Teachers and students at Purvis Lower Elementary School used to see a lot of juice drink pouches get thrown away. But in little more than a year, the school has recycled almost 38,000 drink pouches. It has become part of a nationwide effort that has just reached an impressive milestone of keeping 50 million pouches out of landfills. That's enough pouches to cover 480 football fields.

UTSA community members now can add Mars candy wrappers and Frito Lay chip bags to the list of materials that can be recycled on campus.  As part of its Green Thread sustainability program, ARAMARK Higher Education <http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSSW/UTSA/Sustainability/>  has partnered with TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net> , a New Jersey-based company, to 'upcycle' the packaging of these popular snack brands.

Machado Elementary in Lake Elsinore is hoping to turn those staples of schoolyard lunch bags into cash through TerraCycle, a firm that transforms the discarded items into eco-friendly products such as pencil pouches, book bags and insulated coolers.

Terracycle Speakers: these M&M speakers done by Terracycle are made with recycled M&M boxes, in fact everything Terracycle makes were previously trash, which in the green world, we call this process upcycling. They also donate a small percentage of each trash a school or an individual sends them and so far have donated over $1.5M. You can also find other cool gift ideas such as a circuit board desk clock, a bike chain frame or an Oreo wrapper kite.

Bain Elementary School has earned $999.14 by collecting and donating 49,957 Capri Sun pouches through TerraCycle, a free nationwide program that pays schools and nonprofits to collect nonrecyclable waste that would otherwise go to a landfill. The school earns two cents for every pouch they send. TerraCycle and Capri Sun are recognizing Bain Elementary as one of the Top 100 collectors nationwide. Interested organizations can learn more at www.terracycle.net.

Norwell: Members of the Norwell Cub Scouts 66 use to see a lot of Capri Sun drink pouches get thrown away. Once they signed up to recycle them through a company called TerraCycle, the school began earning 2 cents for every one of the pouches and became part of a nationwide effort that has just reached a milestone of keeping 50 million pouches out of landfills.

In some WalMart parking lots in the state of New Jersey, you can do just that. Walmart has placed TerraCycle recycling centers in some of its parking lots, and at these centers, when you insert your trash, TerraCycle donates money to New Jersey schools.

For the Earth loving person on your gift giving list, consider a couple of gifts from Terracycle. I personally think that Terracycle is just a wonderfully brilliant company, who produces beautiful items from recycled trash. I myself own one of their tote bags and a few of their pencil cases. They are made ridiculously well and are always a conversation starter.

Five bins and food tumbler keep waste, packages out of landfill.

A few times per month, a separate set of students get together to count the plastic bags and juice containers that students drop off at the end of lunch. The school sends the waste materials to TerraCycle, a New Jersey company that fashions a range of products — including toys, backpacks and pet products — from the waste it receives as part of the company’s Upcycling program. “It saves the trash from going to the landfill,” said 10-year-old Vincent Scott. When students have collected 500 juice pouches, cleaned them and packed them, the school mails them to TerraCycle. The schools gets 2 cents apiece in return, and TerraCycle pays the postage.

BAINBRIDGE -- Teachers and students at Bainbridge Elementary used to see a lot of used Capri Sun drink pouches get thrown away. Once they signed up to send them to a company called TerraCycle, the school began earning two cents for every one of those pouches and became part of a nationwide effort that has just reached a milestone of keeping 50 million pouches out of landfills.