Upcycle It!
Turning Trash into Cash for Westford Schools

Frequently Asked Questions - Updated 8/1/11

1. Do I need to separate my Upcycle It! items into the different brigades?
Toothbrushes and drink pouches should be placed in a separate bag and separate from each other.  All others can be placed into a bag, box, largest chip bag, bread bag, or whatever you have and bring it to a drop off location.  You can leave your items in the bag.  It actually makes pickup easier and we will recycle the bag!

2. Which wrappers and packages are NOT accepted?

• Coffee Bags
• Bread Bags
• Frozen Food bags
• Pet Food bags
• Cereal Bags
• Gum packaging
• Peanut butter or cheese cracker sandwiches
• Craisins – small foil ones
• Entemen’s Little Bites
• Ramen noodles
• Ink cartridge wrapper
• Bottle labels
• Any unlabeled packaging
• Cheese stick wrapper
• Cheese singles wrappers
• Shredded Cheese bag
• Hershey’s Kiss wrapper – can be curbside recycled
• Paper-like Hershey’s miniature wrapper
• Goldfish cracker bag w/ paper outer layer
• Juice Boxes – cardboard type
• Milk cartons – Silk or Horizon Organics type
• Crystal Light
• Pop Tart wrapper
• Mylar balloons
• Saran wrap
• Ice cream novelty or popsicle wrappers
• Pasta bags
• Fruit by the foot or other fruit rollup type snack
• Welch’s Fruit Snacks or any other brand of fruit snack
• Nuts
• Pringles can
• Dried fruit bags
• Foil yogurt tops – can be curbside recycled
• Plastic containers – can be curbside recycled
• Flower pots – can be curbside recycled
• Crest White Strips
• Crayons
• Wooden pencils
• Aluminum toothpaste tube (Tom’s of Maine)

3. Why did Upcycle It! stop accepting coffee bags?We were informed by TerraCycle that the corporate sponsor for the coffee brigade, Starbucks, decided not to continue the program.  Without a sponsor, someone paying the 2 cents and the shipping, the coffee bags can no longer be collected

4. Will Upcycle It! accept ANYTHING with a foil liner?
No.  It must be of the same material as an energy bar or candy wrapper AND fit into one of the brigade categories.  If the item has a paper-like outer layer, Terracycle will not accept it.   Things like tea bag wrappers, Pepperidge Farm cookie bags, Goldfish bag, and paper-like Hershey’s miniatures wrappers are not accepted.  TerraCycle also likes to stick to their brigade categories.  So it must be some sort of energy or breakfast type bar, candy, AND foil packaging to be accepted.  So, the wrapper to an ink cartridge or a Crystal Light package is not acceptable.  When in doubt, email us or stop by the market.  I check everything and will update as necessary.  Please check back so you know next time.

5. Will you accept the foil Hershey’s kiss wrappers?
No.  These are aluminum foil and can be curbside recycled in Westford.

6. Will you accept the juice box type containers like Mott’s?
No.  TerraCycle only accepts the foil type pouches like Capri Sun and Honest Kids.  Juice boxes are cardboard and can be curbside recycled in Westford.

7. Will you accept plastic zip top type bags like those for shredded cheese?
No.  At this time, TerraCycle does not have a brigade for these items.  I have also seen these types of bags for Craisins (the large bags at BJs), Splenda, and Domino Sugar, and Croutons.

8. Does Upcycle It! accept any type of crinkly plastic?
No.  The item must fit into one of the brigade types.  So, the packaging of Ramen Noodles is NOT accepted.  However, any sort of salty snack (chips, pretzels, popcorn, tortilla chip, pita chip….), anything you find in the chip/snack aisle at the grocery store does fit with the Chip brigade, if it held ANY kind of cookie it can go with the cookie brigade and so on.  Again, when in doubt, email us or stop by the market. Please check back so you know next time. See the list below for more information.

9. What condition do the items need to be in? 
For the wrapper and bag items, they can be ripped.   If they are ripped, please include all pieces.  They should be relatively clean, but don’t scrub them.  Just empty the crumbs.  Please follow the cleaning instructions for the drink pouches on our instructions flyer. Click here to see detailed document.

10. What should I do if I’m not sure about an item?
Email us or stop by the market and ask at the Upcycle It! tent.   We always go through each bag to sort it.  If we are not sure either, we can ask Terracycle.   Please check these FAQs every so often as they will updated.

11. What is a Brigade?
A Brigade is a waste stream that Terracycle collects.  Upcycle It! is signed up for 9 of the brigades which means we can collect and get paid for those 9 brigades.  We will be looking to expand to include more brigades. Take a look at Terracycle’s 28 brigades (www.terracycle.net) and please let us know which ones you would like to see collected.

12. Why are some brigades only open to certain brands while others will take any brand?
I don’t want to speak for TerraCycle, but from what I have seen TerraCycle develops relationships with certain manufacturers to collect their waste.  So they only accept that brand.  After a while it seems like they open the brigade to all brands.  All of the brigades Upcycle It! collects will accept any brand. 

13. Is it true that we now can include the straws from the drink pouches?
YES. Terracycle now accepts the straw from your drink pouch - only these straws. Please continue to get all the juice out as described in our Upcycle It! flyer. Click here for document.