Goodfellow Public School students are learning it pays to recycle. Literally. Three years ago, the school started an intricate recycling program through TerraCycle, which pays two cents for every plastic lunch snack container collected. The students must separate the cardboard from the plastic, and also recycle cereal bags and squeeze snack containers for products like applesauce. Now the school is in the running to win $3,200 through TerraCycle’s inaugural Collection Craze recycling contest. “We started the recycling club three years ago,” Grade 3 French Immersion teacher Alexandra Brand said. “All ages are in the club, but my students run it.”TerraCycle recycles and upcycles waste instead of incinerating or landfilling it. An example is purses made out of drinking box containers. The students give strict instructions to other classrooms for sorting the waste, which doesn’t go into the regular blue bins. “I really like doing the TerraCycle program. We go in front of other classes and tell them to put the cap onto their squeeze containers,” student Sam Takacs said. “Even the Grade 8s.” Charlie Matheson said if students forget to put the lid back on, fruit flies can gather. She also doesn't like it when people don't rinse their Schneider's Lunch Mate containers, leaving cheese or sauce behind. While it can be a smelly job, she enjoys the work. "I like doing TerraCycle because I'm helping to make the world a better place and raising money for the school," Donnell Richards said. In the three years of the program, the club has raised $456.18 from recycling. The club has donated $200 to Books with No Bounds, a charitable organization created by a 13-year-old Oakville girl to provide resources to First Nations communities. “The club decides where the money goes,” Brand said. “In social studies, we learned about early Canadian history, which is where the First Nations idea came from.” The rest of the money reimbursed goes to Goodfellow Public School, and the club can earmark where it's spent. The school has until May 31 to collect containers and public votes for the Collection Craze contest. Votes can be logged from the public at the TerraCycle website.