UTSA community members now can add Mars candy wrappers and Frito Lay chip bags to the list of materials that can be recycled on campus.  As part of its Green Thread sustainability program, ARAMARK Higher Education <http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSSW/UTSA/Sustainability/>  has partnered with TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net> , a New Jersey-based company, to 'upcycle' the packaging of these popular snack brands.

In some WalMart parking lots in the state of New Jersey, you can do just that. Walmart has placed TerraCycle recycling centers in some of its parking lots, and at these centers, when you insert your trash, TerraCycle donates money to New Jersey schools.

Tom was interviewed for the NPR show, To the Best of Our Knowledge, which airs on 61 local NPR affiliates nationwide throughout the week. You can stream or download the audio file at the link below. Tom’s interview runs from 16.00 to 30.00.

Terracycle upcycles consumer waste into new salable goods. They primarily harvest their raw material from schoolchildren as part of charity drives, though they are now placing recycling stations at certain Walmart stores. At the Walmart centers they pay 3 cents per piece, but only for a narrow range of product packaging; the website supports a wider range of recyclables. The spirit of the project is wonderful, but the problem is that it creates zombie advertising and branding for these undead consumer objects. Which is actually not all that surprising, as the Walmart program is sponsored by the very brands whose packaging are featured in the upcycled goods.

Terracycle upcycles consumer waste into new salable goods. They primarily harvest their raw material from schoolchildren as part of charity drives, though they are now placing recycling stations at certain Walmart stores. At the Walmart centers they pay 3 cents per piece, but only for a narrow range of product packaging; the website supports a wider range of recyclables.

2. Walmart installed TerraCycle recycling and garbage bins outside of New Jersey stores <http://www.causeintegration.com/2010/walmart-recycling-program-pays-cash-for-trash-with-terracycle/> , and may expand the program nationwide. TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  takes an innovative spin on recycling and waste, taking things most people think are garbage -- like empty Capri-Sun juice bags, or Oreo cookie wrappers -- and fashioning them into cool products that kids can take to school as backpacks and more. TerraCycle has successfully "upcycled" $1.85 billion worth of garbage since its inception (and as a plug, TerraCycle is founded by a Fellow of StartingBloc <http://startingbloc.org/> , Tom Szaky).

There is something pure genius sitting in a Wal-Mart parking lot in New Jersey and it is not Jon Bon Jovi (but I’d like it to be). It’s a giant green trash collection bin that will take all sorts of garbage you thought you couldn’t recycle … and pay you for it. This goes into the “why didn’t I think of that” category. TerraCycle, a company started in 2001 by a then 19-year old Princeton student, is partnering with some of the largest retailers in the nation to help people recycle things that were once believed to be true garbage. Then they upcycle them into actual products, and sell them.

Projected to begin in December, five Walmart stores (Secaucus, Vineland, Deptford East and Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey; Tullytown, Pennsylvania), will be testing a new trash collection system a la TerraCycle. In their parking lots, vistors should see a green converted trailer called a TerraCycle Center (how cool are these things?), which accepts 28 different types of trash, including yogurt containers, juice boxes, glue tubes, pens and more, which TerraCycle will upcyle into tote bags, plant pots, backpacks, pencil cases, portable speakers and more.

Recycling machines and reverse vending machines are still fairly new -- recently I wrote about a couple of cool ones <http://news.discovery.com/tech/recycling-machines-give-back-to-greenies.html>  arriving at college campuses and other locations around the country. Unlike those, however, the "Store Collection Systems" at Wal-Mart are made by TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> , which runs national waste materials collection programs for schools and nonprofits. The company makes eco-friendly products, including bags, coolers, and kites from materials like discarded energy bar wrappers and yogurt cups. I'm definitely a TerraCycle fan, first hearing about it back in 2007 when a colleague of mine at a short-lived online magazine interviewed founder Tom Skazy. The magazine is gone, but I still have an electronic copy of the Q&A.

A set of New Jersey Wal-Mart parking lots now have a way to turn consumer product waste into profits. (Well, a little pocket change, anyway.)  Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  has installed what they call "Store Collection Systems," a 20-foot trailer that accepts all kinds of packaging that can't be recycled in the normal blue bin outside your house. Then they take the mostly plastic waste—like Elmer’s glue bottles, toothpaste tubes, Capri Sun drink pouches—and turn them into products to resell in stores and online. They make mostly bags, pouches and coolers, but a few other items like picture frames and fertilizer, too.