"Considering that St. Teresa is a small, private school, the students' efforts are impressive. They recycled more than 18,000 items that would have otherwise added to waste piling up in landfills," she said. A breakdown reveals the students recycled 17,873 drink pouches, 2,678 chip bags and 565 cookie wrappers. For their efforts, they earned the school $357 from TerraCycle, which awards "cash for trash" and gives the items new purpose as backpacks, lunch boxes, trash cans, toys and more.