For local students, collecting cans and bottles is more than a lesson about recycling, it’s about giving back to their school and community while helping the environment. Students at Poston Road and Paragon elementary schools have been hard at work collecting cans, bottles and other recyclables as part of a project for their high achievement class. The Poston Road program, a collaborative effort between students and recycling organizations TerraCycle and the Dream Machine Recycle Rally, combines the best of both worlds: Helping the environment while working toward the purchase of school equipment, program sponsor Donna Lehmann said. “Our high ability students are the ones really getting it up and going,” Lehmann said. “One of our students, Asher (Markita) and I were the only ones scanning the cans and bottles to start.” The program began with TerraCycle, a recycling company based in New Jersey, which allowed the students to collect normally non-recyclable trash such as Caprisun juice pouches, lunchables and chip bags, and ship them to TerraCycle for free and earn money for the school.