Two women help turn trash into treasure for Gulfside Elementary School
TerraCycle sun chips Colgate Chips Ahoy Frito Lay Include USA nabisco
From there it goes to Burton's garage in Holiday, where it's sorted and shipped to various recycling programs sponsored by Coca-Cola Recycling Program, Pepsi and Waste Management, and their latest venture with a company called Terracycle.
For the green at heart, there's a bounty of items that aren't on the typical recycle list that Terracycle will take and turn into something else — candy wrappers, yogurt cups, empty tape dispensers, glue bottles and the plastic store wrapping on paper towels and toilet paper. Done with that grated cheese? They'll take the wrapper. Empty tube of toothpaste? That, too, along with your old toothbrush.
"It's all stuff the county won't pick up; stuff you can't recycle in your blue bags," said Rash, who discovered the program while surfing the Internet. "And we get money for it. Two cents for a candy wrapper and 2 cents for the drink pouches."
That might seem like small change, but it adds up — $634 so far this year funneled into the school's ABC program to help needy students or to buy classroom supplies.