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.

There are many ways to help a school earn money through fundraisers, contests and grant applications, but what if your time is limited because of your work schedule or because you're a stay-at-home mom with other little ones still at home with you? Are there ways to help that don't require selling anything or require a whole lot of time that you just don't have right now? Yes, and here a couple of ways to earn money for your school with very little effort on your part. CapriSun's Drink Pouch Brigade <http://brands.kraftfoods.com/caprisun/be-green-earn-green.aspx> -Earn $.02 per CapriSun pouch collected and recycled through TerraCycle. Complete details on CapriSun's website <http://brands.kraftfoods.com/caprisun/be-green-earn-green.aspx> . Talk to your local school of choice to find out if they have established their own brigade so you can contribute drink pouches or start your own, ask if you can visit during lunch or snack time and collect the empty drink pouches and you don't even have to pay the postage to send them in.

Capri Sun, partnering with TerraCycle, recycles old juice pouches into fun school items such as back packs, totes and pencil cases. The group also offers a Be Green, Earn Green program for schools and organizations. Schools, non-profit organizations and even individuals can sign up at www.terracycle.net to be part of the “Drink Pouch Brigade” and collect used drink pouches. The minimum number of pouches to collect and send in is 500, but the group pays $0.02 per pouch to the charity, school or non-profit organization of your choice. TerraCycle even provides shipping labels. The colorful recycled items are sold in local stores such as WalMart or online at www.theultimategreenstore.com.

This past week I purchased a package of Keebler's Sandies Pecan Shortbread cookies.  On the wrapper, I discovered that Keebler has now paired with TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  to encourage people to upcycle their cookie wrappers.  As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of upcycling everything I can as I figure the fewer items that end up in landfills the better off we all are. TerraCycle encourages consumers to save more than just cookie wrappers, though.  They have established trash brigades to allow consumers to earn cash for their trash for a school or other non profit group.  Through this program you can save items such as drink pouch containers, candy wrappers, home storage items (such as ziploc bags), yogurt containers, chip bag, and other items, then redeem them for $.02 each to raise money for programs such as schools.  They then turn these items into products like fencing, eco friendly fire starters, windowbox planters and other garden pots, and much more.  Visit their website for more information on this wonderful program.

While Hawkeye fans were watching the football game Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, Diane Roethler was keeping an eye on what people were throwing away. Items such as chips and candy bar wrappers and zip-lock bags all got rescued from the garbage to be brought to Francis Marion Intermediate School in Marion, where she teaches fifth grade. The items will be sent to a company called TerraCycle, which pays the school 2 cents plus all shipping costs for every bit of garbage it can save from being put into a landfill.

Toothpaste Tube Toothbrush Holder Looking for a refreshing alternative to throwing away your toothpaste tubes? This easy do-it-yourself project upcycles your empty tubes into a simple toothbrush holder. Upcycling materials like these are a great way to reuse without costing a mint. Directions at the end of this post! TerraCycle and Colgate are offering FREE curriculums to teach kids to keep their teeth and our planet healthy & clean. Both curriculums can be used at school or in the home and both meet national education standards. For the past 15 years, the Colgate curriculum, which is a part of the award-winning Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® global oral health education program, has reached over 50 million children annually and their families in 30 languages and 80 countries throughout the world.

You may have read my TerraCyle review  <http://jamielz.blogspot.com/2010/09/terracycle-review.html> earlier this week. If you did, I am sure you are intrigued by this company who takes "going green" to a whole new level. I just found out that Terracycle offers a free curriculum series to help educate kids on recycling. TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/curriculums/overview>  has teamed up with Colgate <http://www.colgate.com/app/BrightSmilesBrightFutures/US/EN/HomePage.cvsp>  to offer curriculums that teach children how to keep their teeth and planet healthy and clean.  Both curriculums can be used at school or in the home and both meet national  education standards. Additionally. TerraCycle is trying to teach children how they can convert common household products into new and useful items.  Here is a fun craft project you can do at home!

The Yak Pak Messenger Bag is made of upcycled billboards by a collaboration between Yak Pak and Terracycle. The perfect shape for back to school.  No two are alike. Vinyl billboards aren’t recyclable but they can be repurposed into nearly indestructible products — which is why this Yak Pak bag comes with a lifetime warranty. The company is USA based, but the bags are made in a green, hydroelectric-powered facility in El Salvador where workers are paid fair wages.  Yak Pak bags cost less than $35 each, making fashion affordable and supporting businesses that are doing right by their employees.

Teachers and administrators love parent volunteers. Every year when my kids go back to school, there seems to be an even longer list of volunteer opportunities. Most schools are time- and cash-crunched, so if I can help out, that’s great. Everyone benefits. But what if you could help out and do something good for the Earth at the same time? You can. And by helping out your environment, you also improve your child’s health, safety and happiness. It’s a win-win. Plus, if everyone learns more about habitats and how to better take care of them, including within your own community, then you’ve also paid the planet and your family forward. In the book “The Mom’s Guide To Growing Your Family Green: Saving the Earth Begins at Home” (St. Martin’s Press, $16.95), there is a wonderful blueprint for how to work with your child’s school to make a difference, along with pages of specific how-tos and resources. Here are some additional ideas: -In charge of finding more money? For fundraising, steer clear of junk food, candy and wrapping paper. Instead, go for the green with positive-planet and health-loving impact. www.terracycle.net helps you create a recycling brigade to get money for your school, plus they have up-to-date companion curriculum series for teachers. Or try a community event; if you have musical-artist parents who would donate time and talent, then put together an at-school concert and sell tickets. If you want to sell products, www.go-green-fundraising.com has several ideas, such as flower bulbs, savings cards, live tree kits and healthy food products.

Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  is always coming up  with fun and cool ways to recycle, but they also have come up with a way  (actually 6 ways) Moms can go green, reduce waste at home, AND raise  money for their kids school and/or favorite charity. Terracycle realizes  Moms have enough things to think about without wondering how to reduce  the amount of waste leaving their home and heading to the local  landfill. So they have come up with six new Brigades (read as free  collection programs!) to make it easier than ever for parents to  eliminate waste from their home while raising money for a school or  charity of their choice. All you  need to do is collect and send in the  packaging you discard every day, TerraCycle pays the postage and  contributes two cents per unit of waste returned! Participating Products  include Colgate, Ziploc, Country Crock, Neosporin, Aveeno and Many Many  More!