In 2008, one Upper Blue Elementary fourth-grader figured out how to divert juice pouches from the landfill and turn them into useful and innovative creations like bags and purses. Now, Samantha Buer's project continues, and it's not only pulling waste from the landfill, it's raising money to provide clean water for three people for one year, meals for hungry Americans, carbon credits to reduce carbon from the atmosphere, adoptions of 37 acres of wildfire land, and chicks for needy families. They also donated money to the Red Cross, Oxfam America, Save the Children, Doctors without Borders and AmeriCares. Buer's “Juice Pouch Brigade,” created through TerraCycle, creates an avenue through which Upper Blue's Kids in Action students have collected more than 7,225 juice bags from Capri Sun, Honest Kids, Kool Aid and other brands since 2008. Terracyle is an organization whose goal is to eliminate waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that gets sent to the landfill.

There are many companies out there that do really cool things to help recycle. One of my favorites is Terracycle. You can mail in your items such as caparison pouches or candy wrappers and they will make really neat items for instance lunch bags and pencil cases!  I love that Terracycle makes recycling fun for the kids. They are here to help our environment and make the kids look "cool" while doing it!