TerraCycle made a name for themselves producing a line of plant fertilizer products that were organically made by worms and sold in recycled soda bottles. Not content to watch lots of other potentially reusable materials head to the landfill, the company is expanding operations to produce a line of cleaning products, supplies for school and the office, and yes even fashion accessories. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the company has inked deals with a number of companies to collect some of their packaging waste and ‘upcycle’ it into new products. The company is already offering these products for sale at Target and hopes to be shipping to Walmart and Home Depot soon.
TerraCycle is committed to getting consumers involved. They have setup a nationwide collection network to source recyclables. Anyone can sign up via the website to collect a specific type of packaging. TerraCycle handles all the costs of transport back to their production facility. For every item sent, a donation is made to the charity of your choice.
To complete the circle, some companies like Kraft are already starting to put the TerraCycle logo on it’s packaging as a way to build awareness and encourage consumers to upcycle. For its part, TerraCycle looks to expand the product offer even more. Potentially on the horizon are shower curtains, umbrellas, lunch boxes, and backpacks.
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I was at Hardwar, a pilgrim spot in India situated on the banks of the holy Ganga river. Hindus visit the ‘Har ki pauri’ bathing ghat and here sheets of laminated packaging material bearing brand names like ‘Skittles’ are sold for Rs 10 (25 cents). These sheets are used to sit on (as the ground is wet) or as protection from rain.
I have no idea where these sheets come from, but guessing this is packaging waste sent to India in a container-load. And someone has found an ingenious use for it!
July 1st, 2008 at 1:39 pm