We’ve all been there. We want to have a fun filled 4th of July, allowing the kids to play and the adults a chance to sit around, chat and catch up. I’ve spent plenty of time over the years fixing plates for the kids, fixing drinks for the kids, fixing more drinks for the kids, and settling arguments.  Here’s some tips I’ve learned to allow everyone to enjoy themselves.

SEVIERVILLE (press release)—Sevierville Primary School students earn money and prizes for their school by collecting and recycling the drink pouches used at home and in the lunchroom. Sevierville Primary School has just reached the first level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade® milestone contest by collecting more than 10,000 drink pouches.

Dayspring Christian Academy students earn money and prizes for their school by collecting and recycling the drink pouches used at home and in the lunchroom. Dayspring Christian Academy has just reached the second level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade® milestone contest by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches.

Rucker Boulevard Elementary School reached the first level of a Capri Sun and TerraCycle campaign aimed at recycling drink pouches, according to a TerraCycle press release.

The Terra Stone Plant Caddy is the perfect gift for the eco-conscious gardener. Crafted from recycled juice pouches through TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade, the caddy utilizes empty drink pouches that would otherwise be thrown out. TerraCycle diverts tons of waste juice pouches annually and donates 2 cents to a charity or non-profit for each pouch collected.

Virtually everything you find on store shelves uses these materials in some form, and yet many of them are unrecyclable either because of their design or because the combination of materials used in their manufacturing makes them difficult to break down. But one company is steadily proving that it’s possible to recycle virtually everything we discard on a daily basis.

His story sounds like a frat-house comedy, in which a shaggy-haired Princeton kid discovers the recipe for totally awesome pot, and turns the idea into a business. His secret: fertilizer made from worm poop.

While fundraising is an essential for nonprofits, charities and local schools across the country, it can be particularly challenging to raise funds in today’s environment—but there are ways around the problem. It doesn’t help that Americans are donating 8 percent less today than they were in 2007, before the recession, and many schools faced with budget cuts are feeling the brunt of the decline.

The Drink Pouch Brigade—offered by Capri Sun and TerraCycle—rewards participants and their schools with points and cash donations for collecting drink pouches. Hazelwood Elementary School in Washington did just that, using money generated through collecting drink pouches to help counteract school-wide funding cuts.

New Jersey New Jersey-based TerraCycle, one of the world’s fastest-growing green companies, works with more than 100 big brands around the world to collect used packaging and upcycle the waste into new products: messenger bags made from Colgate toothpaste tubes, totes made from used Target shopping bags or iPod cases made from repurposed mail bags.