In an effort to make recycling more practical, Recycling Operations Manager Barry Wilkins will be working with TerraCylce, a New Jersey-based waste collection company, to collect used chip bags for its Chip Bag Brigade “upcycling” program. TerraCycle, founded in 2001 by then-Princeton University student Tom Szaky, works with schools and companies to collect previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste materials and helps remake these materials into new items.

Thermoformed packaging such as blister packs and clamshells typically end up in landfills, even though many of them are made of PC PET, the material that is blow molded into soft drink and water bottles and highly recyclable. That’s a problem for manufacturers concerned about the sustainability of their products and product packaging. But realities of the economics of recycling will probably prevent the widespread recycling of thermoform-grade RPET for some time to come. (The “R” of RPET means the polymer comprises virgin material plus regrind, or recycled content.) In a pilot study conducted by thermoform packaging maker Dordan Manufacturing in Woodstock, Ill., the company shipped 50 of its RPET clamshells to a local recycling facility to determine how well the containers could be sorted. The automated waste-management facility that accepted the RPET samples sort different kinds of polymers using optics

Upcycling is a term not many of us are familiar with, but nonetheless an important concept that differs from recycling. According to Wikipedia, “upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.” Upcycling makes something of equal or better value without downgrading the original material or creating more pollution during the process.  Recycling requires additional processing, is less environmentally friendly, and is not necessarily of better value.  For example, the quality of recycled paper or plastic is lower than that of new paper or plastic.

The 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) is no longer simply a mantra for environmental activists, it’s a ticket to saving you money while you consider the planet. The 3Rs ask you to buy less, reuse more, and recycle products at the end of their useful life-wonderful guiding principles for reducing our environmental footprint and bringing our lifestyles into balance with nature. But in practice, how many of us are really willing to cut back on the stuff we want to own, to reuse what we’d like to throw out, and to recycle when doing so is often incredibly inconvenient?

Recycle, the last of the 3R trio, is the most transformative of the Rs. When we recycle, we’re giving used products the chance to be reborn as something new. That’s especially the case thanks to companies like Preserve that has partnered with Stonyfield Farm to recycle its yogurt cups-from organic yogurt, of course-into ergonomic plastic toothbrushes, razors, and an assortment of colorful kitchenware (and now also does the same with Brita pitcher filters). TerraCycle, another green innovator, is on pace to redefine much of America’s relationship with trash. The company that began with its signature Plant Food-made from worm poop, packaged in empty Pepsi bottles and sold at the likes of Home Depot and Wal-Mart-has evolved into an innovation powerhouse that continually introduces new products made entirely from waste. Take the E-Water Trash Cans and Recycling Bins available at OfficeMax for $10.99 each and made from crushed computers and fax machines (that would otherwise end up in a landfill).

In just 29 years, Tom Szaky has lived quite a life. Born in Hungary in the 80s, he lived with his family under the Iron Curtain where the idea of entrepreneurship did not exist. It wasn’t until the Chernobyl disaster that Szaky and his family left their native land in search of a better life. They landed in Canada, and so the trajectory of Szaky's life shifted and a new path began. Szaky was just 14 when he was bit by the entrepreneurial bug. The idea of starting a company was new to him, but he was interested in the internet. So he taught himself to code and launched a graphic design company. The business—which employed a few people—lasted until Szaky was 16 years old. From there, he attempted to start a slew of other companies, none of which took off.

In 2008, one Upper Blue Elementary fourth-grader figured out how to divert juice pouches from the landfill and turn them into useful and innovative creations like bags and purses. Now, Samantha Buer's project continues, and it's not only pulling waste from the landfill, it's raising money to provide clean water for three people for one year, meals for hungry Americans, carbon credits to reduce carbon from the atmosphere, adoptions of 37 acres of wildfire land, and chicks for needy families. They also donated money to the Red Cross, Oxfam America, Save the Children, Doctors without Borders and AmeriCares. Buer's “Juice Pouch Brigade,” created through TerraCycle, creates an avenue through which Upper Blue's Kids in Action students have collected more than 7,225 juice bags from Capri Sun, Honest Kids, Kool Aid and other brands since 2008. Terracyle is an organization whose goal is to eliminate waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that gets sent to the landfill.

Tom Szaky Terracycle At a Glance * Age: 29 * Headquarters: Trenton, N.J. * 2010 revenues: $13 million * www.terracycle.net Profile When Tom Szaky was a freshman at Princeton he hit upon the idea of using worm poop as an organic fertilizer. He borrowed money from family and friends and spent all his savings on a $20,000 "worm gin"—which can hold hundreds of thousands of the invertebrates—and dropped out of college. With a $2,000 angel investment from venture capitalist Suman Sinha, Szaky started packaging the fertilizer in used soda bottles and selling it out of his car to local gardening centers. In 2004 he convinced a buyer for Home Depot to take a flier on his fertilizer, which is also now available in Target and Wal-Mart. In addition to the ­fertilizer, Terracycle collects trash and turns it into bright, fun products, like messenger bags made out of used Capri Sun packages and trippy "urban art trash cans." The company donates 2 cents to charity for each waste item it ­recycles, raising $3.2 million so far.

TerraCycle, based in Trenton, NJ, is a for-profit company that upcycles and recycles traditionally non-recyclable waste – into creative consumer products. Even in a city like Cambridge that has a very progressive recycling program (yay for recycling coffee cups and pizza boxes!), there are so many products that are not recycled – and that could be diverted from landfills with TerraCycle’s programs.  Like candy wrappers, chip bags, corks, cookie packaging, and the list goes on….