Extract from: Kinross Primary School Newsletter

Ms Morris moved to Indonesia from Sydney, where she was pursuing her passion to rid the world of toxic waste. She was an intern at the waste recycle organisation TerraCycle and completed Honours in Environmental Management Research at the University of NSW.

Ms Morris moved to Indonesia in January from Sydney, where she was pursuing her passion to rid the world of toxic waste. She was an intern at the waste recycle organisation TerraCycle and completed Honours in Environmental Management Research at the University of New South Wales.

Who knew bringing your old toothbrush, floss or toothpaste tubes into school could help to save the planet? That’s the lesson being learnt at Garran Primary School since the school has partnered with upcycling pioneers TerraCycle to recycle the traditionally un-recyclable products. TerraCycle, headquartered in the USA, works with corporations to fund recycling solutions that would be considered cost prohibitive by council and municipal programs. By collecting used oral care items and sending them to TerraCycle, collectors can also raise $0.02 per unit received over 1kg which can then be donated to their chosen school, charity or not-for-profit. Since its launch in Australia the oral care recycling program has kept 112,549 items from going to landfill and raised $1993.

Nespresso has partnered with global recycling and upcycling pioneers TerraCycle to expand its recycling programme. As part of the partnership, Nespresso now has an additional 75-plus recycling collection points in florists and garden centres nationwide, from Invercargill to Kerikeri. The used capsules are then picked up by TerraCycle and sent to a recycling plant in Auckland. At the plant they are recycled into two streams; the roast and ground coffee is separated and then transformed into compost, while the aluminium capsules are melted.

The smart people at TerraCycle came up with a brilliant idea: recycling! But what is TerraCycle and what do they do? In their own words: “TerraCycle offers free recycling programs funded by brands, manufacturers, and retailers around the world to help you collect and recycle your hard-to-recycle waste..." Clever right? And not only, using this service is completely free and very easy. All you have to do is sign up on their website and join the recycling program you like (in this case theNESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Capsule Recycling Program). When you have collected enough capsules and you are ready to recycle them, put them in a box (use an old recycled box and make sure your capsules are dry – I put them in Ziploc bags, just to be extra safe), get the shipping label sent via email, print it and drop the box at your nearest Australia Post office. All done and without having to spend a cent. All that would already be great, but TerraCycle does more: you will earn money for each capsule you send for the non-profit organisation of your choice! For this amazing programme, TerraCycle has partnered with NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto andDeLonghi and they sent me one of their beautiful Stelia machines to try out. I must admit that I was very impressed. So, what are you waiting for? Get your Stelia machine, start trying out all the delicious NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto flavours and recycle all your capsules now with TerraCycle!!