*How great that the top 3 schools in VA that collected the most waste with this program are from the area!  What a great way to pay it forward :) Top 3 Schools in Virginia (based on amount collected this past school year): Cedar Forest Elementary School in Fredericksburg – 42,685 pieces of waste diverted and $853 earned Signal Hill Elementary School in Manassas – 37,566 pieces of waste diverted and $752 earned St. Leo the Great School in Fairfax – 25,581 pieces of waste diverted and $512 earned Terracycle <http://www.myatlantamommy.com/2009/12/terracycle.html>  is a fantastic organization which takes used wrappers and turns them into some super cool stuff! They are always coming up with fun and cool ways to recycle, but they also have come up with a way (actually 6 ways) Moms can go green, reduce waste at home, AND raise money for their kids school and/or favourite charity.

Around here we are doing our best to minimize waste, buying things with less packaging, using more cloths than paper towels to clean up, and frankly, eating the kind of food that doesn’t come wrapped in plastic (amen?) but there will always be left overs. The food we feed OBaby’s when we’re traveling comes in pouches. Yes for heaven’s sake we eat chips from time to time. And cereal. But TerraCycle came up with innovative and adorable ways to reuse whatought to be waste. I absolutely love this idea. TerraCycle diverts packaging waste from landfills and helps raise consumer awareness about reducing, reusing and recycling.  By encouraging people to rethink ‘what is waste,’ TerraCycle is making it simple for consumers to have a positive impact on the environment. YOU can actually be on the recycling end of the equation by sending them your used packaging, including empty baby food pouches to be upcycled into baby-related items such as diaper wallets, bibs, backpacks and totes. Neat, huh? Participation is free and all shipping costs are paid.

Greek to English translation Interview with Tom Szaky: The King of Rubbish Five years ago, Tom Zaki started a small company, Terra Cycle, in order to help the environment, society and the pocket. Today is a 28chronos millionaire and leader in the recycling of garbage.

SHREWSBURY – In May 2010 a bunch of kids started collecting empty juice pouches and snack bags in an effort to clean up the planet while raising $$ for Shrewsbury public schools.  With the help of Floral Street School and an eco-friendly company called The Dumpster Divers, they have collected over 2000 pieces of trash in just over 2 months time!  This non-recyclable waste will be sent in to another eco-friendly company called Terracycle.  They collect all types of trash and reuse it to make new creative products to resell in major stores across the country.  For every piece of trash sent in to Terracycle, 2 cents is donated to the collectors specified school or charity.   Already, these ambitious kids have raised approximately $50 for Floral Street School.  Imagine how much trash we can keep out of our landfills and how much $$ can be raised for local schools and charities if this program spreads throughout Central MA.

Pat Reynolds takes a look at how Nabisco moved from traditional bag-in-box packaging to flexible film packaging with a Terracycle twist when it introduced Wheat Thins and Ritz brands in a toasted chips format.

Aveeno Sun Care, a nationwide manufacturer of beauty products, is partnering with a New Jersey company that recycles discarded and used beauty products, and both are going to work in Sherwood from July 15-16 in an attempt to raise public awareness about skin care safety and to raise money to fight skin cancer. Sara Koncius, a spokeswoman for the recycling company TerraCycle Inc., Trenton, N.J., said her company is working with Aveeno to hold a educational workshop at Gander Mountain, 5450 Landers Road, Sherwood.

Benjamin Banneker Elementary School students earned two cents for each juice drink pouch they collected and returned to a company called TerraCycle, which makes products from packaging waste. Last school year, the students collected nearly 3,700 pouches, and the money raised will help teachers purchase instructional materials. More than 70,000 schools and community groups around the country have signed up to help collect more than 100 million used pieces of packaging. The participating organizations collectively earned more than $2 million this year. Interested organizations can learn more at www.terracycle.net.

TerraCycle Makes Strides with Brigades Most outdoor enthusiasts enjoy energy bars, granola, or trail mix before, during and after they hit the trails, streams and lakes. They already stash the leftover wrappers in pockets and backpacks to properly discard the used packaging when they return home. Now some of the industry's most trusted names, CLIF BAR, Kashi, Bear Naked and Odwalla, are rewarding people's efforts by creating a program that turns those wrappers and bags into eco-friendly products, while earning money for local charities. The four leading brands sponsor TerraCycle "Brigades" or free collection programs that contribute two cents to a school or charity for every energy bar wrapper, granola bag, or Kashi packaging returned. In under a year, the programs have helped keep over a million and a half wrappers out of landfills -- TerraCycle collects the used packaging and other hard to recycle material and turns it into new products ranging from shower curtains to backpacks.

TerraCycle began in a Princeton University dorm room in 2001 and has grown into a large business that repurposes nonrecyclable material like candy wrappers into items such as bags, decorations and toys. The company collects the items for free so that instead of watching them go into the trash can, they can be molded into a Skittles insulated cooler, a pencil made from newspapers or, ironically, a recycled plastic trash can. Vice President of Media Relations Albe Zakes says the company focuses on hiring smart, capable people who can learn about green practices, rather than searching out idealists who need to learn real-world skills. “It’s better to find smart, experienced, talented people to help the company succeed than it is to find people who follow the company’s goals,” he says. “We don’t necessarily look for someone who has to drive a hybrid, and compost their own waste.” Having a familiarity with the relevant issues gives candidates a leg up. “I love people that come from a nonprofit or socially friendly background because it means they’ll know how to talk the talk when it comes to green and social issues.” Mr. Zakes got involved in the company after applying for, and not getting, a full-time position. He says he convinced his now-boss to give him a summer internship as a tryout. Now, TerraCycle has upward of 30 interns.

  St. Mary’s Episcopal School is collecting empty tubes of beauty products Friday at the Rite Aid on Union Avenue and Saturday at the Rite Aid in Cordova on Germantown Parkway. The recycling effort will help Saint Mary’s raise funds for its needs and also help The Skin Care Foundation. The event is done in partnership with Aveeno and TerraCycle.