Good idea, but not for me

karenf773 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:34:38 -0600

While I applaud the out-of-the-juicebox thinking this company has done, I think the time has come to raise the bar on environmentally friendly products. Gone are the days when someone would buy something just because it is a good thing to do. Consumers also want unique items that are visually appealing. Think of it as design with a benefit. Style doesn't have to rule out recycled anymore. I've seen more and more products that combine both. Think of the new wave as Eco Style, I suppose. Karen F. www.quirkygurl.com - Unique Eco Style oddgurlout.wordpress.com - Different is Good ecclecticgurl.wordpress.com - Seek and Find, yourself

Holiday stockings and tree skirts -- crafted from trash

greenlagirl — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:17:07 -0600

Terracycle, the trash upcycling company best known for its worm-poop fertilizer, keeps comin' out with new items, this time for the holidays. It's up to you, however, to decide whether they're cute or eco-fugly. Behold the Terracycle stockings and tree skirts, made with upcycled juice pouches and cookie wrappers diligently collected by Terracycle trash brigades!

Now in general, I consider both holiday stockings and tree pouches to be decorative items one saves and reuses year after year. Which makes me wonder -- Even if I decided I was okay with cookie-wrapper stockings for one season, would I be able to stand looking at those things every year?

Then again, kids may actually really like this stuff (I've no firsthand experience and thus no clue -- I'm totally guessing here) because the stockings may evoke warm memories of eating and drinking high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Yum!

Let me step back and say that I do love, in general, what Terracycle's doing to eliminate the idea of trash. In fact, you only need to read TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky's thoughts on the individual conundrums that non-recyclable, recyclable and biodegradable packagings all cause to know that Terracycle's serious about its mission. About his own brigades, Tom writes: "these programs (almost 12,000 collection sites strong) are merely a drop in the ocean when compared to the many billions of used packages discarded every year."

Other eco-conundrums posed by Terracycle's upcycling ventures include: 1) People will come to think of nonrecyclable packaging as eco-okay since they can be upcycled -- despite the fact that only a teensy amount of the stuff actually does get upcycled, and 2) The upcycled products themselves may serve as greenwashed advertisements for unhealthy, uneco products with non-recyclable packaging.

And yet, as far as stockings and tree skirts go, aren't Terracycle's products pretty far up on the eco-scale? Certainly since Terracycle's goods are available via Home Depot at reasonable prices, one could make the argument that these products are the only eco-ones of their kind made accessible to the general public. Some bloggers recommend these products:

* Jennae at Green Decor names Terracycle tree skirts as one of its eco0friendly holiday decoration picks.

* Carolyn Algar at Ecostreet loves Terracycle's juice pouch products, which she says took her right back to childhood days. Plus, "The drink pouches are sewn together very well, and are very hardy."

* Rachel Sarah of Momformation and her third grader Mae are impressed with what Terracycle's doing, and hope to start a Terracycle brigade at Mae's green school.

Would you buy a Terracycle stocking or tree skirt?

Images via homedepot.com
____

BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel also blogs at greenLAgirl.com.

BlogHer - Holiday stockings and tree skirts -- crafted from trash - Comments

Good idea, but not for me

Holiday stockings and tree skirts -- crafted from trash