Did you know that just a few hours north on I-95 there is a major (and incredibly inventive) recycling company? We didn’t. But the Trenton, NJ-based TerraCycle is starting to make itself known. Now, calling TerraCycle a recycling company doesn’t do them justice. They just aren’t your traditional “sort and ship” recycling operation.
TerraCycle actually combines waste products from places like schools with industrial waste from major companies to create new products. In this way they attack the waste problem from both the producer and consumer end. In the video above an elementary school class takes a tour of TerraCycle, and the students get a first-hand look at how they make their products. The tour starts to get good at about the 2:30 mark.
AND they donate to charity, based on the amount of the recycling “raw materials” like mylar juice bags-you mail in (the prepaid envelopes Terracycle provides). They will turn your trash into usable book bags, display cases, they just brainstorm an idea looking at trash trying to figure out what it can be turned into and then they make it happen. A breath of fresh air-in Trenton!
Wow. I live in New Jersey, have bought their stuff (M&M box portable speakers, anyone?) and had no idea they were located in Trenton. Jersey Fresh, baby!