Spotlight: TerraCycle

So we all know how to recycle soda cans and junk mail. But what about that odd trash? Like the wrapper from your protein bar, or the empty glass container from your holiday candle? I wouldn't even think twice about throwing these away. 

Well, there's a company that's here to change all that: Introducing TerraCycle. Started by a then college-student in 2001, Tom Szaky, TerraCycle is now an award-winning company doing business in 20+ countries. The goal is eliminate hard-to-recycle waste through recycling, upcycling, etc. 

They have a few different models of doing business, from partnering with municipalities, to installing recycling boxes in businesses, to providing outlets for individual participation. 

For individuals, you want to look at their "brigades". These are partnerships with specific brands to get their waste returned to them. From your perspective, you can either drop if off at the store when you buy more or print a free shipping label to ship it to the manufacture.

Here are just a few examples of the current Brigades:

• Bausch + Lomb contacts - send in your used contacts and the plastic packaging. Especially big if you use daily disposables!
• Yankee Candle - bring in 5 empties to the store, and get $5 off your next candle. 
• GoGo Squeez - send in your pouches and caps, and you also accumulate points to donate to a favorite non-profit or school.
• Nespresso pods - bring your empties to a Sur la Table store and they promise to make you a coffee drink as a thank you!

And here are just a few examples of the impact they are making (in # of units recycled): 

• Larabar wrappers: 7,507,287
• Brita filters: 33,159
• Capri Sun pouches: 216,792,671
• Writing instruments: 2,882,877

What an awesome amount of waste diverted from the landfill! TerraCycle is regularly adding more partnerships, so sign up for any products you regularly use, and check back periodically for more brigades.