Are you tired of every child in the school having the same back pack? Would you like for your child to have something different and unique this year? Would you also like to help the environment by diverting trash from our nation's landfills?
The obvious choice is Back To School with TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net> . They have many back to school items all made from recycled materials. My daughter received the Yak Pak Backpack
TerraCycle is an excellent fundraising program that non-profit organizations can sign up to participate in. If your school is interested in participating log onto http://www.terracycle.net/ there you will find out how to sign up for the program and how to join the different brigades (items you can collect). TerraCycle pays out $.02 (a few brigades are higher valued but more difficult to collect) for each piece collected, your non-profit sends in their collected items free of charge! All they need to do is log into their account and print off a shipping label, tape up the box and take it to their local UPS shipping store! TerraCycle will send out checks in December and June.
Did you know that billions of drink pouches are thrown out each year, filling up landfills and dumpsters across the country? TerraCycle represents a new generation of company, putting as much emphasis on its social and environmental impact as its profits. In 2001, college freshman Tom Szaky founded TerraCycle in hopes of building a new, more responsible way of doing business, by creating an eco-capitalist company built on waste. Since then, TerraCycle has revolutionized the industry by making eco-friendly and affordable products from waste materials. Seven years later, TerraCycle’s eco-friendly products have received a myriad of social and environmental accolades and are available at major retail stores.
Today’s the first day of school for Dylan, Tyler actually started last week, crazy I know. I still have a hard time with school starting in August. When I was a kid school didn’t start until after Labor Day. Oh my heck, did I really just say, “When I was kid”? Ugh, I think that officially makes me old.
Ok, moving on. Being the green loving family that I force us to be we are, I tried to keep our purchases down or at least pretty green.
There are lots of easy ways to get your green on this back-to-school season.
Reuse what's leftover from last school year first. Check out resale shops and yard sales. Do a clothing and school supply swap with friends, neighbors and relatives. Refurbish used backpacks and personalize them with patches and fabric markers for a creative, unique style. Look for and purchase recycled content school supplies. Look for and purchase upcycled school supplies (such as those supplied by Terracycle for our giveaway). Plan on and pack waste-free lunches. Avoid overpackaged products.
Reuse what's leftover from last school year first. Check out resale shops and yard sales. Do a clothing and school supply swap with friends, neighbors and relatives. Refurbish used backpacks and personalize them with patches and fabric markers for a creative, unique style. Look for and purchase recycled content school supplies. Look for and purchase upcycled school supplies (such as those supplied by Terracycle for our giveaway). Plan on and pack waste-free lunches. Avoid overpackaged products.
TerraCycle turns drink pouches and other non-recycable packaging into trendy, fashionable gear for home, school and office, as featured in the August issue of Southwest Florida Parent & Child magazine.
Enter here to win a TerraCycle backpak, lunch bag and pencil case (approximate retail value, $34). (Prize will not necessarily be identical to products shown above.)
Reusable, recyled back to school items from Terracycle and Rebinder.
Teachers at Faith Lutheran School in Antioch used to see a lot of empty Capri Sun drink pouches being thrown away. Now the school turns a profit on them.
The school earns two cents for every one of the pouches it collects and returns to a company called TerraCycle, which makes eco-friendly products from packaging waste. The school uses the program not only as a fund-raising opportunity, but as a way to educate students.
