One of the most innovative companies in the green space is TerraCycle. Initially producing natural fertilizer from worm poop, and bottling it in old plastic soda bottles that they pay schools to collect, the company has now branched out into all kinds of innovative products made from trash.

Cleaners
In addition to their lawn and garden products shipped out in refilled soda bottles, TerraCycle is now shipping household cleaning products in the same refilled bottles. Everything from an all purpose cleaner to a drain cleaning product. All the cleaners go beyond eco-friendly and have in fact been certified as environmentally responsible by Environment Canada.

Bags & Office Products
More recently, TerraCycle has begun to make reusable bags from plastics that would normally find their way into the landfills simply because they are too costly to recycle. Calling this upcycling, the company is collecting cookie wrappers, drink pouches, yoghurt containers, corks and more. Better still, they pay for each one you send in (as long as you send in enough in each batch). This makes a great project for schools or other groups to participate in.

For the office, there are a couple of garbage/recycling containers made from e-waste, more bag options and even binders and folders, all made from stuff that was heading for the landfill.

Is it safe?

I took a look at the containers I have here, both bought ones designed for the purpose, and ones I am reusing from my pantry & fridge. They are all made from the same plastic, labeled with recycling code 5, or the letters PP for polypropylene. Polypropylene has not been associated with any health concerns, and does not leach chemicals into the food stored within it. Whether reused or bought, make sure you wash them well between uses.

Even better, according to Recycle Now’s guide to plastic recycling codes, polypropylene is often not accepted by recycling centers, so reusing them is saving them from the landfill too. When it does come time to dispose of them, check with your local facility about recycling before throwing them out – ours here in Alameda does indeed take code 5 plastic.

What About Water Bottles?

There have been some questions about the safety of reusing bottles marked with code 1 – PETE. The American Chemical Council has a page talking about the safety of polyethylene terephthalate bottles. Their conclusion is that they are safe if well washed. The only exception they list is PET trays used for microwaveable food. Other sites seem to confirm this view that these bottles are safe to refill. Organic Picks has a list of safe and unsafe plastics that looks like this:

If you’re still worried, the good news is that they are easily recycled. Just remember to take the caps off before throwing them in the blue cart.

Of course, you’d be doing the environment (and your wallet) a bigger favour by not buying your water in bottles in the first place. A water filter and some reusable water bottles. Avoid the trendy clear plastic polycarbonate ones though as there is still a concern about chemicals leaching from those into the water, especially if it is hot water. There are plenty out there made from safe plastics, including the safe polypropylene (code 5) used for those storage containers, or you can opt for a cool stainless steel bottle. At home, think about using a glass.

Other Storage Jars

On the subject of glass, the other type of container from your pantry that you might want to think about keeping is glass jars; the kind that things like pasta sauces, pickles and salsa dip come in. These can be washed easily, and reused for storing your own sauces and other food items in the kitchen.

Here’s an amazing idea, and it came from watching sea otters suffering in the 1989 Valdez oil spill! Phil McCory, a hair stylist in Huntsville, Alabama, noticed while watching reports on the environmental impact of the oil spill that the otters’ dense fur sucked up the oil and held on to it. That got him wondering whether human hair would do the same thing, so he set up an experiment using hair cuttings from his salon, a pair of his wife’s pantyhose and his son’s paddling pool to see whether he could remove oil from water using human hair. Miraculously, it worked, and the OttiMat™ was born.

NASA Testing

His idea caught the attention of NASA, and they set up their own experiment using hair from McCory’s salon and a 55 gallon drum setup with a hair mesh filter. 300 pounds of oil-water mix was poured through the human hair filter, and after a single pass (taking almost quarter of an hour), the water tested. A mere 17 parts of oil per million remained; just 2ppm above the EPA standard for discharge.

Reuse and Recycle

Even more amazing, since the hair doesn’t absorb the oil (it remains on the surface), it can actually be recovered from an oil soaked hair mat. Once soaked in oil, the mat can be wrung out and reused, and as much as 98% of the spilled oil can be recovered too. And all of that from something made of waste hair from salons that would normally have been thrown away.

This very technology was used recently right here in the San Francisco bay area to mop up some of the oil spilled from the Cosco Busan container ship when it struck one of the supports of the Bay Bridge on a foggy morning, ripping open one of its fuel bunkers and spilling 58,000 gallons of oil into the bay. In the photo (from Matter of Trust), Byron Cleary holds up oil soaked hairmat.