I was at a great event yesterday that was held at the Canadian head office for TerraCycle – a company that is passionate about “eliminating the idea of waste”. Everything at the office from doors, chairs, decor was made either by repurposed or upcycled or recycled materials. It’s urban, cool and modestly modern.
Along with other beauty media, we were invited to learn about TerraCycle and it’s partnership with beauty giant Garnier Canada…and get our hands on a few very cool DIY projects using discarded beauty containers.
TerraCycle founder, Tom Szaky is considered a “young wunderkind” to the global environmental movement and an engaging speaker. He’s clearly got a passion to change the way people think about the abundance of waste in the world. “Everything in the world will go to waste eventually,” he tells our group. About 10 years ago, Szaky had this idea while he was attending Princeton and decided to drop out to start up TerraCycle. Today, his company spans globally and has created partnerships with individuals and corporations.
Did you know that one third of the world’s waste comes from the beauty industry? In fact, each year millions of personal care and beauty products are needlessly discarded and end up in landfills. So, what is Garnier Canada doing about it?
The number 2 brand globally believes in the maintaining a “thread of sustainability” that runs from ingredients to packaging. The 100 year old company is striving for a cleaner, greener world. For example, the new Pure Clean Collection- Garnier Fructis product line is paraben, silicone and dye free. In addition, the packaging is made from PET, the most recyclable material available today.
Now we can do our part, TerraCycle and Garnier wants you to save the packaging and send it in. They’ll even cover the shipping costs. Visit this page for details: www.garnier.ca They will recycle the waste material into fun and innovative products. For each approved package received, the collection location will be awarded two TerraCycle points, which can be redeemed for a variety of charity gifts or for a payment of 2 cents to the non-profit organization or school of your choice.
Just to give you an idea…last year TerraCycle donated $2M to charities overall. This year, they are targetting $3M. And about 150,000 pieces of discarded material are collected each month in Canada alone. Pretty good? Yes..but we can do more! Get your school or office involved in a team collection!
As mentioned, at the event we had a few DIY projects to get busy with all made with discarded beauty containers and “upcycled” items. With guidance from “Design Junkies” team at TerraCycle NY we all had a little fun…taking them home on the subways created some great conversation with strangers too!
Oh..and what does upcycle mean? essentially it’s taking a item in it’s original form, like a door and using it as something else…like a table. I’ll be pinning these ideas to our UrbanMoms Pinterest board shortly!
But check out what we made…..
Desk Organizers
Pretty gift bows made from the labels.
(ok…I was admiring Delphine’s gorgeous new Alli Simpson nail art too!)
And then everyone just HAD TO MAKE one of these….
(before shot)
Party Lights! Ta-Da!
For more information on Garnier Canada’s Pure Clean products and initiatives visit www.garnier.ca
For more information on TerraCycle Canada visit
This post was not sponsored nor was I compensated. UrbanMoms.ca is often invited to attend media events that may be of interest to our readers.