Clif Bar Wrappers

I really don't care for clif bars. I prefer "real food". Sure, they're formulated with all sorts of good stuff but they're pretty nasty - I'd rather find a burrito joint. But they do have their place. Unfortunately the wrappers they come in also have their place - in a landfill. Doh!

I've met plenty of people who make their own energy bars - usually done for costs, but often because they don't want to create all the trash. Since I'm not too into the things in the first place, I tend to take bananas (compostable - but also shipped in from Hawaii or further so not exactly eco-friendly, c'est la vie). But for those wanting to reduce the impact of those damn wrappers - Terracycle - a company that produces organic fertilizer from worm poop and ships it in re-used soda bottles - is recycling the bars into "upcycled" products. OK, most of it is probably junk as well, some of which probably only exists because they needed to find something to do with the plastic wrappers. The US probably produces enough plastic crap per day to supply the country with more than enough Whole Foods reusable shopping bags. And shipping the wrappers around might not be better than making the junk with virgin plastic. Hard to say.

Anyway, I'm signing up to check it out. Terracycle and Clif Bar donate 2 cents per wrapper to charity. I am donating to Second Harvest. Save up your wrappers (any energy bar with a foil inside) and give them to me on the Caltrain or the Google Ride and I'll get them to Terracycle. Better yet, roll your own and reduce your waste!