I forgot to mention that when we were at Office Max yesterday getting file folders, that we found some TerraCycle products.  You can read more about the company at their website: http://www.terracycle.net/  We have joined the Drink Pouch Brigade.  We are getting Tyler Honest Kids juice.  It tastes good, it’s organic and it’s from the makers of Honest Tea (their website is here http://www.honest-kids.com/).  So now we are recycling the drink pouches instead of just throwing them away.

Anyways, back to Office Max.  We had been talking about getting a binder to put all of Tyler’s certificates (Lowes kids workshops, art shows, swim lessons, etc) in so that they were all in one place, especially since we have a lot of them and they are over numerous school years.  I had been hesitating because, even though we already had the clear plastic sleeves to protect them from years ago (and I do mean years like from when we lived in Colorado Springs – that would be at least 7 years ago), I didn’t know that I wanted to buy a binder (them being vinyl and all).  But all my issues were solved by TerraCycle.  They have EcoBinders.  They are made from recycled cardboard and recycled steel.  And they encourage you to send it back to them for further recycling when you are done with it.  Yeah!!  Office Max had a few other TerraCycle products as well – bottles to put cleaning supplies in, trash bins made from recycled plastic and (remember those drink pouches we’re recycling) pencil cases from Kool-Aid drink pouches.  They were so cute, but Tyler wasn’t too interested because they were too small for all the pencils he wants to carry around with him.  He was interested in what his pouches were going to turn into though.

So my quick trip to the store turned into a great learning experience for Tyler to see the results of his recycling actions.  It also turned into a great economics lesson because TerraCycle products were about the same price as the regularly produced items.  So in the end we came home with 1 EcoBinder made entirely of recycled products and file folders made partly from recycled products.

We did have an interesting conversation with the cashier because she really, really wanted to put my purchases in a plastic bag.  Both items were easy to carry without a bag so I really, really declined.  I told her normally use canvas bags, but didn’t think we needed them for these items.  She thought canvas bags were great, but that a lot of retailers were banning them from the stores because of people using them to steal.  Not good!  I want to use my canvas bags.  So I suggested to her that I would be perfectly willing to leave my canvas bags at the front of the store by the checkout while shopping, if I still got to use them.  She thought it was a great idea and was going to tell her manager.  I only hope others are willing to be flexible because I don’t want to quit using my canvas bags for all my shopping.