Full Circle Sustainability

09/03/2026

Most of what we carry at Full Circle is local...grown in small quantities, made in small batches, tended by individuals and families we have the pleasure to know. We want you to get to know them too! Come check out our fun new photo wall and see the names and faces behind your favorite local foods!

08/30/2026

It’s still early stages, but we have an exciting announcement!

We’ve been awarded a grant from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to buy a truck and trailer to start a curbside yard-waste pickup service. So many leaves and branches end up going to the landfill because people don’t have a good way to compost them. Let’s change that!

We’ll be recruiting volunteers to help collect yard waste and take it to Garick Yard Waste Processing Facility, where it will be turned into mulch and compost. The program won't be in full swing until spring, but we’re planning to pilot it this fall so we can keep some of those nutrient-rich leaves and limbs out of the landfill. 🍂

If you think this is exciting and might want to participate—either to volunteer or have your own yard waste picked up—take a moment to fill out our survey! (The link is in the comments.) It doesn't commit you to anything but will help us plan the program.

About 30-40% of material that goes to the landfill is actually compostable…but with the right systems in place, it doesn’t have to be that way! We are so excited to strengthen those systems and grateful to KDHE for the opportunity to Keep It Clean Kansas! ♻️🌻

08/28/2026

We're stocked on your seasonal standards (tomatoes, watermelon, peaches, peppers, potatoes...), plus we just got a big haul of produce from Meadows@Moonlight Asian Farm (okra, long gourds, string beans, bitter leaf, and lemon cucumbers). Come stock up on your favorites, or try something new! We can even point you toward a couple recipes to try. Open Friday, 1-6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

08/26/2026

You got out your magnifying glass and found the microscopic #1, #2, or #5 on a tiny pill bottle or floss container. Hooray! But wait... That little number doesn't actually mean you can put it in your curbside bin. Even recyclable plastics can't be recycled through normal channels if they're too small.

Bring these items to Full Circle, where we'll send them to TerraCycle for specialized processing. Their systems are designed to catch the little bits of plastic that normally fall through the cracks in recycling equipment.

Learn more about our TerraCycle program at the link in the comments.

Some things in life are necessary.

Medicine? Necessary.
Toothpaste? Necessary.
Dental floss? Necessary.
Coffee Pods? Kinda Necessary.

Those little measuring cups, caps, tubes, and assorted plastic thingamajigs that come with them? Also pretty necessary.

But unfortunately, necessary does not automatically mean recyclable.

Take the items in today’s professionally shot photo, for example. All of these little plastic pieces are simply too small for our recycling system.

Even if the plastic itself might technically be a recyclable type, once an item gets this small, the sorting equipment has a hard time doing anything useful with it. Little items can fall through screens, get mixed in with glass and other residue, or end up in the wrong material stream.

A good rule of thumb:
If it’s smaller than about a credit card, it probably doesn’t belong loose in your recycling cart.

That includes things like:
👉Prescription bottles
👉Toothpaste tubes
👉Small plastic caps and lids
👉Dental floss containers
Small pieces of otherwise recyclable plastic

And please don't put the little stuff inside a bigger recyclable container thinking you have just created the perfect recycling plastic nesting dolls

You have not.

The machinery doesn’t care and it will not get sorted properly

The important lesson for today:
Recyclable material that is the wrong size is not recyclable in our program.

Because sometimes it isn't what something is made from.

Sometimes it's just too dang little.

Sometimes things just need thrown away.

Keep your recycling clean, dry, loose, and big enough for the equipment to actually sort it.

08/25/2026

Our food system is a mess right now—poisoned with money, power, politics, and pesticides. And at the same time, there are people working really hard to clean it up, heal the soil, and get us back on a sustainable path.

Come learn about the problems and the solutions at a free screening of the film "Common Ground" - Wednesday, August 26, at the Topeka Public Library (Marvin Auditorium B). Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and the screening starts at 6:30. Refreshments will be provided from the Millennium Cafe, and a discussion of the film will follow.

A link to the trailer is in the comments.

08/22/2026

All your Wiebe Dairy favorites are back in stock! Open today until 4 p.m. And if you can't make it in, order online for delivery on Thursday. No reason to wait another week to enjoy some high-quality Kansas cheese!

08/19/2026

We hit an exciting milestone this week: Already in 2026, we’ve surpassed 2025 sales—with 4.5 months still to go in the year! Thank you for helping generate the amazing growth and momentum we've been seeing this year. It feels like an affirmation that Topeka wants and needs the things we're trying to bring about: easier access to recycling, local and sustainably grown foods, composting, repair services, and a community of people who care about making Topeka a greener place to live.

So keep coming in and spreading the word! And remember, there are so many ways to engage besides shopping. Attend our free Fix-It Clinics and swaps. Use our online recycling guide. Participate in our free recycling programs. Subscribe to our newsletter and sustainability digest. Connect, share your ideas, and help us make our community stronger!

08/16/2026

There’s a lot of packaging we find infuriating, but Pringles cans are just about the worst! There are SO many materials bonded together! We’ve got metal attached to some waxy-coated, metallic-lined cardboard, and then the plastic lid on top of it. None of it is recyclable through any normal channel (except the metal end if you really go to town and rip that canister apart). They’re sturdy, so you can’t easily crush them, and they take up a lot of space in a TerraCycle bin (or landfill, which is where 99.999% of them end up). Yeah, they’re iconic. And the design is probably effective. But they’re enviromentally awful. Pringles, you need to do better.

08/14/2026

We measure our impact in so many ways. Sometimes it’s about the numbers (bottles reused, food scraps composted, emissions reduced). Other times, it’s about what it makes possible for the farmers and families we work with.

So it was nice to receive this message from The Bridge, where kids in their mentoring program raise hens and sell us the eggs:

"The customers of Full Circle funded pool passes and some Farm Week activities for the kids and mentors. But most importantly this project is helping kids get introduced to farm chores, being outdoors for longer periods of time than recess, and how to be a part of the cycles that make up a local food system. Fun work!"

Thanks to The Bridge for giving us the opportunity to support local kids by eating local food!

08/10/2026

Even if you've never seen it, you can probably imagine how simple materials like metal or cardboard get recycled. But what about mixed-material items, like bottle pumps or lipstick tubes? It's totally doable, but it can be pretty complicated. Check out this video on how TerraCycle turns beauty product packaging into materials that can be reused. It's fascinating and encouraging...and might also inspire you to find products in packaging that you can refill, compost, or at least recycle more easily.

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