Students reap rewards of 'upcycling'
capri-sun school TerraCycle Include USA
A program that turns kids' trash into school cash helped send Truman Benedict Elementary School students to camp last month. Now they're back and showing off their own trash creations.
Fifth-graders at the San Clemente school boxed up Capri Sun juice pouches and chip bags earlier this year and sent them to a New Jersey company called TerraCycle, which "upcycles" trash into backpacks, kites and other products sold at stores such as Wal-Mart. In exchange, the school got $30 per student to go to a science camp and 2 cents for each piece of trash collected. (Click the "Graphics" tab above to see how the process works.)