According to a Keep Blount Beautiful press release, TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With more than 50 products available at major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Their hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage. Free collection programs pay schools and non-profits nationwide to collect used packaging such as drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, cookie wrappers, chip bags, corks and more. The collected materials are upcycled into affordable, high quality products ranging from tote bags and purses to shower curtains and kites.

  The Ecology Club at Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg has found a creative way to get rid of trash like candy wrappers and old juice drink pouches. The students have partnered with a company called TerraCycle, which pays two cents for each piece of refuse collected and turns the garbage into products like backpacks, coolers and even fences. In less than a year, students have collected more than 3,200 pieces of refuse, raising money to help pay for new recycling containers for the school.

In every residence hall, there are Terracycle bins. Terracycle is an organization that collects wrappers that normally would not be recycled and turns them into eco-friendly products. Ramirez said some of the items they collect are Lays chip bags, Mars candy wrappers, Nabisco cookie wrappers, and foil-lined energy bar wrappers. “Buy products that have wrappers that can be Terracycled, and keep many snack food wrappers out of the trash,” said Kenneth Armstrong, residence life recycling coordinator. You can also purchase eco-friendly school supplies and other items made from Terracycled products on the Terracycle website

"We'd see kids throwing out their Capri Sun pouches after every class party," recalls Blacow Elementary Booster Club President, Emily Swanson. "It was such a shame to see so much waste." It did not stop with just Capri Sun pouches; paper and food waste desecrated the school with waste. Collecting ideas on solutions to the problem, the school now earns money from students' litter. Blacow Elementary recently joined with a nationwide "Brigade" program operated by TerraCycle, a recycling company. TerraCycle accepts waste materials and recycles them to form new products. The company pays about two cents for each acceptable wrapper or bag collected. For example, for an empty Lays chips bag, the school receives two cents. Brigades are basic areas that collect and pay for the donated items. Officially founded in the fall of 2001 by college student Tom Szaky, TerraCycle has grown to create various products ranging from Capri-Sun rectangular lunch boxes to a circuit board clipboard. This merchandise is sold to leading corporations such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot. Instead of going into a landfill and increasing carbon emissions, waste is turned into something useful.

Terracycle Brigades Terracycle is a wonderful organization that partners with schools to “upcycle” juice pouches and food wrappers. School and non-profit groups receive “cash for [their] trash” when they send in the required materials. The great thing about this program is that it’s easy to get started. There are Terracycle Brigades, and you register for the one you want to focus on. One of the parents at our school started with collecting drink pouches from kids. If you decide to participate in a brigade, you’ll need to provide incentives for kids to bring in what you’re collecting. Set up a system that works for you, like setting up a bin in the cafeteria specifically for drink pouches. Each week, give a small prize to students who bring in drink pouches in a Ziploc bag labeled with their names. If you want to boost your collection, seek out businesses that may already be collecting the items you’re looking for. Our Terracycle parent found out that a local party place for kids was willing to donate juice pouches to our school as long as someone picked them up. That’s easy “cash for your trash”!

TerraCycle makes eco-friendly products from typically non-recyclable items i.e those awesome CapriSun drink pouches.  So fun to drink from but not so fun to throw away.  (As a wise person once told me…there is no away.  Unless that’s what they’re calling garbage dumps now. ) TerraCycle helps run free collection programs for non-profits & schools (no cost for shipping the trash to TC).  A few things they collect are…. drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, cookie wrappers, and chip bags.  They pay 2-cents for each piece of trash so volume is a must for any significant fundraiser.  A few things they make are….tote bags, backpacks, lunch boxes and kites.

Terracycle realizes that Moms are the main shoppers, organizers, and most involved in the school activities. Because of this, they have new, Mom focused brigades. Parents want to make their children's world greener.  Unfortunately, daily life can get in the way of that with limited time and budget, but going green doesn't have to be difficult, time-consuming or expensive. In fact, a smart and savvy parent can go green and even earn green at the same time!

Would you ever consider SELLING your trash?   Do you think anyone would ever PAY for it? What if I told you that I found an amazing company that would? Terracycle pays schools, families, and communities to collect non-recyclable waste, which is then upcycled or repurposed to make fun, eco-friendly products like shower curtains, potted plants, and soon, baby bibs and diaper bags!  Amazing!

Terracycle <http://terracycle.net> , an upstart up-cycling company that turns packaging material into affordable and high quality items, has teamed up with Malt-O-Meal <http://www.malt-o-meal.com/index_en.php> , the largest family owned cereal company in the U.S. By recycling Malt-O-Meal brand cereal bags through Terracycle's Recycling Brigades <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades> , consumers have the opportunity to create zero (cereal packaging) waste. The Recycling Brigades provide charitable organizations, including schools, an opportunity to help reduce our impact on the environment while earning some extra cash for the charity in exchange for the effort.

Recycling company TerraCycle is making it easy for Americans to start trash cleanup projects. Simply sign up at terracycle.net <http://www.terracycle.net/>  to have collection bags with prepaid return shipping labels mailed to your home or business. Fill them with chip bags, cookie <http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/terracycle_trash_recycle/green_living/191#>  wrappers, drink pouches, and other food-packaging waste and send them back to TerraCycle; the trash will then be “upcycled” into tote bags and pencil cases (you can buy these accessories at Target stores or target.com <http://www.target.com/> ). Thanks to partnerships with food <http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/terracycle_trash_recycle/green_living/191#>  giants like Frito-Lay, Mars, and Nabisco, plus well-known natural brands such as Kashi, Clif Bar, Honest Kids, and Bear Naked, TerraCycle will donate $.02 for every wrapper you collect to the charity of your choice. At the end of last year, volunteers had raised more than $100,000 for public school organizations and groups like the Arbor Day Foundation.