I was excited when TerraCycle Canada agreed to be part of the Canadian’s Welcome, Eh giveaway because I think the company does a great service to the world by turning trash into such cool things. Although they’ve been around since 2001, I first heard about them when I was flipping through the channels and came across their Garbage Moguls show that was on a few years ago. I loved watching them come up with creative ways to recycle things like old dog food bags into brand new products. I received their Teddy Grahams tote bag for review, and it’s absolutely adorable. It’s really well made too, with strong stitching that will definitely hold up to whatever you put in there. Plus it wipes clean really easy, making it perfect for the beach or picnics.
TerraCycle’s Sustainability story:
Founded in 2001 by Toronto-native Tom Szaky, TerraCycle is the world leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable post-consumer waste. TerraCycle Canada works with more than 14 major brands like Glad, Mr. Christie’s, Nestlé, Sally’s, Tassimo, Kool-Aid, Huggies and Garnier to collect used packaging and products (cookie and chocolate wrappers, sandwich bags, coffee and cereal packaging, diaper packaging, cosmetics and personal care packaging, drink pouches, pens, e- waste and more) that would be destined for landfills. It repurposes the waste into new materials and upcycled and recycled products. Waste is collected through TerraCycle’s Brigade® programs, which pay individuals, households, groups (from community and religious ones to non-profits), offices, schools and other institutions, for the waste they collect and return. On average, participants receive two points (the equivalent of $0.02) for each piece of waste received. The points can be used to purchase charity gifts or converted to cash for donation to a charity, non-profit or school of the collector’s choice.
Other facts:
● More than 800,000 people are collecting across Canada. Schools make up approximately 70% of participants, with the majority of those being elementary schools. In addition to schools, day care centers are also collecting.
● 4,038,378 units of waste collected to date, projecting 6,800,000 for 2012, (2.8 billion units collected globally)
● Top 5 choices by schools for brigade collection:
1) Drink Pouch Brigade
2) Glad Sandwich Bag & Container Brigade (any brand of sandwich bags or plastic disposable containers)
3) Mr. Christie’s® Cookie & Cracker Wrapper Brigade (any brand of cookie or cracker wrappers or pouches)
4) Garnier Personal Care & Beauty Brigade (any brand of a range of products. For a complete list, http://terracycle.ca/en-CA/brigades/personal-care-and-beauty-brigade.html)
5) Nestlé Chocolate Wrapper (NOT open to elementary schools as participants must be over the age of 12)
Canadians Welcome Prize Contribution
TerraCycle will be providing the winner of my giveaway with this cute tote bag:
The giveaway starts on 5/21, so be sure to come back. In the meantime, check out TerraCycle Canada on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with news about the company.
