One parent at Lincoln Elementary School has come up with a creative way to raise money for the school while promoting recycling to students. The school is collecting candy wrappers, Capri Sun pouches and other items for TerraCycle, a company that then turns the recyclables into coolers, lunch bags, and other products sold at major retailers. In return for the items, TerraCycle makes a donation to the school. Jammie Esker Schaer, who has two children at the school, discovered the idea at a party.

The programme is beneficial in many ways. Students are educated about recycling, reusing and resource conservation while also be inspired by knowing that making a difference can be fun and easy! Meanwhile schools can earn much needed funding, while running a programme that is already educational!

Newcastle Elementary increased its recycling rate from 50 percent to 60 percent, began recycling food scraps, allowed students to serve as “waste watchers” that monitor lunchroom containers, placed stickers on all recycling containers listing what can and cannot be recycled, replaced wrapped utensils with unwrapped ones and stopped using straws. It also teamed up with TerraCycle — which makes products out of items that typically cannot be recycled — to recycle Capri Sun drink pouches and Lunchable containers.

The bad new is that the end of summer is almost here. But, then there is the inevitable good news…the end of summer is almost here. There are a few little details left to get through…Labor Day weekend, continuing warm weather even though the pool is closed, or your tomatoes ripening just when you are on vacation. Mere details! What the approach of summer’s end means for a lot of us is that very soon the children go back to school (Again, good news/bad news). And that means, shopping for school supplies. Somehow while a challenge and a chore, for many the experience is almost as much fun as getting ready for Halloween (I said almost),

It makes cents to recycle - two cents per waste product, to be exact. That's how much some central Arkansas schools are making each time they turn in a piece of trash to Terracycle. TerraCycle takes products that previously could not be recycled, like Capri Sun packages and many food wrappers, and "upcycles" them- creating things like Starburst insulated lunchboxes and Capri Sun backpacks.

From the traditional bake sales and gift-wrapping paper programs, fundraisers have become commonplace at a vast majority of schools in our area.

Children are never too young to learn environmental awareness. Teach them the benefits of recycling and re-use with this Drink Pouch Homework Folder from TerraCycle made of recycled juice packs instead of paper. Other recycled juice pack options include: backpacks, binders, pencil cases, totes, coolers and more!

It makes cents to recycle--two cents per waste product, to be exact. That's how much some central Arkansas schools are making each time they turn in a piece of trash to a company called TerraCycle. TerraCycle takes products that previously could not be recycled, like Capri Sun packages and many food wrappers, and "upcycles" them. This means that minimal energy is used and the products don't completely change form, creating things like Starburst insulated lunchboxes and Capri Sun backpacks. Tamonica Jenkins, second grade teacher at Huda Academy, decided to get involved with TerraCycle when she noticed the large number of Capri Suns her students were drinking. She researched the company online and realized it was the perfect way to make use of her students' trash and to raise money at the same time.

If you're like most parents, right now is a bittersweet time. Sure, the kids are back in class, but with it comes a barrage of fundraisers. Just about every school - public or private - needs more money. And I'm not against it by any means. However, when the boxes of chocolate bars or the order forms for gift wrap arrive in the book bags, it's difficult to suppress a groan. On more than one occasion, I've told my husband I wish they'd just send us a bill for our portion and cut out the middle man. My girlish figure really doesn't need any candy, and I have enough wrapping paper to take care of Santa's Village. But we do it for our children. This year I'm chairing the fundraising committee for my younger son's school. My goal is to incorporate projects that teach as well as bring in money. I mentioned one a few weeks ago, Box Tops for Education, that's run by General Mills. But in my quest, I've found another I must share. The company is called TerraCycle, and its aim is to make eco-friendly, affordable consumer products from waste.

When I broke into a bag of peanut MnMs this morning, I noticed a familiar logo on the back of the package, Terracycle, and was reminded that I have not been sending much material their way lately nor have I plugged them enough on the blog. So... In case you haven't heard of them, Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  is a fantastic, award-winning small business which specializes in "up-cycling," that is, making consumer products from post-consumer materials. Founded by a few guys from Princeton and headquartered in New Jersey, the company that used to produce natural plant products (worm waste products) has diversified to collecting millions of waste units to be transformed into useful products - all while collecting a ton of money for charity. You've probably seen their logo on various back-to-school items on sale at major retailers like Target and Walmart or possibly recognize the name from the Terra-Team's reality show "Garbage Moguls" that premiered Earth Day of 2009 on National Geographic. All this even after the company founder, Tom Szaky, turned down a million dollar prize from the Carrot Capital Business Plan contest because he didn't like the direction Carrot Capital wanted to take the company. Love it. Donate, shop, and learn all about Terracycle here <http://www.terracycle.net/> .