Students at a Michigan elementary school are raising money for their school, while keeping hard-to-recycle materials out of the waste stream. It’s called “upcycling” and at West Ottawa’s Pine Creek Elementary School, it’s becoming part of the school’s culture. “One of our focuses is incorporating environmental education into our curriculum and raise kids’ awareness,” said Principal Dave Gough. “We wanted to think about how we can problem solve and have a positive impact at the same time.” The school’s efforts are run through TerraCycle, a company that finds new uses for trash, turning otherwise unusable waste into things like coolers, picture frames and cleaning supplies. Students, teachers and staff members collect things like food wrappers and juice boxes and turn them over to TerraCycle, which transforms them into other, usable items.

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