I love school supplies! But before my mom and I go shopping for them, we think of the environment, and I hope you will too. First, check your school supply list carefully: You’ll find that you have lots of things already in your house from last year, like crayons, scissors, or leftover glue sticks. Then plan for the new stuff! This year, let’s all try to buy at least one eco-friendly school supply. You can find them at most of the big stores like Target and Wal-Mart and also online at theultimategreenstore.com. What’s the one green thing you bought or are planning to buy for this school year? Let me know and you’ll be entered to win one of two eco-friendly school supply kits from our friends at TerraCycle!

Wind is partnering with TerraCycle, a manufacturer of some 50 eco-friendly products sold at major retailers like WalMart and Target. TerraCycle also runs national collection programs that pay non-profits to collect used packaging. In Dallas, Wind Foundation advisor Cheryl Jensen, a leadership consultant and executive coach, has recruited 25+ restaurants and wine bars to participate in the Cork Brigade.

  Wind is partnering with TerraCycle, a manufacturer of some 50 eco-friendly products sold at major retailers like Walmart and Target. TerraCycle also runs national collection programs that pay non-profits to collect used packaging. In Dallas, Wind Foundation advisor Cheryl Jensen, a leadership consultant and executive coach, has recruited 25+ restaurants and wine bars to participate in the Cork Brigade.

Earth Month is one time of the year when a number of companies come up with initiatives as well as project to showcase their efforts to preserve the environment and protect the ecology. One of the companies that have taken the lead in this is the retail giant Wal-Mart, which has tied up with Terracycle to display ‘before and after’ products. This is in the realm of recycling which is one of the key ways to conserve the environment. These products will be displayed all month on Wal-Mart shelves. These are essentially products that are taken by Terracycle and then recycled into fresh consumer goods.

As many great companies do, this one started in a dorm room. Tom Szaky, now at the ripe old age of 27, is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle and was named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. magazine in 2009. The idea of upcycling wasn't trendy at the time, and the first few years at Terracycle were rocky. Hurdles involved near bankruptcy and the hard choice of turning down a $1 million grant because the investor's principles were not in line with Szaky's idea of a truly sustainable company — now that's a man with faith in his idea!

My mother called me last night to tell me about an interesting notice on the side of her Wheat Thins box. Apparently Wheat Thins has teamed up with Terracycle to recyle their packages. My mother proceeded to tell me a bit more about it and then sent me a link to read through today. Here’s what I found in their “About Us” page: TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage. You can be a part of our eco-revolution, just sign up for one of our FREE Brigades or look for TerraCycle products at your local retailer.

If you read their story – it all boils down to the fact that this is a company that takes recycled fruit juice pouches and turns them into backpacks, cooler bags and lawn fertilizer. People are literally walking around with bags of old fruit juice packets on their backs. They take all this recycled stuff, break it down, stitch it together and make a nice little product – all at pretty reasonable prices.

Why is WalMart selling trash? Because it is coming repurposed from TerraCycle Inc. I’m sure you have seen some of their stuff. TerraCycle sells backpacks, kites and coolers made from reused drink pouches, chip bags and candy wrappers. Their products are actually really cool looking. I see them everywhere. My son’s school even collects Capri Sun pouches for them. However, so far, the venture has lost money. The items they use are otherwise tough to recycle trash. Thankfully for TerraCycle (and the landfills), WalMart agreed to sell dozens of the products in connection with Earth Day during April. If enough of the items sold during the trial period, the company would land a huge deal with WalMart. If I had realized that, I would’ve picked up a couple of their things. I saw them, but really wasn’t in the market for them in April.

TerraCycle Inc. aims to make money by reusing the hard-to-recycle trash the U.S. produces each year — but it first needs to find out if Walmart Stores Inc. and other retailers think there's enough demand for its products.    The company, which sells backpacks, kites and insulated coolers made from reused candy wrappers, drink pouches and potato-chip bags that normally would have gone to landfills, has so far been a money-losing proposition. But Walmart, the world's largest retailer, agreed to sell dozens of TerraCycle products in about 3,400 stores in a promotion tied to Earth Day during the month of April.   If TerraCycle sold enough to land an extended deal with Walmart or another big retailer, the Trenton, New Jersey, company could turn its first profit this year. "The pressure is as high as I can think of," says founder Tom Szaky.

A program that turns kids' trash into school cash helped send Truman Benedict Elementary School students to camp last month. Now they're back and showing off their own trash creations. Fifth-graders at the San Clemente school boxed up Capri Sun juice pouches and chip bags earlier this year and sent them to a New Jersey company called Terracycle, which "upcycles" <http://www.ocregister.com/articles/school-240299-schools-recycling.html> trash into backpacks, kites and other products sold at stores such as Wal-Mart. In exchange, the school got $30 per student to go to a science camp and 2 cents for each piece of trash collected. (Click the "Graphics" tab above to see how the process works.)