TerraCycle - Upcycling made stylish

One of the most annoying things about being a consistent recycler is that you become all to familiar with the items that your local collector can't or won't take. You know the kind; crisp packets, foil drinks pouches, toothpaste tubes etc. While you can't always banish these items from your household, it does at last look like you can make use of them. Terracycle are a company currently turning this type of waste into eco friendly, usable products for the home, office, school and fashion. Currently making a huge impact in the US, where they supply amongst others Walmart (they're currently running a month long promotion in April with the supermarket chain for the American readers out there) and will be fully operational in the UK and Ireland very soon. 

Always a fan of innovative ideas for waste, I've been checking out their website and will be looking forward to seeing when I can get my hands on one of these shopping bags or bibs made from Ella's Kitchen Juice Pouches (picture credit terracycle.co.uk). However, the Terracycle appeal lies not just in their ability to satisfy the consumer in me. I was also pleased to see their commitment to charity and social sectors in the means in which they collect the rubbish used to make their products; donating money to chosen charities or schools for every unit collected. It's the kind of project that schools (over 30,000 currently take part in the US) and other non profit organisations can surely make use of, raising funds while educating about the importance of waste management. 

If you would like more information on Terracycle's products and stockists, you can visit their website

http://www.terracycle.net (US)         http://www.terracycle.co.uk/

Terracycle's founder Tom Szaky was also recently interviewed on RTE Radio talking about his plans for development of the company in the ROI. Tom will also be speaking at the Department of Environment's Smart Green Seminar at the Royal Hospital, Killimainham on the 27th April. Anyone wishing to attend should visit http://www.rx3.ie/ for more details. It's great to see that our friends over the boarder are keen to look to  green industries as an effective means of helping the recovering economy, lets hope whoever's in Number 10 at the end of next month will do the same.