Maraetai Beach School has won a park bench made out of actual recycled oral care waste, as part of the 2016 Colgate Community Recycle Drive. From June to August last year, Colgate and global recycling and upcycling pioneers, TerraCycle, created the Community Recycle Drive to encourage New Zealand residents to recycle their used oral care items and raise funds for a local school, preschool, sporting club or community group. The Drive was part of the Oral Care Recycling Programme launched by Colgate and TerraCycle in October 2014, an initiative Maraetai Beach School is an active collector. Maraetai Beach School was one of the top six collectors in the Drive, collecting oral care waste such as toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and mouthwash bottles. As part of their prize, the students were able to design their own park bench made of oral care waste. It is all part of the school's recyclign philosophy. Students are encouraged to recycle and look after the environment with initiatives such as beach clean-ups and tree-planting. The school curriculum integrates education on the local environment, and not only encourages respect for it, but also promote concepts such as sustainability and conservation. TerraCycle collects used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, dental floss containers and their affiliated non-recyclable packaging sent in from the Oral Care Recycling Programme. The products will then be recycled and can be turned into sustainable products such as park benches, watering cans and even playgrounds. This programme accepts any brand of used non-electric toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, plastic toothbrush packaging, interdental brushes, wisps, pumps, stand up toothpaste bottles and all affiliated non-recyclable packaging. These items are typically not recyclable in council and municipal recycling programmes. By collecting these products and sending them to TerraCycle, collectors can also raise $0.02 per point collected which can be donated to their chosen school, charity or not-for-profit. Information about Oral Care Recycling programme: www.terracycle.co.nz/en-NZ/brigades/bsbf-schools With the recycled park bench are (from left) Maraetai Beach School students Meg McKenzie, Anya Worthington and Kyah Pratt.