Recycling in the Pink

Did you know you can take your old running shoes (or any soft-soled sneaker by any brand) to your local Nike Town store and they will use it to create athletic surfaces like tracks and basketball courts and children's playgrounds? You can learn more on their Let Me Play Reuse A Shoe website.

Or that Clif Bar, based in Berkeley, CA, has partnered with TerraCycle to reuse its energy bar wrappers? Their joint initiative, called the Wrapper Brigade, is one of many that TerraCylce has created to reuse recyclable materials and, in the process, donate to charities.

Here's how it works:

Charities go to www.terracycle.net/brigades and apply to become one of the recipient organizations. Once approved, the charity receives collection bags that, once filled and returned to terracycle free of charge, receive .02 for each item recycled. In addition to collecting Clif Bar wrappers, TerraCycle collects Capri Sun and Kool Aid drink pouches, 20oz plastic soda bottles and Stonyfield Farm yogurt containers, among others.

See this video of Soyeon Lee, pianist, wearing a dress fashioned by TerraCycle. She performed in the recycled pink pouch dress at Carnegie Hall on 19 February in what her site calls an Eco Concert.



TerraCycle has limited the number of collection sites it will partner with, but the good news is that some of the companies gladly accept their used containers...like Stonyfield and Brown Cow who's number-5 containers are not recyclable by most municipalities.

Unfortunately, the organic yogurt makers, Clif, Capri Sun, TerraCycle and all the others promoting reuse are still only offering an in-between solution to the issue of using plastic, petroleum and other eco-unfriendly resources to service our food needs (mine included...I love my energy bars and handy yogurt servings). In Clif Bar's newsletter, they noted this less-than-ideal solution as well:

"We're not psyched about the fact that our wrappers end up in the garbage. We've been working hard to come up with a more sustainable solution; since we haven't found the answer just yet, we've partnered with TerraCycle to launch the Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade. Get this: TerraCycle will convert all of the energy bar wrappers they receive into handy accessories and will donate two cents for every wrapper to the charity of your choice. Sign up for free and become a shepherd for the program."

Related to this, I came across a great blog called Fake Plastic Fish by a woman named Beth Terry based in Oakland, CA that tackles this and other sustainability issues. I am impressed by her knowledge and dedication. And my friends think I'm an eco-nutso. Go, woman! Fake Plastic Fish, "They're cute, and if we don't solve our plastic problem, they could be the only kind we have left."