MATTHEWS – Bain Elementary School students have been earning money and prizes for their school by collecting drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. Bain Elementary students have just reached the second level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches, earning the school more than $5,000 in the process. The waste is sent to TerraCycle, which recycles or upcycles it instead of it all going to a landfill, and the company rewards schools and other waste donors for their efforts. Carrie Vizzini, an art teacher and the recycling coordinator at Bain Elementary, noticed all the waste generated in the school’s cafeteria in 2009 and knew she had to do something. After going to the school’s principal, Vizzini headed the TerraCycle team at Bain and started collecting drink pouches in the lunchroom as part of the Drink Pouch Brigade at TerraCycle. “Once we got the program going and taught the kids what they’re throwing away” the effort took off, Vizzini said. John LeGrand, who recently left Bain to become principal at Butler High School, said the program is the result of a decided effort from Bain educators to teach the importance of being green. The school plans to use funds received from TerraCycle to buy recycling-related items to help continue “to enhance and bolster our recycling efforts,” LeGrand added. “We made a decision a couple years ago to really teach our students environmental stewardship,” he said. “We sought out programs that would follow that.” Vizzini also created a Green Team at Bain, which has two representatives from each class who help carry out recycling efforts. “It gave them more of a leadership and ownership role,” Vizzini said. The students would collect all the TerraCycle items from their lunch tables and classrooms to be sent to TerraCycle. Along with juice pouches, the school collects Elmer’s glue sticks and containers and granola bars. All the items are upcycled at TerraCycle. The team also coordinated the activities for the school’s celebration of Earth Day, where two first-graders coordinated an initiative with LeGrand for each student to pick up three pieces of trash at recess. Vizzini said it was rewarding to see the students get involved, while it’s also rewarding for the students, as they learn to think about what they’re throwing away and have taken that lesson home to their families. Although Vizzini has headed Bain’s recycling efforts since September 2009, TerraCycle’s Milestone Program began in September 2013 when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts. In addition to the money they earn for each piece of waste collected, participants can win prizes made from recycled drink pouches, such as park benches, recycling bins, a playground and other fun rewards. “The Milestone Program is meant to inspire individuals and organizations to collect more waste while receiving prizes for their achievements,” Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, said in a news release. “It is rewarding to see the students and administration get so involved in making this work.  It’s an incredible achievement to have kept so many pouches out of the waste stream.” The school earned an official TerraCycle collection bin and 10 8.5-by-11-inch Drink Pouch Brigade stickers after reaching the 18,000 milestone. But Vizzini now has her sights set on the next milestone: 40,000. The school is already up to more than 30,000 drink pouches. The achievement will earn the school 50 TerraCycle wristbands, a vinyl banner, an official Certificate of Achievement and a storage bin. Bain has been considered a model school for environmentalism, according to Carton Council, a group of carton manufacturers that focus on diminishing waste. The council recognized Bain for their collection of milk cartons in the 2011-12 school year. Since Bain took on a recycling initiative, teachers have taken on environmental stewardship. Janet Barnhardt, Bain kindergarten teacher and chairperson of Bain’s Environmental Leadership Team, which is a group of teachers from each grade, said the faculty focuses on energy awareness, air quality, and – the biggest component – recycling. Barnhardt said the team’s challenge for this year was to educate students to take recycling efforts to their homes, and teachers gave students visual aids to track waste and recyclables. “We were able to add the curriculum into the recycling process … and instill in the students a sense of responsibility for their environment,” Barnhardt said. Although most of the juice pouches or other items came from the school cafeteria, Vizzini hopes to encourage families and businesses to contribute to Bain’s recycling efforts. She said she has received contributions from some businesses, such as Sunny Days Afterschool in Mint Hill. “We’re trying to find a place for (the recycling initiative) to grow outside of Bain, and make it a community thing,” Vizzini said. Nevertheless, Vizzini is assured Bain will continue to recycle. “It’s become a habit now – everyone pitches in.”