TerraCycle, a venture founded in 2001 by a Princeton University freshman, is making innovative, eco-friendly products out of packaging and other waste materials that are not normally recycled in our municipal waste programs. To date, they have created over 50 products that are available at major retailers like Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco, Target, Wal-Mart and Whole Foods.

Examples of some of their products are:

•  Candy wrappers converted into insulated coolers, clipboards, back packs
• Chip bags converted to tote bags, 3 ring binders, audio speakers, placemats
•  Energy bar wrappers converted to duffel bags, note pads, pencil cases.

TerraCycle will keep track of SACS’ donations and twice a year we will be eligible to receive payment for accepted material. Most of the packaging/wrappers and associated materials recycled are redeemable at .02 cents per item. Cell phones will fetch .25 cents.

TerraCycle calls/refers to each of their streams of recyclables as “BRIGADES”. At the present time and per Brigades available, SACS has chosen to and been accepted to collect for the following:

•   Aveeno Beauty Brigade:  any empty, branded product tubes
•  Bear Naked Bag Brigade:  product bags and wrappers
•  Candy Wrapper Brigade:  wrapper from any Cadbury, Mars or Wrigley product, e.g., M&Ms, Snickers, Skittles, Starburst, Swedish Fish, Twix, etc.
•  Cell Phone Brigade:  discarded cell phones
•  Chip Bag Brigade:  clean, empty bags any size from a Frito-Lay product, e.g., Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos, Lay’s Potato Chips, Sun Chips, etc.
•  Colgate Oral Care Brigade:  discarded toothbrushes, empty toothpaste tubes and packaging from any of their products, e.g., floss, proxi brushes
•  Cookie Wrapper Brigade:  clean, empty bag or wrapper, any size from a Keebler or Nabisco cookie product
•  Cork Brigade:  any natural or synthetic cork from champagne or wine
•  Energy Bar Brigade:  wrapper from any Clif or Odwalla product
•  Gum Wrapper Brigade:  individual wrappers, including blister packaging and foil packs, from Bubblicious, Dentyne, Stride and Trident products
•  Huggies Brigade:  any piece of plastic packaging/wrapper from a Huggies brand product
•  Kashi Package Brigade:  clean, empty wrappers and packaging from any Kashi product
•  Neosporin Brigade:  empty product tubes
• Scotch Tape Brigade:  used tape dispensers and cores
• Scott Brand Brigade:  plastic packaging/wrapper from any Scott paper product
• Spreads Brigade:  clean, empty containers and lids from any Brummel & Brown, Country Crock, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter or Promise product from Unilever
• Starbucks Coffee Bag Brigade:  clean, empty coffee bags
•  Writing Instrument Brigade:  old, used markers, pens and their packaging from any Expo, Paper Mate or Sharpie product

Please bring any/all of these materials for recycling to our meetings.  SACS will have a dedicated container for collection of your donated items.

Your questions about this recycling effort can be directed to Carl Eschbacher, the SACS Coordinator/Collector for this project, either by e-mail to che@kc.rr.com or 816-943-8626 by telephone. Information for this project will also be available on the SACS web site.

You can also find more information about recycling and related activities by going to the TerraCycle website.