Fred Meyer carrying innovative, eco-friendly products

PORTLAND - Fred Meyer Stores is carrying a new line of eco-friendly garden products in response to the growing demands for more sustainable, organic products. The products, manufactured by TerraCycle, Inc., are made entirely from waste and school kids can earn money by helping collect some of the waste items used to make the products. TerraCycle's mission is to provide organic and eco-friendly products without charging a premium. The products will be available at Fred Meyer locations throughout Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho.

The product line includes a variety of Worm Poop plant foods and fertilizers that are directly packaged in used plastic containers. TerraCycle feeds paper and garden waste to millions of worms and the worms compost the materials into an organic, high quality fertilizer, which is the main ingredient of all TerraCycle's fertilizers. The finished product is then packaged in used 20-ounce, one-liter, or two-liter bottles or used one-gallon milk jugs.

TerraCycle's flagship products, the ready-to-use plant foods, are listed as organic by the Organic Material Review Institute and come in both 20-ounce and two-liter sizes. The ready-to-use plant food comes in All-Purpose, Orchid, Herb, Cactus and Tomato varieties. Also available is a concentrated Lawn Fertilizer, which is all-natural, non-toxic and comes with a hose attachment for easy application.

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Fred Meyer Stores will also carry the Urban Art Planting Pot. This eco-friendly pot is the first pot ever to be made entirely from mixed waste plastic, salvaged from the billions of tons of electronic equipment discarded every year. The plastic is remolded into this durable, lightweight eight-inch planting pot, which is then hand painted by inner city artists. The pots come in several different colors and styles.

The product line also includes an all-natural Potting Mix made from worm poop and coconut coir that comes packaged in reused one-gallon milk jugs, as well as the TerraCycle Bird Feeder, which is made from a used two-liter soda bottle and a base made entirely from recycled plastic. The Feeder comes pre-filled with high quality Pennington Seed and requires no filling and minimal assembly.

TerraCycle operates four nationwide upcycling programs that are free for schools, community groups and non-profits. The programs donate several cents for every used 20-ounce bottle, kid's drink pouch, yogurt container or bar wrapper that a location collects. Anyone can sign up as long as the donations go to a school or non-profit. All of the collected materials are upcycled into new products or used as packaging for TerraCycle's other products.

Already more than 5,000 locations nationwide are collecting in one of TerraCycle's four programs. Visit www.terracycle.net/brigades to learn more.