Introducing our first TerraCycle Zero Waste Box! This box is for the disposal of all SMALL plastic or metal bottle caps! These small caps can cause issues with conveyor belts at the recycling plants and are generally trashed if they fall through the machinery. Caps larger than 1.5" can go in regular recycling.

At the Green Team Tent, community members interested in recycling dutifully brought K Cups to place in the Terra Cycle box. If you forgot to bring them and wish to bring K Cups tomorrow, July 6, you may do so, otherwise that is the end of that collection. Remember to save bottle caps to bring on July 27 and rinsed Solo cups on Aug. 24.

Recycling used to be so simple: aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers and paper bags. The sheer amount of disposable items has turned a garbage problem into a garbage crisis, says Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle. The company's mission is recycling the previously unrecyclable, such as cigarette butts, contact lenses and chewing gum.

TerraCycle had a glimmer of a start when Tom Szaky, then a 19 year old university student, decided to drop out of school so he could build a company. His first company made “organic fertilizer from worm poop,” according to Emel Simpson, TerraCycle’s vice president of research and development. While that certainly wasn’t a recycling company, there was a re-use component since he started getting bottles from major soda companies which he used to bottle his fertilizer.

As consumers have become more supportive of recyclable products, the options for recycling what we used to deem trash have grown. Major manufacturers are partnering with companies such as TerraCycle to recover their (and sometimes even competitors’) products. Cities and counties have ramped up recycling programs to accept a wider variety of items.

Recycling used to be so simple: aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers and paper bags. The sheer amount of disposable items has turned a garbage problem into a garbage crisis, says Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle. The company’s mission is recycling the previously unrecyclable, such as cigarette butts, contact lenses and chewing gum.

MSW employees and subcontractors use a variety of personal protective equipment which historically has been discarded at the conclusion of each job. TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box program offers a convenient means for recovering these traditionally non-recyclable items and recycling them into practical products.

“There is a box in the foyer for eyeglass donations, and we also take used contact lenses and blister packs to be recycled (but not re-used) through terracycle.”

Recycling used to be so simple: aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers and paper bags. The sheer amount of disposable items has turned a garbage problem into a garbage crisis, says Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle. The company's mission is recycling the previously unrecyclable, such as cigarette butts, contact lenses and chewing gum.

Ditch: Trashing rubbish. Switch: Look on TerraCycle to see if there is a scheme that will accept your trash.