A million dollars can go a long way in cash-strapped schools and nonprofits. And, when all that’s required is to save items from landfills, it almost sounds too good to be true. True it is. Schools and nonprofits across the country have now earned $1 million through the TerraCycle Drink Pouch Brigade™ program.
At 2 cents a piece that equates to 50 million drink pouches collected over the past 2years. Enough waste to cover the Grand Canyon 9 times. Enough waste to cover 2,000 football fields. Enough waste to weigh as much as 20 full school buses! That's a lot of juice!
TerraCycle has hit $1 million in drink pouches! That is a lot of juice! They have paid out $1 million to non-profits and nearly 50 million drink pouches collected and kept out of landfills.
A million dollars can go a long way in cash-strapped schools and nonprofits. And, when all that’s required is to save items from landfills, it almost sounds too good to be true. True it is. Schools and nonprofits across the country have now earned $1 million through the TerraCycle Drink Pouch Brigade™ program.
The Capri Sun beverage brand was one of the earliest supporters of TerraCycle, a company that collects would-be trash and turns it into useful items. The collection program, called the Drink Pouch Brigade, takes place mostly in schools, where children choose to deposit used pouches in special receptacles rather than throw them away. In participating schools, each used drink pouch collected and sent to TerraCycle earns two cents, with the funds going toward needed educational programs and resources.
The
Capri Sun beverage brand was one of the earliest supporters of
TerraCycle, a company that collects would-be trash and turns it into useful items. The collection program, called the
Drink Pouch Brigade, found in 42% of elementary schools in the U.S., is a free nationwide program that pays schools and non-profits to collect non-recyclable waste that would otherwise go to landfill. In participating schools, each used drink pouch collected and sent to TerraCycle earns two cents, with the funds going toward needed educational programs and resources. By choosing not to discard their drink pouches, students demonstrate their concern for the environment.
TerraCycle and Colgate are both offering their own FREE curriculums; Colgate seeking to teach kids how to keep their mouths clean and TerraCycle seeking to teach kids how to Outsmart Waste! Both curriculums can be used at school or in the home and both meet national education standards.
TerraCycle’s brand new curriculum series, which will be released three times a year, was developed by the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education and the first release focuses on teaching kids of all ages groups, from K-12, about Natural Laws & Principals of the Materials Cycle.
TerraCycle loves us to recycle, no matter how we do it! We can join their brigades and mail our trash to them to be upcycled into products or we can use our trash to make new products of our own!
The project partners the school with a company called TerraCycle, which pays the school 2 cents for commonly-disposed wrappers for candy bars, potato chips and other items. TerraCycle then turns the garbage into accessories such as backpacks and purse, according to fifth grade teacher Diane Roethler.
“These aren’t things that can go in curbside recycling,” Roethler said. “This company has found a specific use for these items and a specific product that they can make from it.”
Roethler hopes to use the money earned through the TerraCycle program to raise extra money for the school to purchase supplies. During the three weeks she collected material during the last school year, Roethler collected 2,200 items for more than $44. She expects to earn even more this year now that the parents and students are more familiar with the program.
Tom Szaky, a 28-year-old wunderkind from Canada, wants you to send him your garbage, and he’ll pay the shipping.
Oh, and he also wants to make a lot of money and save the world by taking unrecyclable waste like chip bags and juice pouches and turning them into new products like backpacks, kites, coolers and clocks.
Now he and his company, TerraCycle, take tons of hard-to-recycle plastics and other waste collected from collection “brigades” formed in schools, churches businesses and service organizations and turns them into products sold at Walmart and Target. They pay the shipping for articles like shopping bags, used pens, whatever, and pay 2 cents per unit to a charity on behalf of the collecting organization. All of it is organized through the company Web site, terracycle.net.
The feel-good business model has worked with giant companies like Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay and Kimberly-Clark, who pitch the program on their packaging. Walmart and Target also have joined up, setting up collection points and selling products.
The wonderful people at the Tillicum Subway have allowed Tillicum Elementary to place a collection bin for empty chip bags at their location on Union Ave. Please help support Tillicum Elementary and Subway, while staying green and recycling! For each bag collected, Tillicum Elementary can upcycle through
TerraCycle to receive $.02 and keep everyday trash out of the landfill. This program is helping the students learn about caring for the environment by getting involved and recycling!
Terracycle is one of those incredibly cool organizations you love to come across. Not only do they help keep our planet a little freer of waste, they make the waste into useful, fun, good-looking products. They have lots of
Brigades to help you earn money for your church or school as well. I dig them. A lot! Emily over at Terracycle has offered a few upcycled goodies to giveaway to one lucky My Atlanta Mommy reader. Check these out!!
Students at Bentley School are trying to do their part to help the environment. The school has different recycling containers throughout the building for plastic and paper recycling. In the lunchroom students are encouraged to recycle their foil juice drink containers, granola bar wrappers, candy wrappers, cookie wrappers, chip bags, as well as milk containers, pop cans, and water bottles. Students are encouraged to recycle at home and bring these items back school. The foil juice drink containers, granola bar wrappers, candy wrapper, cookie wrappers, and chip bags are then boxed up and sent to TerraCycle. This company then turns the “trash” into backpacks, lunch bags, folders and more! Last year Bentley students recycled 1,684 Capri Suns, 1,145 Granola/Energy Bar Wrappers, and 396 Chip Bags. We are very proud of our students for all that they are doing to make the world a better place!
