UpCycle with TerraCycle for the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area

FARMINGTON - TerraCycle's UpCycling (recycling) Program comes to Franklin County to benefit the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area. The United Way supports non-profit community programs and volunteer efforts across the region; TerraCycle offers a wonderful way to support this organization in its efforts.

Are you tired of your trash piling up? Would you like to be able to recycle more products? TerraCycle's goal is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today must be sent to a landfill. They do this by creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. TerraCycle then converts the collected waste into a wide variety of products and materials. With more than 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.

What we collect:

• Solo cups (#6 plastic cups) – including all those Dunkin' Donuts cups filled with ice cold drinks.

• Energy / Granola/Cereal Bar wrappers – as long as the wrapper is foil lined.

• Beauty products and their packaging – as long as it is not cardboard, examples include lipstick cases, shampoo bottles, deodorant (other than aerosol).

• Oral care products and their packaging – as long as it is not cardboard, examples include toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, their plastic packaging, dental floss packaging and container.

• Pouch drinks – any brand of drink pouches.

• Lunchable packaging – all parts of the lunch kit, excluding the cardboard.

• Diaper packaging – any brand and any size of outer plastic packaging on diaper or wipes products.

• Cheese packaging – any brand of flexible cheese packaging.

• Tortilla packaging - any tortilla and tostada packaging.

What we need:

We need YOU to collect these things. We know every household uses toothpaste and shampoo! We think every household with children consumes granola bars and pouch drinks, and we think if you ever buy a cold drink, it may come in a #6 plastic cup. (Items do not need to be cleaned.)

Why would you want to throw all this stuff in the trash if you knew it could earn money for the United Way to support the programs this community depends on? And why would you want to fill up the landfills with items that can be reused?
If you work somewhere that you think would be willing to add a few collection boxes to their site, let me know. We can arrange for monthly pick-up so that it does not accumulate beyond what is sightly for your organization.

What we do with what we collect:

Once we have 1,000 pouch drink packets, or 200 Solo cups, or 500 foil wrappers from granola bars, etc., we will download a postage paid shipping label from TerraCycle. Every shipment sent means dollars and cents for the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area.

For more information about TerraCycle, please see http://www.terracycle.net/en-US/

For more information about volunteer opportunities in your community, contact the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area at 778-5048 or visit www.uwtva.org.