TerraCycle puts dent in landfills with Frito-Lay speakers

Want to see creative recycling play out in real time? Look no further than TerraCycle, which takes chip bags and candy bar wrappers that would almost certainly end up in the landfill to make products ranging from speakers to backpacks to cleaning products.

Unfortunately, about the only way to recycle pervasive aluminum foil wrappers is to recreate them into something else. At this point, no one has developed a way to include these in regular curbside recycling programs.

So TerraCycle is the next best thing, asking businesses and groups to collect and send in wrappers and bottles. Now, after 8 years in business, TerraCycle is more than just a green gimmick. The company has saved more than 1.2 billion things from going to the landfill and has 102 products.

In 2009, the company added products like clocks made from vinyl records and CDs repackaged into coasters.

And TerraCycle’s business model doesn’t put the company at odds with huge companies that profit off of packaging destined for landfills. On the contrary, TerraCycle partners with some of the biggest brands in the business to help bring its products to life, including Kraft, Frito-Lay, ClifBar, Mars and Stoneyfield Farm.

They also partner with retailers Target, WalMart, K-Mart and Home Depot to sell products. Because TerraCycle is such a multifaceted company, there are a numbers of ways to support it. You can collect trash to send in, which they actually pay you a small amount for. You can also purchase their products: go here to find locations and products near you. Or

Imagine if this business model was used with in every form of recycling, and products were actually designed to be made into something else. That way, backpacks wouldn’t need CapriSun logos on them, and speakers wouldn’t look like corn chip containers. TerraCycle should be commended for taking a giant step in the right direction, now it’s up to the rest of us to make the turn.