The location is one of the top collectors of traditionally non-recyclable air and home care packaging waste, such as trigger heads from spray bottles. By participating in the contest, they are not only reducing the amount of local landfill waste, but are eligible to win a share of $5,000 for a charity of their school.
The contest is part of TerraCycle and Febreze’s innovative collection-and-recycling program called the Air and Home Care Brigade, which enables any brand of air-freshener cartridge or home-cleaning packaging to be recycled – anyone in Canada can sign up, and all are welcome to participate in the contest, running until the end of April.
The contest is the biggest in TerraCycle Canada's history with $5,000 of charity donations being shared among the top collecting locations. In addition, collectors also earn two TerraCycle points for each piece of air and home care packaging sent in, with each point redeemable for a one-cent contribution to their chosen school, charity or non-profit of choice.
Plastic air fresheners and the packaging they come in, trigger heads, screw caps from bathroom and kitchen cleaners, used packs of disposable cleaning wipes and so forth are technically recyclable; however, the high cost of recycling these mixed plastics means the infrastructure to do so isn’t available across the country. As a result, this material needlessly ends up in landfills all over Canada.
This prompted Febreze and TerraCycle to join together in finding an innovative solution to this waste stream, launching the Air and Home Care Brigade and hosting collection contests to boost the recycling efforts. Any plastic bottles and aerosols can still be recycled through municipal curbside collections.
Pam Cameron said their involvement with Terracycle has been great allowing them to help the environment and also be reimbursed.
“We’re a green school at A. G. Baillie. It helps teach the children to recycle.”
In addition to the trigger heads, the students also collect packaging from lunchmates and cookie and cracker wrappers.
For more information on the Air and Home Care Brigade and The Febreze Frenzy Contest, please visit http://www.terracycle.ca/en-CA/brigades/air-care-brigade.html.
