More Ways to Recycle From Terracycle

Last month, Terracycle rolled out collection bins in stores to make it easier for people to recycle. The bins are in places you shop all the time like Petco, OfficeMax, Best Buy, and Home Depot, but for now they are just in the New York and New Jersey area. This three month pilot program is just the beginning of a nationwide plan to have bins in 10,000 retail locations nationwide by this time next year.

Each store will have bins specific to their items. This just makes sense since you would not be recycling something at Petco that you bought at Home Depot. Terracycle also only wants specific items that they can use now or that they are developing a need for.

As you can see from the photo above, Home Depot will be accepting caulking tubes, paint brushes, saw blades, nursery pots and furnace filters. These are all items that we have around the house and that most likely would end up in a landfill if it weren't for this program. Can you guess what Terracycle is going to do with these items? Well, the saw blades will be turned into clocks. Mom tells me that she has seen clocks made from saw blades at craft fairs. The plant pots will be shredded and turned into sturdy pots in response to complaints from gardeners. Petco is collecting pet food bags and along with plastic shopping bags (yuk!) that will be accepted at all the stores, will be turned into tote bags.

Additionally, Terracycle still has spots open for a lot of their recycling programs. For those of you who are not aware of how these programs work, Terracycle will pay you for your waste. That's right - this is not a typo. They will pay you for drink pouches, cookie wrappers, Frito Lay chip bags, Bear Naked bags, and more. Participation in the program is completely free and all shipping is paid for by Terracycle. In most cases you will receive $.02 per item, but it all adds up. The money gets donated to the non-profit organization or school of your choice and the items get recycled instead of ending up in landfills. This is a great way to do a fundraiser with very little effort. For more information about Terracycle, visit them at http://www.terracycle.net/.