Every year millions of tons of packaging are sent to landfills. The next time you throw out that wrapper, someone could be turning your trash into a wallet, a totebag or a backpack. In fact, someone may be grabbing those used Honest Kids drink pouches and making them into a purse or taking those Bare Naked Granola bags and turning them into shower curtains. Even Clif Bar energy bar wrappers can be repurposed into messenger bags.

On average, recyclable packaging is only recycled 30 percent of the time and that's an optimistic estimate. For example, according to the Container Recycling Institute, 3.6 billion drink pouches are produced each year and because the material used to make these pouches is non-recyclable, virtually every single one is sent to a landfill. With new ideas emerging on how to be socially and environmentally responsible, the idea of "Upcycling" or directly reusing non-recyclable materials, is a major step towards addressing this serious environmental issue.

In the past year an environmentally responsible company, TerraCycle, came up with innovative upcycling programs to educate children and adults on reuse. These programs would also pay schools, churches and other nonprofit organizations to collect used packaging, such as drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, granola bags and more. The young company takes such materials deemed challenging to recycle and turns them into affordable, quality merchandise. To encourage maximum collection, the programs are free to individuals and organizations looking to participate and all shipping costs are covered.

Bear Naked, a socially responsible company, recently launched the newest program called the Bare Naked Granola Brigade. Participants are encouraged to save their used granola bags and bring them to local brigade collection facilities or set up their own collection facilities. The collected bags are then repurposed into eco-friendly products, and unique upcycled accessories like shower curtains and kites, to be sold at major retailers in 2009. In addition, Bear Naked and TerraCycle donate two cents per bag collected to a charity or school of the Brigade's choice.

TerraCycle based their newest brigade off their original Brigade program, which collect used kid's drink pouches. That program was launched with the help of founding sponsor Honest Tea. Honest Tea is an organic juice and tea company that had recently launched a new line of kid's drink called Honest Kids. When their CEO and co-founder Seth Goldman realized that drink pouches were non-recyclable, he set out to find an environmentally sound solution to his company's dilemma.

Seth turned to his friend, TerraCycle's CEO Tom Szaky, to help find a solution. At the time, TerraCycle ran a program to collect soda bottles, which the company used to package its organic fertilizer line. Tom and Seth envisioned thousands of schools collecting pouches and the impact this could have. Kids would be empowered to make a difference, schools would earn much needed funding, and millions of pouches would be rescued and reused! Here's Seth on his motivation to launch the program:

"Until we create a container that is completely biodegradable, we face the challenge of selling packaging that cannot be reused. We are heartened that the pouches we use have an extremely high ratio of liquid to packaging, but we still have lots of pouches that go directly into landfills. We are delighted to work with TerraCycle to find a second life for our pouches...and a fashionable second life at that!"

Soon after that auspicious meeting, the program was launched in a test phase with 100 slots open for schools to sign up. The 100 slots were full in less than 24 hours! Since August 2007 the program has grown to almost 5,000 schools nationwide and almost 10 million pouches have been rescued from landfill.

Due to the success of the Drink Pouch Brigade, TerraCycle looked to other socially and environmentally aware companies to help launch similar programs. By the end of 2007, TerraCycle had partnered with eco-pioneer Stonyfield Farm to create the Yogurt Brigade, which pays two cents for each yogurt cup collected and turns the collected cups into decorative planting pots. Early in 2008, TerraCycle partnered with CLIF BAR, another leader in the natural foods market to launch the Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade. That program also pays two cents for every wrapper collected and turns the collected materials into bags, backpacks and other eco-accessories.

Often the actions of young innovative companies like TerraCycle and Honest Tea go against the grain and challenge convention. More often than not these ideas are short lived. The Brigade programs however, have accomplished just the opposite. In 2008, companies like Kraft Foods, the number one food and beverage manufacturer in the U.S., joined the growing list of sponsors. Many other Fortune 500 companies are setting up similar programs with the help of TerraCycle. It appears a unique idea by two young thought leaders in the triple bottom line business model, has had an effect on the behemoth Consumer Packaged Goods industry.

For more information or to sign up for a TerraCycle Brigade please visit: www.terracycle.net/brigades

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