TERRACYCLE NEWS

ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

Prairie Winds Elementary students again tops in wrapper recycling

TerraCycle Include USA Larabar
Students at Prairie Winds Elementary School in Monument have done it again. The school in Lewis-Palmer School District 38 is a top collector of energy bar wrappers for TerraCycle. The Trenton, N.J.-based company repurposes hard-to-reuse waste, such as potato chip bags, coffee capsules and cigarette butts, into office supplies, cleaning products, purses and other products. Prairie Winds students recycled 10,700 foil-lined wrappers from energy bars. TerraCycle and contest sponsor Larabar recently recognized the school for its efforts. TerraCycle offers free recycling programs for schools, organizations and individuals. For every piece of waste sent to TerraCycle, collectors earn points that can be redeemed as a donation to the nonprofit or school of their choice. Parent Barb Sailer helped start the recycling program at Prairie Winds three years ago. Everyone in the school is encouraged to recycle all kinds of discarded items, using bins set up at key locations. Last spring, the school was a regional contest winner for collecting 2,579 Entenmann's Little Bites muffin bags. In the past, students donated their points to support a Yellowstone National Park project and an organization that helps fight hunger. This year, the students' work will benefit an organization that educates people about climate change and how to reduce their carbon footprint. "This recycling program allows us to help others and starts the conversation for why that matters," Sailer said.