Monday, May 12, 2008

TerraCycle - Creating an Upcycle Generation

aTeracle1.jpgaTrcle2.jpg

Gotta love a company who’s reaching out to kids and teaching them how to upcycle. TerraCycle, the makers of that fine organic fertilizer, Worm Poop, has hooked up with both Capri Sun and Honest Tea in an effort to encourage kids to participate in recycling their drink pouches and help transform the otherwise landfill-bound material into handbags, pencil cases and totes.  At the end of their use, these purchased items can be sent back to Terracycle to continue the process.

TerraCycle operates the program while Capri Sun and Honest Tea fund the project, paying schools 2 cents for every used pouch their students collect. According to TerraCycle, the upcycled items will be available at local shops so that kids can appreciate the value of their efforts. The recycling effort saves some of the 5 billion of drink pouches discarded every year in America’s landfills. There are currently 500 locations in the Capri Sun/Honest Tea Drink Pouch Brigade collecting over one thousand pouches a day. Visit terracycle.net/brigades to join in and sign up.

aTercle4.jpgEmpowering kids to participate in a product’s life cycle is a good thing — generating a more eco-conscious society whereby we all work together to ultimately eliminate the waste cycle entirely and create a more sustainable world. You can participate in recycling programs with donations going to various charities via TerraCycle’s efforts with Clif Bar wrappers, Stonyfield Yogurt cups and Chips Ahoy/Oreos. Or become a sponsor of the Bottle Brigade effort.

aTercle5.jpgRelated:

etsy.com - Upcycling for Greener Living

fyrelf.com - Upcycled Corporate Garbage

Upcycle defined @ wikipedia and sustainabilitydictionary.com

Sustainable defined @ merriam-webster

previously on altCon - Zero in on Zero Waste (4.22.08)

Princeton Dropout Makes Gold from Garbage: youtube and terracycle video

Leave a comment.


back to top