Washington Evening Journal
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TerraCycle Fairfield expands recycling efforts
Andy Hallman
Mar. 7, 2022 6:00 am
FAIRFIELD — The organization TerraCycle Fairfield continues to expand its recycling program, and is adding new collection boxes around town.
The group has placed bins in various public buildings and private businesses that collect items to be recycled. What’s noteworthy about these bins is that they accept items apart from the usual plastic, glass and tin that are picked up twice a week by Waste Management. These bins accept batteries, razors, light bulbs, beauty and health products and “e-waste” such as computers and tablets, among other things.
In the past year, TerraCycle started accepting an even wider variety of items, and putting its bins in more locations. The group partnered with Maharishi International University to offer bins at the Argiro Student Center that collect razors and products in oral care, beauty and health, and even metal cookware and bakeware. The group reported collecting 8,600 items in beauty care, oral care and razors in 2021, double the number it collected the year before.
Sue Delost, a member of the TerraCycle Fairfield team, said the organization has great momentum, and its members are excited to see its reach expanding. She said they added another collection bin just two weeks ago at Cindy’s ArtBeat — Art Supply Store in downtown Fairfield.
The company announced on its Facebook page Feb. 21 that it was happy to join the Fairfield TerraCycle effort by providing a place where residents can recycle used art supplies.
“Bring in your spent pens and markers, old paintbrushes, used up paint tubes, tubs and bottles and more,” stated the Facebook post.
Delost said the next project TerraCycle Fairfield hopes to tackle is to put recycling bins at Maharishi School and Fairfield High School. The group hoped to be in the schools last fall, but due to some tragedies that befell the town at the time, the bins were put on hold since they were not a priority.
“We have commitments from both schools,” Delost said. “We need to get a couple more things in motion and hopefully we can get this moving soon. We want young people to take hold of this, and to have them be a good influence on their family and friends.”
One of the big projects TerraCycle Fairfield worked on in 2021 was installing a bench in Howard Park made of recycled materials. The bench was donated to Fairfield by the larger TerraCycle organization in honor of Fairfield becoming the “world’s first TerraCycle town.”
Two of the leading organizers in the group and its co-founders, Drew Schoenfeld and Stuart Valentine, have started a podcast on sustainable technologies that has included an interview with Dr. John Ikerd on issues surrounding industrial agriculture.
TerraCycle Fairfield began in 2019 as a project of the Sustainable Living Coalition, and in 2020 it partnered with Fairfield Interact, the youth arm of Rotary, to carry on its mission and even expand its services. TerraCycle Fairfield’s first public venture involved placing recycling bins inside the entrance to Everybody’s Whole Foods. Last year, it added another bin to its row of bins in Everybody’s, this one to collect snack bags.
Delost said TerraCycle Fairfield is partnering with other groups in town such as the Southeast Iowa Sierra Club and the Sustainable Living Coalition on a “zero waste” initiative. She said the group wants to encourage businesses to manufacture their products in a less wasteful manner, so that less waste needs to be recycled.
“We want businesses to realize that, while we love your product, unless you start packaging it in a better way, we’re not buying,” Delost said. “If we reduce what we’re buying, and we buy things we can reuse, we’re closing that loop and there’s not as much to recycle or throw away.”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
Cindy Ballou, left, owner of Cindy’s ArtBeat in Fairfield, and Sue Delost of TerraCycle Fairfield stand proudly next to the new recycling bin TerraCycle installed at the business for used art supplies. (Photo submitted)
Maharishi International University’s Argiro Student Center contains these TerraCycle Fairfield recycling bins for oral care, metal cook/bakeware and beauty and health products. (Photo submitted)