What can you do with candy wrappers, worn out flip flops, or the box from your toothpaste? You can upcycle it! TerraCycle’s goal is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. Anyone can sign up for these programs and start sending them some of your waste on their list.
Some of the waste that is collected includes things that a lot of use every day including:
energy bar wrappers
chip bag wrappers
toothpaste boxes
corks
flip flops
cleaner packaging
cell phones
candy wrappers
drink boxes
TerraCycle will then use your garbage to make a wide variety of products and materials which includes bags umbrellas, clipboards, plastic planters, and purses. The program has gotten lots of support, and over 20 million people collect waste in over 20 countries. With the programs, TerraCycle has collected billions of units of useful trash and used it to create over 1,500 different products which are available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods.
To do this, TerraCycle has created national programs called Brigades in order to target getting specific non-recyclable waste products. Most of the programs offer free shipping as well as a donation for each piece of garbage that you collect.
You can sign up to collect one or more types of waste, and then get it shipped to TerraCycle Then, if you see cool bags made of wrappers, or a door matt made of recycled flip flops, it might just be your garbage … in a brand new upcycled form.
Image Source
http://www.terracycle.com/
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