Candy bars, of all things, could help stop hunger through Feeding America and the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State this 2012-13 play season. The CPA is involved in a program called “Candy Wrapper Brigade,” which is done through TerraCycle –– a company that creates national recycling programs. Lauren Taylor, a spokeswoman for TerraCycle, said anybody can sign up to be involved and wrappers can be collected in any way. Shannon Bishop, the downtown ticket manager for the Center for the Performing Arts said for every wrapper the CPA collects, it gets two points. The points can be redeemed on the TerraCycle website and can be used to “essentially buy things.” The CPA participated in this fundraiser last season and had “enough points to buy clean water for people in developing nations,” Bishop said. This year, TerraCycle is partnered with Feeding America, Bishop said, and the CPA aims to provide meals to malnourished children. The process, she said, is very simple. TerraCycle sends already marked postage and the CPA sends in the wrappers. “TerraCycle works with companies that recycle or upcycle the wrappers,” Bishop said. “They aim to collect items that typically aren’t recycled.” Once wrappers are collected and sent back to TerraCycle, they are shredded, melted and turned into plastic, to eventually be turned into another product, Taylor said. The CPA endorsed the fundraiser pertaining to candy wrappers because candy bars are sold at concessions at the theater and it was an item the CPA felt people would have a lot of, Bishop said. “We wanted to keep the wrappers out of our trash and out of landfills,” she said. This year the CPA’s goal is to collect 5,000 candy wrappers. “Last year our goal was to collect 600 wrappers, we ended up collecting 6,000,” Bishop said. “We appreciate that the [CPA] staff is raising awareness about recycling candy wrappers along with other products and packaging that would normally get sent to the local landfill, and feeding hungry people at the same time,” Taylor said. For those interested, there are two locations to drop off wrappers, Bishop said. The first is at the Eisenhower Auditorium. Bishop said there is a can right inside the front door in the vestibule near the brochure rack. Students can drop their wrappers off during normal business hours or during a performance. The other location is at the ticket window of the Penn State Downtown Theater Center, 146 S. Allen St., Bishop said. “I like to encourage students that they can send wrappers through the inner-office mail, too,” she said. “We’re planning to do it through the 2012-13 season, and hope to continue as long as TerraCycle is in business,” Bishop said. The Office of Sustainability at Penn State has a five-level program that gives a list of things to do campus-wide that are practical and promote sustainability, Bishop said. She said that the “Candy Wrapper Brigade” is more specific to the CPA. According to the Green.PSU website, “Penn State has been a leader in many aspects of sustainability education and operations.” “The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State is doing an incredible job of helping the planet and other people,” Taylor said