Some Earth Day love. A Terracycle Giveaway!

You may have heard me say it before - I am not artistic and I am not crafty. When I am called upon to whip up a homemade project or party favor, I utilize the one medium that I feel truly comfortable working in - garbage. Whether it's juice lid Christmas ornaments (in the hectic holiday season that post didn't make it up) or milk carton bird feeders, if a craft project can be made out of materials that would have otherwise ended up in the trashcan, I am far more likely to give it a go.

So you can see why seeing a single episode of "Big Ideas For a Small Planet" that featured Terracycle was a transformative experience for me. Although it was several years back, I distinctly remember the thrill I got when I saw their worm poop fertilizer which was packaged in reused plastic bottles. Not recycled, reused. Better. No process needed. Feed the worms some organic waste, put the resulting liquid in old bottles. In fact, this was the world's first product "to be made from and packaged entirely in waste!". David and I were all "Why didn't we think of that?" and knew that Terracycle was on to something.
Since then, Terracycle has expanded their line to include everything from backpacks to Skunk Odor Remover and they are one of the world's fastest growing environmentally friendly companies. Masters of upcycling, they sponsor brigades where you can collect specific types of trash and earn money for your school or organization in the process. I love how they are involving the masses to transform the way we think about how products are made and where our grabage goes.

And now they are taking the next step in bringing us all together in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day so brace yourself. Terracycle and I would love for you to head down to...Walmart. OK, catch your breath. I know that folks have strong and sometimes mixed feelings about shopping at Wally World. I would like to state, here and now, that I shop at Walmart. Probably more frequently than I would like to admit to my farmers market friends, but if I am anything at all, I am a realist. In the oh so real world that I reside in, I have three young children. While our entire family loves to support local businesses, the fact is that when I am doing a weeks worth of errand with the afore mentioned kiddos, I need to work as efficiently and quickly as possible to avoid major meltdowns. We make regular trips to many local speciality stores including feed stores, restaurants, thrift stores and more, but for general "stuff" I often find myself in need of some one stop shopping. NH is a small, but fairly rural state and we don't have a huge selection of stores or any major forms of public transportation. So even if I am not always happy about it, I do end up at Walmart on a regular basis.
In recent years, I have come to feel that it isn't about whether or not we go to these big box stores, but what we do with our dollars once we get there. Purchasing a particular product is like voting. You cast your lot for what you want and businesses respond to that demand. When it became clear that customers wanted to see organic foods on the shelves, Walmart heard the call and now carries many organic lines. Few of us can completely boycott Walmart and even if we did, would there be a significant impact? Instead, if many of us who shop there do so with purpose and use our spending to send the message that we support green companies, Walmart will get that and can put their power behind it.
Now more than ever, cost also pulls us to larger department stores with low prices and that is another reason why you will frequently find me wandering the aisles at my local Walmart. Last summer, when I was feeling particularly guilty about splitting my shopping between the Farmers Market and  Big W, I was standing in the checkout line and I looked up to see the girl who mans one of the CSA stands at the market buying her groceries. It felt great to know I wasn't alone.

So now, right now, is the perfect time to make a trip to Walmart and check out something unbelievably cool. Just for the month of April and in recognition of my favorite holiday (Happy 40th Earth Day!) you will find nearly 60 Terracycle products available at every Walmart in the country! Before I even knew I was going to do this Giveaway I had noticed the display and was fascinated. I thought someone had slipped something in my travel mug or that these were some kind of knockoffs, but it's the real deal. Many of the items available have never been seen before and now is our chance to tell Walmart that we want more. To add extra impact, many of the products will be displayed right next to the products which they were upcycled from. Standing beside a display of bags made from chips bags next to bags of chips is an amazing opportunity to talk to young people about our part in this cycle. I feel a field trip coming on!

I have always loved the saying "make Earth Day every day". It isn't just about going and picking up trash on the side of the road once per year, it's making greener decisions in our daily lives. Walmart is a part of that routine for many of us and we need to find ways to bring the green into it. How awesome would it be to give one of these great Terracycle bags or totes as a Earth Day Present? Happy Earth Day to you!

So here's the deal. Go to Walmart this month. Cast your vote by spending your hard earned dollars in support of these types of products. Make your voice heard. We want the corporate world to know that we are here and that this is what we want to see. This isn't just an amazing opportunity for Terracycle, it is our chance to help carry this eco message forth and to give people a chance to see what is possible. Be thoughtful and engage your money where it can make a difference.

To get you extra excited and just in time for Earth Day and prime gardening season, I am holding my first ever GIVEAWAY!!! Two winners will be chosen to win one of Terracycle's adorable Kids Vegetable Growing Kits which are upcycled from Stoneyfield Farm yogurt containers. What could be more perfect for a giveaway coming to you from NH?!?

"Teach kids about gardening and the environment at the same time with the TerraCycle Kid’s Growing Kits for Vegetables, Flowers or Herbs. The Kits use upcycled Stonyfield Yogurt Cups as planting pots and TerraCycle’s famous Worm Poop mixed with compost for the growing medium. The Kits come with growing instructions and the cardboard tray holding it all together is even embedded with the seeds needed to start the plants. Almost no part of these kits becomes waste and they come with everything you need to start growing right away. Stonyfield and TerraCycle run a free collection program that pays organizations 3 cents for every used Yogurt Cup they collect."

There are several ways to enter and there is no limit to how many entries you can submit. Each item on the list counts as one entry and you need to leave a seperate comment for each one you choose to do.

• Go to the Terracycle website and check out their line of products. Leave a comment telling me which is your favorite .
• Follow my blog in Google Friend. Leave a comment here to tell me.
• Add my blog to your blogroll. Leave a comment.
• Email 3 friends about Simple Butta and the Terracycle Giveaway and then leave a comment here to let me know you helped spread the word. 
• Follow me on my brand new (seriously no clue what I am doing yet) Twitter page @simplebutta and leave a comment here.
• Post about and link to Simple Butta and the Terracycle Giveaway on your Facebook page and leave a comment letting me know.

The contest will close at midnight on April 19th and a winner will be chosen and announced on the 20th! Please leave your email with your comments so I can contact the winner. If you would prefer, you can send me a direct email with your address by clicking on my profile in the left navigation bar and then selecting the email button. If you receive an email saying that you have won, you have 48 hours to email me back with your mailing address or a new winner will be selected.

Good luck!