TERRACYCLE NEWS

ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

Trash means cash for elementary school

TerraCycle Frito-Lay (Pepsico) Capri Sun (Kraft Foods) Include USA
The district provides between $150 and $200 a year for Eagle Valley Elementary to buy balls and physical education equipment for students. P.E. teacher Joel Huebner was looking to expand that budget through donations, when three years ago, he bought Capri Sun drink pouches for his child's soccer team and saw an ad on the package about schools being paid to recycle drink pouches and chip bags through a company called TerraCycle. TerraCycle was created in 2001 when then-20-year-old Princeton University freshman Tom Szaky began packaging liquid worm fertilizer in used soda bottles. Today, TerraCycle has grown into one of the fastest-growing green companies in the world, according to its website. The company makes dozens of products from the recycled trash, including a lunch box made of Capri Sun packages and CD jewel cases made of Cheetos packages. Not only was the school able to buy new balls, but also equipment for lawn bowling, badminton and indoor bocce ball for winter. Terracycle has recycled 2.5 billion pieces of trash gathered by volunteers since 2001, paying out $5.5 million to charities, according to the company website.