when he returned home from a deployment in Afghanistan in 2010. Since then, the congregation has earned nearly $4,800 collecting hard-to-recycle items such as empty toothpaste tubes and Solo Cups and sending them to TerraCycle in Trenton, New Jersey, to earn 2 cents per item. TerraCycle, in turn, recycles or “upcycles” the trash – turning it into “green” products such as backpacks fashioned from Lay’s potato chip bags.   “They’re not just doing it to hug trees or sing ‘Kumbaya.’ They’re turning it into artwork or consumer products,” Lane said.   The nonprofit TerraCycle partners with some of the world’s largest companies, who sponsor collection programs for particular waste streams – say, spent writing utensils or empty tape dispensers, explained Lauren Taylor, U.S. public relations director. Some sponsor only collection of their brands’ trash, while others accept any related items. Kraft’s “dairy tub brigade,” for example, takes all manner of dairy-product tubs, lids, foil tops and other packaging.   Individuals such as Lane sign up to join a sponsored trash “brigade,” collecting and shipping specified items via United Parcel Service for free to TerraCycle and receiving “points” they turn into cash. “The money earned needs to go to a charity,” Taylor said. “Somebody can’t just decide this could be a great side job for them.”   “The majority of the people who collect for us are schools,” she said. They set up lunchroom collection points – juice-drink pouches here, candy wrappers there – often after a parent or teacher realizes how much trash is being pitched and thinks, “We’re throwing money away.”   It’s hard to quantify, but churches also participate, and St. Gregory is one of a handful of Episcopal churches signed up to benefit from TerraCycle trash, Taylor said. “We definitely know Andrew because he is just so energetic and just loves our programs and really motivates people to collect. … He is definitely among the most highly motivated.”   Lane is a sustainability evangelist.   “It’s really powerful, because we’re the only creatures in existence that we know of that generate trash that we have to pay someone to haul off,” he said. Without addressing sustainability issues, he said, “for our grandkids it could be deep, deep, deep trouble.”   “We might actually trash this planet and poison its water or run out of water … without an epidemic or a war.”   Lane has given diocesan council presentations about TerraCycle and met Diocese of Atlanta Bishop-elect Robert Wright while separating food waste at the Mikell Camp and Conference Center. “He actually came and shook my hand. He said, ‘I see you’re not actually just speaking; you’re a man of action.’”   In Athens, Lane is lobbying a Kroger grocery store to let the church maintain a collection container for TerraCycle trash. At St. Gregory, parishioners place items in assorted labeled bins.   “I see people carrying in their containers and standing out there and sorting stuff out in Andrew’s elaborate bins,” said parishioner Lois Alworth, a member of the church’s Green Guild/Creation Keepers committee that Lane chairs. “There’s not a whole lot that the church itself uses that TerraCycle takes. What we get is what people bring from home.”   “We all laugh and say because we’re Episcopalians everybody has lots of wine corks,” she said. “TerraCycle takes really odd things, [like] toothpaste containers, when they’re empty, and old toothbrushes.” Every four to six weeks, committee members gather after church for a “box-up event” to package the TerraCycle items for shipping, she said.   Even here, recycling comes into play. Lane sometimes uses economy-size cat-food, dog-food or chicken-feed bags as shipping envelopes for TerraCycle trash. UPS doesn’t mind as long as the packages aren’t leaking liquid, he said. “You could mail a sweater in there if you didn’t care if your sweater smelled like dog food.”   TerraCycle collects waste in 20 countries, with almost 32 million trash collectors and nearly 2.5 billion units of waste collected in the United States since 2007, Taylor said.   Lane has his eye on a program started in Canada and expected to launch in the United States this month: a “cigarette butt brigade” that will take all cigarette waste, including the plastic wrap and aluminum board from packaging. This tackles “one of the dirtiest, one of the most prolific forms of waste,” said Lane, who is in his second semester studying for an Army graduate certificate of sustainability through Arizona State University. Look at any paved road in America, and you’ll see cigarette butts, he said. “They’re thrown out, and they sit there until eternity, until they’re washed into a stream or a river.”   A discussion with Lane ranges to environmental topics far beyond TerraCycle, from his battle to promote recycling at the Army’s Fort Stewart to the near-extinction of white rhinos to the role of black soldier flies in composting to Germany’s renewable-energy goals. He describes listening to his son read how Native Americans taught the Pilgrims to bury dead fish with corn plants as fertilizer and noting, “That’s composting.”   At St. Gregory, green initiatives likewise move beyond TerraCycle. The congregation assiduously composts food and paper waste. A church webpage provides current and cumulative data for energy generated by the parish’s months-old solar panels (2.99 megawatt hours so far, enough to power 99 houses for a day and offset 2.07 tons of carbon or the equivalent of 53 trees). Next up: a 450-gallon rain cistern.   “We just need to hook the gutters to it, and we’ll be in business,” Lane said, noting that an inch of rain on a 1,000-square-foot roofline translates to 500 to 600 gallons of water. Installing the gravity-fed cistern to water plans is “taking what the good Lord has given us and not squandering it.”   “Our church,” he said, “may be the greenest church in Georgia.”   Georgia Interfaith Power and Light has supported St. Gregory in its green efforts and awarded the church a Trailblazer Award for its TerraCycle program.   “We encourage all of our congregations to get involved in more intelligent ways of thinking about their waste and … where they throw things,” Executive Director Alexis Chase said. “Other churches are considering doing TerraCycle. Everyone is sort of trying to figure out a way they can be involved.”   Some “brigades” are full, based on the funds partner companies provide, but Lane offers a solution for churches that still want to participate. By request, he’ll send shipping labels for them to send trash to Trenton.   He keeps track of the resulting cash and sends 80 percent to the participating church, with 20 percent going to St. Gregory.   “It has two positives: You get paid for it, and you know you’re doing a good thing for the planet,” Alworth said.   But eliminating waste does create a headache or two at church. It took awhile to convince Lane – who says he believes in “zero waste” – that they still needed a trash container despite the TerraCycle, recycling and compost bins, Alworth said.   Once, a mass of fruit flies flew out of an unemptied compost bin while they were setting up a funeral repast; they spent the whole time trying to “swoosh flies away” inconspicuously, she recalled. “That was the one time we came close to not composting anymore.”   “It’s not something you take real lightly, and not every parish has an Andrew,” she said.   But overall, she sees participating in composting and TerraCycle as good stewardship of God’s creation.   “Anything that we do like this helps us to feel like we’re being better stewards than we would be if we sent all this stuff to the landfill to just sit there and pile up,” she said. “I think that’s why people do it. They love the church, they love each other, and they’re willing to do this for the betterment of everything.”