Once again TerraCycle is at the forefront of upcycling and reusing products for a brighter future for all of us. They are ready for Valentine’s Day with a few DIY upcycling ideas. While cleaning up trash doesn’t seem like a romantic way to spend the day, you can celebrate the holiday and effect real-world change with special Valentine’s Day items, products and decorations in Trash Tycoon, Facebook’s first upcycling game from Guerillapps and TerraCycle. In the game, you can clean up trash and upcycle it to fun products like necklaces, Valentine’s Day cards and heart shaped wreaths to send to friends or to decorate your town. Players’ hearts will swell because Trash Tycoon creates positive social impact by donating 10% of in-game dollars to environmental projects sponsored by CarbonFund.org.

The best Valentine gifts are not bought in stores but are the ones that are homemade and come straight from the heart and for the bracelet straight from the garbage. Whether you make a bracelet for that special Valentine or one for each of your friends, recipients will be touched that you took the time to give them a handmade gift. Terracycle offers this one of a kind unique bracelet pattern made from Kraft cheese wrappers. With simple, do-it-yourself instructions available for download here: bit.ly/ValentineBraceletDIY, these bracelets are sure to be a hit with children of all ages while also educating them on the importance of recycling and upcycling. You can also check out this video for step-by-step instructions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1iIq1U9PEw&feature=youtu.be

TerraCycle, an award-winning company that specializes in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, wants to help small businesses achieve their green initiatives while giving back to the community. If your company signs up to a TerraCycle “Brigade” and begins collecting specific items such as Scotch tape dispensers, toner cartridges, pens, drink pouches, potato chip bags and more, TerraCycle will process those items and your company can earn money for the school or charity of your choice.

Just because you can't put something in the recycling bin doesn't mean it can't be recycled - send it to New Jersey's TerraCycle Inc., which specializes in unconventional recycleables. For retailers, getting customers in the door is the goal. The more touch points retailers can have with their customers, the more reasons customers have to visit.

Saving the planet and cutting down on emissions is a good thing, but who says you can’t have a little fun while doing so? “Sustainable” and “green” tech can seem boring, but the next generation of technology isn’t just good for the planet — it’s pretty darn cool to boot.

Children’s chores often include taking out the trash, (hopefully) taking out the recycling, and washing the dishes. After their chores, they usually get rewarded with free time to play. Given these habits, it’s not surprising children often view recycling as a chore. It’s grouped with taking out the trash and dishes, which aren’t very fun tasks. Now, given TerraCycle’s recycling programs that reach out to kids and schools, our goal is to make recycling fun. A great way to change your child’s view of recycling is to avoid making it a punishment or something they must do to avoid getting in trouble. Also, making any lesson hands on or even (gasp!) fun will make kids more engaged. TerraCycle is trying to do just that for recycling.

The game is part of Sojo Studio’s mission to effect positive change in the real world using gaming, according to the statement released. The idea of using gaming for positive change isn't a new one. Zynga has donated millions of dollars through Zynga.org, and Trash Tycoon allows users to exchange points they earn in the game to impact real-world green initiatives, and by performing tasks in the real world, to earn points in the game.

The ultimate solution to recycling is perhaps the ability to turn waste material or trash into cash. TerraCycle is well established recycling and upcycling company which do exactly that through a simple but powerful goal: “eliminate the idea of waste.” The idea is to use find the value in each hard to recycle product and upcycle it turning waste into a profitable and eco-friendly business. They do this by creating national recycling systems and collection networks for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste and using the waste to create marketable items. These regional recycling programs are increasing in numbers and are available to everyone. They regularly receive contributions from all over the world, waste material which they then convert into a wide variety of products and materials. With more than 20 million people collecting waste in 14 countries TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers. So next time you are thinking about turning Trash into cash, just pick up the phone and call TerraCycle. Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a 20-year-old Princeton University freshman, TerraCycle began by producing organic fertilizer, packaging liquid worm poop in used soda bottles. Since then TerraCycle has grown into one of the fastest-growing green companies in the world. Find out more about them