TerraCycle donates bench to Fairfield

FAIRFIELD - The TerraCycle company is donating a bench to the city of Fairfield in honor of its commitment to recycling.

The bench is made of all recycled products and will be unveiled at Howard Park in Fairfield at 10 a.m. May 1, during the first outdoor farmers market of the season. Fairfield Mayor Connie Boyer will speak at the event. Attendees will include members of TerraCycle Fairfield including Stuart Valentine and members of Fairfield Interact, which has been doing most of the legwork of emptying the TerraCycle recycling bins at Everybody's Whole Foods and at the Fairfield Public Library.

TerraCycle Fairfield will use the event as a fundraising opportunity to replace the bins at Everybody's with sturdier containers and to get recycling bins that can be placed in public parks. The group will sell baked goods, raffle tickets, TerraCycle hats and books from TerraCycle's founder Tom Szacky. In case of rain, the event will be held the following Saturday, May 8.

Drew Schoenfeld, who co-founded TerraCycle Fairfield while working as an intern for the Sustainable Living Coalition, said he reached out to the creative director at the TerraCycle company trying to create some permanent fixture to spread the word about TerraCycle Fairfield. TerraCycle Fairfield is coming up on the two year anniversary of its founding, and Schoenfeld wanted to do something to celebrate its accomplishments during that time.

The company agreed to donate a bench to Fairfield. A plaque on the bench declares Fairfield the 'world's first TerraCycle town.” Since setting up the recycling bins at the library and at Everybody's, TerraCycle Fairfield has branched out to other services, such as picking up recycled items at people's homes.

'TerraCycle as a corporation has engineered a lot of different recycling solutions for different waste streams,” Schoenfeld said. 'We are the first city to engage in sweeping programs to incorporate all of their recycling initiatives.”