The EcoChic

This past Saturday was the closing day for Big B’s Little League.  We don’t usually spend much time at the park and rarely visit the concession stand but this weekend was different.  Halfway through the game Big B looked at the dugout coach and said “Look at all these bottles in the trash, why aren’t they being recycled?”  Gotta love a 6 yr old who is more interested in recycling than the game. 

Spending a whole day at the ball park I was in shock with the over flowing garbage cans of plastic bottles!  By noon all the trash cans were full and most of the content was bottles.  They obviously don’t have a recycling program in place.  We’re lucky though, this year we at least have trash cans in the dugouts. 

Well since Little League is a volunteer organization I guess I’ve volunteered myself to a new pet project…setting up a recycling program for the league.  I can see so much potential.  I may even link the recycling program with a fundraiser.  Many teams bring drinks for the kids following the game and Capri Sun is a common choice.  Wouldn’t it be neat to take those juice packs and join a TerraCyclebrigade to earn money for the park?  Hmmmm…the juice is flowing! 

Stay tuned as I try to green out little league before next springs season begins.  Anyone have any tips?

If you’ve been a regular here at The Eco Chic you know that I’m very fond of a company in New Jersey that is the king of upcycling.  TerraCycle takes our garbage and turns it into products that we can all use.  From reusing plastic bottles to package their worm poop fertilizer to reusing wine barrells by turning them into rain barrels TerraCycle really knows how to get creative with trash. 

I was speaking with George over at TerraCycle this week and he sent me a link to their new show, Garbage Moguls, that aires on the National Geographic Channel the evening of Earth Day.  Check out this funny clip to see what it’s all about.  I have my DVR set to record it since I’ll be out of town. 

If you are anything like me you probably open a bottle of wine (well at least before I got pregnant) and throw the cork in the trash.  I have a friend who saves them for a charity and another who just collects them for fun.  Well TerraCycle has a new use for them; they make corkboards from them.  I’ve seen kits where they sell you the frame and you add your own corks but this is already put together and ready for you to buy (available through Office Max this fall) and use…no glue required.  I think this would make a great addition to a kitchen or office. 

Participating in the Cork Brigade couldn’t be any easier.  All you have to do is save your wine corks and send them to TerraCycle.  You don’t have to sign up or anything…just send them in.  However, if you work at a restaurant or place that would collect over 200 wine corks you can sign up to receive a postage paid mailer.  Can you imagine how many wine corks could be saved from the landfill just by taking the time to send them to TerraCycle.  And you all know how much I love the idea of upcycling (turning trash into something useful without processing)!!!

Go visit TerraCycle and learn more about the Cork Brigade and other upcycling programs and brigades that they offer.  They continue to add new products to the line; I can’t wait to see what else they add for the holidays!

And the winner is Belinda P!  Congratulations!  **An email will be sent to Belinda S. to claim her TerraCycle Drink Pouch tote bag within 7 days.   Belinda, if you do not receive an email from me please contact me with your mailing address at theecochic@gmail.com.

I wanted to thank all of you for your comments and subscriptions to TheEcoChic.  This was my best giveaway yet and I owe it to all of my readers.  Please keep reading and posting comments.  In addition, if you have not subscribed to receive TheEcoChic in your inbox please enter your email address in the FeedBurner box on the right. 

A special thank you to TerraCycle for their product samples that made this giveaway possible.  If you haven’t already please take a minute to visit TerraCycle and learn more about their amazing company.  They are a real inspiration for everyone!

My little 5 yr old (ok..he’s a big boy now) will be starting school this week.  The start date of school is suppose to be Tuesday BUT that might change with Tropical Storm/Hurricane Faye headed towards Florida.  His school supply list was pretty basic this year; nothing too extravagant.  Mostly just paper, pencils, pencil box, glue, etc.  On my trip to Wal-Mart I only spent $5 on the whole list of supplies.  How can you make your kids school supplies a little more green?

Look for recycled paper and recycled folders.  Look for pencils that are either refillable or made from rainforest free trees.  TerraCycle even offers some unique and quirky back to school supplies.  They have a cute pencil bag, lunch box, and backpack all made from juice pouches.  I actually saw the pencil bag at our local Walgreens last week (only about $3).  Looking on their website they also offer eco-binders and a drink pouch homework folder. 

TerraCycle Bags

With all the new green cleaning products available I have to say I was quite excited to get a sample of the TerraCycle cleaners.  I have been using the Natural All Purpose Cleaner and the Natural Window Cleaner for a few weeks now and I have to say…I’m impressed!  Now if you knew me you would know I don’t like to clean!!  I hate using all those nasty smelling chemicals because they cause my asthma to flare up. 

Natural Window Cleaner

 My absolute favorite cleaner was the Natural Window Cleaner.  I have a 5 yr old who LOVES leaving his little handprints all over the back sliding class door and the front glass storm door.  We are always cleaning these doors and now I have a natural cleaner instead of my normal window cleaner.  No ammonia odor and no streaking; what more can a girl ask for?  I can once again see out of my windows, at least for the next 20 minutes before he goes and touches them again. 

There are 2 more natural cleaners that I want to try; the Bathroom Cleaner and the Drain Maintainer.  I have long hair that always clogs up the bathroom sink; especially when mixed with toothpaste and shaving cream.  We also have an older home and we haven’t upgraded the bathrooms yet.  The shower is the hardest place in the house to get clean.  The mildew grows so quick that we have to clean it all the time.  The only thing I have found that works easily with no strong smell is hydrogen peroxide; and that still has an odor.  So I can’t wait to find these 2 cleaners and give them a try.  You can search for a store near you by visiting TerraCycle; their store locator tool is at the top right of their website.   

Remember those soda bottles that TerraCycle collects in their Brigades?  All their cleaning products are packaged in those used soda bottles.  I love upcycling and this is truely upcycling at it’s best.  And when you are done with the product you know that you can recycle them easily. 

Do a quick survey of your garbage can; at home or at work.  Do you see any of the following items?

20 oz. Soda bottles
Yogurt Cups
Energy Bar Wrappers
Drink Pouches (like Capri Sun)
Cookie Wrappers
Wine Corks

Now even if you are an active recycler most of these items cannot be recycled in traditional ways.  Take the drink pouches for example; all those Capri Sun and other brands of juice pouches that the kids love; they just go in the trash.  Wouldn’t you like to find a way to recycle or upcycle everything that we consider waste?

Well TerraCycle, Inc can help.  I mentioned in my last post that TerraCycle reuses these waste items and turns them into useful products; eliminating the recycling process by upcycling.  Now I know you may be thinking; “What can they do with drink pouches?”, or “What can they make from cookie wrappers?”  We already know they use the soda bottles to package products such as plant food and household cleaners.  How would you like to use a tote bag made from 100% drink pouches?  Or how about a handbag made from cookie wrappers?  My son is loving his pencil pouch made from the drink pouches. 

To make things even more fun, how would you like to make money for upcycling these items?  TerraCycle will send all participants 0.01-0.02 cents per item (sometimes more) that you send back.  I should explain that in order to receive the money you need to be a non-profit organization, they don’t actually send the money to individuals.  I think that’s one of the things that made this even more exciting for me and my family.  We collect items; send them back; and a non-profit of our choice gets free money from our waste.  It’s not a lot of money; but every little bit helps for most of these organizations.  We choose a local marine aquarium and rescue organization.  We are recycling the drink pouches at our house so TerraCycle sent us 4 pre-paid shipping envelopes.  Each envelope will hold 100 drink pouches.  When the envelopes are full you seal it and send it back to TerraCycle.  They in turn add money to your account.  Twice a year they send the checks to the non-profit that you choose when you signed up. 

As a family you probably won’t generate a lot of money for your organization but think about it at work.  My husbands company doesn’t have a recycling program in place.  He took it upon himself to start recycling cans and bottles from the breakrooms.  He then takes them to a drop off center so they get recycled.  He could choose a non-profit organization and send the bottles to TerraCycle instead.  Right now there is a waiting list for the Bottle Brigade but he hopes to one day be able to participate in that for work. 

Think about your average day care center or elementary school; how many juice pouches do you think they go through in a day?  They could be upcycling these drink pouches instead of throwing them away. 

So what are you waiting for?  Go join a brigade today!  Not only will you be upcycling but you will also be earning a donation for a non-profit organization.  Don’t forget to check back here often; I still have 3 more posts to write about the things I love about TerraCycle.  At the end I have a cool tote bag (made from those juice pouches) to giveaway to one lucky reader.

We’ve all heard the term RECYCLING but how many of you have heard the term UPCYCLING?  Anyone want to take a guess what the definition of UPCYCLING is?

According to Wikipedia; Upcycling is the use of waste (trash) materials to provide useful products.  The main difference between recycling and upcycling is that there is minimal processing involved with upcycling.  The waste materials are used in the waste form to create a new and useful product.  I’ll give you some examples in a minute.

TerraCycle, Inc is a company out of Trenton, NJ that has mastered the art of upcycling.  While in college at Princeton University, TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky had a wonderful idea for marketing worm poop.  Worm poop?  Yes, I did say worm poop.  A form of composting is vermicompost where worms break down the materials and the worm poop is then used as a mulch or plant food.  Well Tom had the idea of selling this worm poop as an all natural plant food.  There’s more; Tom decided that he would bottle this special plant food in used soda bottles.  Thus bringing in the upcycling. 

Pictured above is one of the many plant foods marketed by TerraCycle, Inc.

Soda bottles are collected through the TerraCycle Bottle Brigade where schools and organizations can earn money for sending in used soda bottles.  I first heard about TerraCycle about 4 years ago at work.  One of my facilities participated in the Bottle Brigade as a fund raiser for an Equine Rescue Non-Profit Organization. 

Now, years since Tom’s original idea the company is exploding.  I’ve seen their products at local big-box retailers such as Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Target.  The products now range from garden products, cleaning products, and even accessories like tote bags.  And each product includes the upcycling idea using what would have been a waste material and turning into something useful. 

In the coming days I will focus of the different brigades that TerraCycle currently has to collect waste.  I will also spend a day on each area of products; gardening products, cleaning products, and the fun accessories and bags.  At the end of my series on TerraCycle I will even have a GIVEAWAY of one of their fun tote bags.  So stay tuned and learn more about TerraCycle and upcycling.