A group helping communities make money for charity from hard to recycle items is on the lookout for first time waste heroes in Dublin.
TerraCycle is funded by well-known brands who pay the cost of giving packaging a second life as well as monetary donations to good causes. But they have also helped save millions of items from landfill, incineration or ending up in the natural environment.
Now people across the city can fundraise by being first to recycle packaging that's normally binned.
Read more: Ambitious 50-year plan unveiled to transform Dublin's 'City Edge'
These items include:
- Babybel packaging
- Confectionery packaging including chocolate bar wrappers and sweet pouches
- Beauty product packaging including make up compacts, roll on deodorant, hair dye kits and lipstick tubes
- Biscuit wrappers
- Cleaning and homecare packaging such as packaging for surface wipes, dishwasher salt, and cleaning product refill pouches
These everyday items are not included in council recycling collections, usually because they are made up of a mix of materials that makes them more complex and costly to recycle.
TerraCycle’s recycling programmes are free to join for individuals, schools and businesses to recycle on behalf of their community. By signing up, residents can either collect and send in their waste to be recycled, or they can sign-up as a public drop-off location and become a recycling champion for the entire community.
For each item recycled, points are awarded that are redeemable as donations to a chosen charity, school or non-profit organisation. Now Dublin residents can be the first in the city to recycle hard-to-recycle items - including beauty products, biscuit wrappers and cleaning and homecare packaging - and raise money for their chosen good cause in the process.
To date people across Ireland have diverted more than 550,000 items of packaging from landfill. Anyone can sign up to one or more of the following free recycling programmes, among others which can be found on TerraCycle’s website, by clicking on the relevant programme:
Once signed up, a free shipping label is sent to be attached to a box containing the collected items which is sent free of charge to TerraCycle to be recycled. For more information on the free recycling programmes, or to set up a drop-off location, click here.
Read more:
- Mainstream Renewable announces 100 new jobs in Dublin
- Calls to 'cull the gulls' as birds wreak havoc in Dublin
- 8 ways other cities are cutting plastic waste that Dublin could learn from
- Simple way to reduce your household food waste
- The worst 'energy draining' home appliances that are costing you a fortune
