As I munched my lunch today I was reminded of all of the waste that comes with our everyday lives. I bought a yogurt at a coffee shop, and that yogurt container’s gonna have to make the trek to the recycling plant. I received an interesting note from Canadian company TerraCycle describing how they’re working to “upcycle” waste from common single-use packaging in school lunches.
TerraCycle, in partnership with Kraft Canada, has started a “Brigade” system pays schools and non-profit organizations two cent per package to collect non-recyclable food packaging. TerraCycle has sponsorships to collect Kool-Aid Jammers, Del Monte beverages, Mr. Christie’s Snak Paks and other Mr. Christie cookies and crackers, and Back to Nature nuts and trail mixes.
I don’t have kids, so it’s easy for me to say that it would be best to avoid buying lunch foods that come in non-recyclable packaging. But I can see that, like most problems, a variety of solutions are required, and upcycling waste into other products isn’t a bad one. TerraCycle says that drink pouches will be sewn into durable containers such as tote bags and pencil cases, while cracker wrappers will be fused together into sheets of waterproof fabric, which then can be made into umbrellas, shower curtains, backpacks and placemats.
To sign up for the TerraCycle program, click here.
Have you ever bought or made something constructed with reused something else?
