A program that turns kids' trash into school cash helped send Truman Benedict Elementary School students to camp last month. Now they're back and showing off their own trash creations. Fifth-graders at the San Clemente school boxed up Capri Sun juice pouches and chip bags earlier this year and sent them to a New Jersey company called Terracycle, which "upcycles" <http://www.ocregister.com/articles/school-240299-schools-recycling.html> trash into backpacks, kites and other products sold at stores such as Wal-Mart. In exchange, the school got $30 per student to go to a science camp and 2 cents for each piece of trash collected. (Click the "Graphics" tab above to see how the process works.)

TerraCycle’s business model  follows the age-old refrain: one person’s trash is another’s treasure.  The company has collected millions of used bottles, cereal boxes and  packages, and has converted these materials into shopping bags,  backpacks, watches, and pencil pouches. In all, TerraCycle offers more  than 150 products to consumers via large retailers like Target,  Wal-Mart, OfficeMax, Whole Foods, and The Home Depot. In 2009, the  company reported $7.6 million in revenue and its projection for 2010 is  double that. Its number of employees also increased to 75 in 2009 from  50 in 2008.

A program that turns kids' trash into school cash helped send Truman Benedict Elementary School students to camp last month. Now they're back and showing off their own trash creations. Fifth-graders at the San Clemente school boxed up Capri Sun juice pouches and chip bags earlier this year and sent them to a New Jersey company called Terracycle, which "upcycles" trash into backpacks, kites and other products sold at stores such as Wal-Mart. In exchange, the school got $30 per student to go to a science camp and 2 cents for each piece of trash collected. (Click the "Graphics" tab above to see how the process works.)  The students attended the May 24-27 camp in Running Springs, Calif., and learned how to make their own upcycled products. Students had to create projects using five different kinds of trash.

As many great companies do, this one started in a dorm room. Yet the light-bulb idea that emerged from these tight living quarters was... collecting trash? TerraCycle, founded by Tom Szaky, is a company that "upcycles" waste into affordable, eco-friendly products ranging from worm-waste fertilizer to messenger bags and school supplies. A company that has mobilized over 10 million people to collect trash, diverted over 1.9 billion units of waste from landfills, boasted a revenue of $7.5 million, and donated $1 billion to schools and nonprofits, TerraCycle’s road to success was a result of hard work, persistence, and the courage to take risks. A college drop-out with nothing but a firm belief in his vision, Szaky recalls, "In those early days, no one returned my phone calls. I would literally be laughed at when I tried to call retailers to sell them my fertilizer." But today, nothing is impossible. Szaky resolves, "I hope in five years from now there will be a TerraCycle upcycling bin in every school, church, and retail location in America!"

Congrats to Clif Bar and Odwalla Bar for coming up with a great solution to the problem of non-recyclable energy bar wrappers. There is now an alternative to “throwing away” these wrappers and contributing waste to our landfills: Sign up here and TerraCycle will ship a couple of postage-paid envelopes to your door. All you have to do is fill them and pop them in the mailbox. To sweeten the deal, 2 cents will be donated to the non-prof or charity of your choice.

A program that turns kids' trash into school cash helped send Truman Benedict Elementary School students to camp last month. Now they're back and showing off their own trash creations. Fifth-graders at the San Clemente school boxed up Capri Sun juice pouches and chip bags earlier this year and sent them to a New Jersey company called TerraCycle, which "upcycles" trash into backpacks, kites and other products sold at stores such as Wal-Mart. In exchange, the school got $30 per student to go to a science camp and 2 cents for each piece of trash collected. (Click the "Graphics" tab above to see how the process works.)

If you think you've reduced your carbon footprint all you can, think again. By looking at the problem of landfills from two sides – not putting stuff in them and taking stuff out of them – a company founded in 2001 by then 19-year-old Tom Szaky has gone well beyond the blue recycling bins we all know and use (don't we?) to upcycling, the reuse of trash. It all started with worms and a Princeton Business Plan contest. Now his company, Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  boasts that it has collected almost 2 billion units of waste and manufactures 178 products using recycled bits and pieces. He has engaged children and nonprofits in collecting everything from candy wrappers to Huggies, and paid them almost $1 million for doing so. Back to the worms: While looking for an idea to enter into the business plan contest, Szaky was introduced to composting worms: They eat garbage and expel very rich fertilizer. That became his business plan: an organic fertilizer company. But in the course of years, it morphed into an overall "garbage in, good stuff out" plan. The company began to make things out of candy wrappers and e-waste, things like waste baskets, picture frames, toys, and tote bags.

As many great companies do, this one started in a dorm room. Tom Szaky, now at the ripe old age of 27, is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  and was named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. magazine in 2009. The idea of upcycling wasn't trendy at the time, and the first few years at Terracycle were rocky. Hurdles involved near bankruptcy and the hard choice of turning down a $1 million grant because the investor's principles were not in line with Szaky's idea of a truly sustainable company — now that's a man with faith in his idea! TerraCycle upcycles the collected "waste" material into affordable, eco-friendly products. Since 2007, over 60,000 locations and 7 million people are helping to collect, instead of discard, their trash. Over 1 billion pieces of pre- and post-consumer packaging have been collected and over 250,000 dollars has been donated to schools and nonprofits.

Desde casa también se puede reducir el impacto a la naturaleza. Terracycle y Kraft Foods México impulsan el primer programa de reutilización de empaques en el país. En Tamaulipas hay dos equipos realizando labores de recolección de sobres de Tang en Matamoros desde marzo y en Madero desde abril.

If you don't have a need for bottled urine, perhaps you'd like to purchase some worm poop? According to TerraCycle Inc. <http://www.terracycle.net/products/43-Lawn-Fertilizer> , worm poop is an ideal, natural fertilizer. That is why they package the naturally occurring waste in used 20-ounce soda bottles and sell it for $7.99 (prices may vary). Proving where there's worm waste and soda drinkers, there's money to be made.