The Bedford County school’s program, done in conjunction with TerraCycle, promotes recycling items not typically thought of as recyclables: drink pouches, chip bags, used writing instruments and Elmer’s glue containers. Recycling can be gross. Imagine encountering tobacco juice spat into an empty soda can. Nasty. Fifth-graders Chris Akers, 11, and Jason Williams, 10, scrunch their noses at the recollection. Imagine the aroma of a gallon jug bearing a crusty milk residue that's traveled well past sour. Phew. Fifth-graders Hannah Nichols, 10, and Hannah Wood, 11, said students have learned to leave all the milk jugs capped. And it turns out that mostly empty yogurt cups and drink pouches draw pesky swarms of fruit flies. Bring 'em on. None of it matters much to the recycling brigades at Huddleston Elementary School in Bedford County who don disposable vinyl gloves and brave these conditions to participate in the school's comprehensive and moneymaking recycling program. Working with a New Jersey-based company called TerraCycle, the students recycle many items not typically collected. Such as potato chip bags, glue sticks, baggies, cookie packages, drink pouches, candy wrappers, even writing utensils. And more. The K-5 school began its collaboration with TerraCycle in October 2010. Since then, students at Huddleston Elementary — all 214 are invited to participate in one way or another — have kept an estimated 65,000 items out of landfills and earned nearly $1,300 for the school's PTA account. "Anybody can help," said Amy Mallow, a teacher of fourth and fifth grade history and reading who coordinates the school's TerraCycle program. "Usually, I'm flooded with kids who want to help. They are quick to volunteer." For one thing, volunteering can get them out of class for a little while. But more altruistic motives play a role too. "It helps out the community," Nichols said. "It helps the Earth and keeps it from being polluted." TerraCycle transforms the collected packaging into new products such as tote bags, recycling bins, watering cans and backpacks. Lauren Taylor, a spokeswoman for the company, said Huddleston Elementary is one of the top collectors in the company's nationwide programs. That money has helped buy school supplies, contributed toward a fundraising Valentine's Ball, funded a family fitness night and allowed a theater group to visit the school to perform a program about Martin Luther King Jr. "Our recycling efforts at Huddleston Elementary School have exceeded our expectations," said Principal Aprille Monroe. "Our students actively help save space in landfills, energy consumption and natural resources," Monroe said. "Teachers have the added benefit of offering hands-on lessons so students understand why we recycle. Recycling has become a way of life at Huddleston and students are taking the message home to their families." Parent volunteers help collect items to bring to school and the students sort materials consumed at school. The custodians participate, too, by keeping an eye on kids headed toward garbage cans with a potentially recyclable item. "The janitors will catch you if you try to sneak it into the trash," Wood said, smiling. For more information about TerraCycle, go to www.terracycle.net.