TerraCycle launched in Ruidoso in May 2013 when Coyote Howling started collecting for two Brigades: the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and the Writing Instruments Brigade. Since then, Coyote Howling has twice received prizes in the Garnier Giveaway Sweepstakes for largest shipments in the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade in the Southwest region.

You can join the program for free. Collect old writing instruments in a box (the box must weigh over seven pounds), and download a free shipping label from terracycle.com for easy mailing. Click the “send your waste” tab at the top and scroll down to the “Writing Instruments Brigade.”

Rethinking what is trash is key to TerraCycling. TerraCycling is a concept that is less then 10 years old but has spread to more than 20 different countries and is now rooted and growing in the local Lincoln County community.

Did you get the memo? Earth Month is about celebrating efforts, sharing best practices and getting inspired. Your office likely already has the bin in the kitchen for cans and glass and near the photocopier and fax machine for recycling paper. That’s a great start…but it’s only the beginning of what’s possible. What does your office do with plastics, food waste and technotrash like CDs, PCs and cell phones?