Despite the fact that their school closed this year, Concord Elementary School students earned more than $1,300 by collecting and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom Concord students achieved this milestone by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches through the TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest. It is a free recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle. Surplus funds that Concord Elementary PTO has raised will go to the North Clackamas Education Foundation, which will administer teacher grants for elementary school teachers within the Rex Putnam High School feeder system. Sondra Mitchell, Concord PTO co-president, and other organizers are aiming to replicate the program at public schools that Concord Elementary kids are going to next year. "We're very excited at how successful it was and hope to continue it at another school," she said. "Leftover student funds from Concord are going to support outdoor school for Concord Alumni sixth graders at Alder Creek Middle School next year." Mitchell, who will have a fourth-grader and a first-grader next year, was so upset by the School Board's vote to close Concord that she considered moving her children to a private school. But she let her kids choose betwwen a private school and their neighborhood school, Bilquist, one of four remaining elementary schools in the Rex Putnam feeder system. "They both decided to go to Bilquist, so we will see how it goes," she said. The Milestone Program began in September 2013 when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts. Now, in addition to the money they earn for each piece of waste collected, participants can win prizes made from recycled drink pouches, such as park benches, recycling bins and a playground. To learn more about the program or to sign up, visit terracycle.com. The program is free to any interested organization or individual, and all shipping costs are paid.

The Inquisitor June 27-July 3, 2014

The Armada Times July 9, 2014

Courier News July 14, 2014

- To the trustees of the Mof­fat Library in Washingtonville who are working on plans to restore the building and to the members of the community for their support. Damage from storms several years ago forced the 127-year-old building to close and books and items were relocated to a tem­porary home. But the library, one of the most charming in the area and certainly the most attractive building in Washing­tonville, deserves to occupy its historic place in the heart of the community. If all goes well, and all the money that is necessary can be found, the books and the patrons should be back where they belong in a few years. - To Ellenville Elementary School for teaching students about two of the other Rs – recycling and raising funds. Ellenville is one of thousands of schools across the country earning money by collect­ing and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. So far, they have earned more than $1,200 for the school through the Ter­raCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade. While it is true that this program is good for the company because it encour­ages students to buy this brand, there is nothing stopping others from launching similar re­wards programs to encourage recycling and promote their own products. - To the SUNY New Paltz 3-D printing program, formally known as the Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Cen­ter, for putting new technology to use in a very dramatic way. Using about $20 in materials, one of the center’s MakerBot tabletop 3-D printers created a prosthetic hand for a local 6-year-old who was born with­out fingers on his left hand. The technique holds great promise because while such prosthet­ics can cost tens of thousands of dollars and children can outgrow them quickly, the 3-D printers can quickly and inexpensively make them as needed. - To St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital for earning the “Most Wired” award from Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the only hospital in the Hudson Valley to receive the distinc­tion. The hospital was recog­nized for its electronic data sharing and its participation in the New York State Patient Portal as well as the use of technology to reduce medical errors. - To the passersby who acted quickly to rescue a baby ac­cidentally locked inside a car and to the others who have reported some not-so-acciden­tal cases, ones where parents have left children inside hot cars on hot days despite all of the warning about the dangers involved. If parents know no better or do not care enough, they deserve to be reported and the children deserve to be rescued. - To Kittatinny Canoes, its employees and the hundreds of volunteers who paddled out from Matamoras, Pa., last week and helped pull up piles of trash from Barryville to Dingmans Ferry, Pa., during the 25th annual On and Under the Delaware River Cleanup. Since 1990, the annual effort has removed 440 tons of trash from the river, including 8,547 tires and 8,544 pounds of alu­minum cans. - To Boice Brothers Dairy of Kingston and all of its hungry helpers who set a record for creating the world’s longest sundae, a concoction of vanilla ice cream, sprinkles, chocolate sauce and whipped cream more than 1,600 feet long.

Solorio Elementary School students in Fontana earn money and prizes for their school by collecting and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. Solorio's students have just reached the second level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches. The students have earned more than $2,400 for their school by collecting the drink pouches. The Drink Pouch Brigade is a nationwide free recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle to be recycled or upcycled. The Milestone Program began in September of 2013, when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts. Now, in addition to the money they earn for each piece of waste collected, participants can win prizes made from recycled drink pouches, such as park benches, recycling bins, a playground, and other fun rewards. To learn more about the program or to sign up, visitwww.terracycle.com. The program is free to any interested organization or individual, and all shipping costs are paid.

Run in partnership with the Terracycle recycling company and Kraft Foods, owner of Capri Sun, the "Drink Pouch Brigade" program awards points to schools that recycle the popular drink pouches, which can then be used to purchase useful, recycled products.

Benjamin Franklin Elementary School students collected more than 18,000 Capri Sun pouches for recycling to earn $1,700 for the school as part of Capri Sun's Drink Pouch Brigade recycling program. In collaboration with TerraCycle, the Drink Pouch Brigade has collected more than 200 million recyclable pouches.

Students at Jay Stream Middle School earn over $2,600 for collecting more than 18,000 Capri Sun drink pouches. Suburban Life July 11, 2014

MATTHEWS – Bain Elementary School students have been earning money and prizes for their school by collecting drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. Bain Elementary students have just reached the second level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches, earning the school more than $5,000 in the process. The waste is sent to TerraCycle, which recycles or upcycles it instead of it all going to a landfill, and the company rewards schools and other waste donors for their efforts. Carrie Vizzini, an art teacher and the recycling coordinator at Bain Elementary, noticed all the waste generated in the school’s cafeteria in 2009 and knew she had to do something. After going to the school’s principal, Vizzini headed the TerraCycle team at Bain and started collecting drink pouches in the lunchroom as part of the Drink Pouch Brigade at TerraCycle. “Once we got the program going and taught the kids what they’re throwing away” the effort took off, Vizzini said. John LeGrand, who recently left Bain to become principal at Butler High School, said the program is the result of a decided effort from Bain educators to teach the importance of being green. The school plans to use funds received from TerraCycle to buy recycling-related items to help continue “to enhance and bolster our recycling efforts,” LeGrand added. “We made a decision a couple years ago to really teach our students environmental stewardship,” he said. “We sought out programs that would follow that.” Vizzini also created a Green Team at Bain, which has two representatives from each class who help carry out recycling efforts. “It gave them more of a leadership and ownership role,” Vizzini said. The students would collect all the TerraCycle items from their lunch tables and classrooms to be sent to TerraCycle. Along with juice pouches, the school collects Elmer’s glue sticks and containers and granola bars. All the items are upcycled at TerraCycle. The team also coordinated the activities for the school’s celebration of Earth Day, where two first-graders coordinated an initiative with LeGrand for each student to pick up three pieces of trash at recess. Vizzini said it was rewarding to see the students get involved, while it’s also rewarding for the students, as they learn to think about what they’re throwing away and have taken that lesson home to their families. Although Vizzini has headed Bain’s recycling efforts since September 2009, TerraCycle’s Milestone Program began in September 2013 when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts. In addition to the money they earn for each piece of waste collected, participants can win prizes made from recycled drink pouches, such as park benches, recycling bins, a playground and other fun rewards. “The Milestone Program is meant to inspire individuals and organizations to collect more waste while receiving prizes for their achievements,” Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, said in a news release. “It is rewarding to see the students and administration get so involved in making this work.  It’s an incredible achievement to have kept so many pouches out of the waste stream.” The school earned an official TerraCycle collection bin and 10 8.5-by-11-inch Drink Pouch Brigade stickers after reaching the 18,000 milestone. But Vizzini now has her sights set on the next milestone: 40,000. The school is already up to more than 30,000 drink pouches. The achievement will earn the school 50 TerraCycle wristbands, a vinyl banner, an official Certificate of Achievement and a storage bin. Bain has been considered a model school for environmentalism, according to Carton Council, a group of carton manufacturers that focus on diminishing waste. The council recognized Bain for their collection of milk cartons in the 2011-12 school year. Since Bain took on a recycling initiative, teachers have taken on environmental stewardship. Janet Barnhardt, Bain kindergarten teacher and chairperson of Bain’s Environmental Leadership Team, which is a group of teachers from each grade, said the faculty focuses on energy awareness, air quality, and – the biggest component – recycling. Barnhardt said the team’s challenge for this year was to educate students to take recycling efforts to their homes, and teachers gave students visual aids to track waste and recyclables. “We were able to add the curriculum into the recycling process … and instill in the students a sense of responsibility for their environment,” Barnhardt said. Although most of the juice pouches or other items came from the school cafeteria, Vizzini hopes to encourage families and businesses to contribute to Bain’s recycling efforts. She said she has received contributions from some businesses, such as Sunny Days Afterschool in Mint Hill. “We’re trying to find a place for (the recycling initiative) to grow outside of Bain, and make it a community thing,” Vizzini said. Nevertheless, Vizzini is assured Bain will continue to recycle. “It’s become a habit now – everyone pitches in.”