Holt Elementary School is one of the only schools in the Eugene School District that participates in a program put on by Terra Cycle, a New Jersey based company that turns previously non-recyclable items such as chip bags, candy wrappers, juice pouches and yogurt containers into new products that range from park benches to backpacks to pencil cases, all thanks to Chastain. “I’ve been recycling for almost 40 years, because I feel that it is something I can do to help save the environment,” say Chastain. “It just seemed like a wise thing for me to do.” This program first caught Chastain’s eye in 2009 when she read a label on her son’s juice pouch box saying, “Earn money for your school.” After that, she started having the children in her son’s class collect juice pouches and she would then personally wash them and send them into Terra Cycle. Terra Cycle, which was started back 2001, has grown tremendously as a company and in 2012 it celebrated its 9th straight year of growing revenue.  The company recently expanded and created a system where schools can send in recycled items that can then be redeemed for points that benefit different charities that provide clean drinking water in Africa, meals to homeless Americans, or school supplies to homeless students.

FORT FISHER, N.C. — Bags full of candy on Halloween typically means trash bags full of wrappers the day after, but the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher is trying to help cut down on the waste. The aquarium is partnering with Terracycle, a company that creates products from hard to recycle waste like candy wrappers. Organizers say it is a simple way to teach kids about conservation. "Because candy wrappers are lightweight they can travel far distances and they have long life spans in landfills so what we would like for them to take away from this is that they can make an impact on their environment," said NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher registrar Casey Davis. The aquarium will accept wrappers from everyone, but they are also offering a special incentive for school students. The classroom with the highest total amount of wrappers turned in will receive a free outreach program for 30 students from the aquarium. The aquarium is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Hayhurst Elementary in Southwest Portland has gone from using seven 30-gallon bags of waste each lunch period to just half a bag. What’s the school’s secret?   Hayhurst PTA sustainability chairwoman Kendall KIC, (who legally changed her name to all caps), says that back in November of 2009 she discovered a program online called TerraCycle and has since kept 9,000 juice pouches out of the trash.   Capri Sun and other juice pouches had been among a slew of items difficult for schools to recycle, so kids ended up just throwing them in the garbage. But TerraCycle provides Hayhurst’s sustainability “brigade” with prepaid labels to ship out hard-to-recycle items, such as drink pouches, candy wrappers, chip bags and flip-flops.   The New Jersey-based company makes money from recycling the products and shares its earnings by granting points for the brigade to earn cash for the school or a favorite charity.   “Over time, it’s slowly building so people realize that we’re doing this,” KIC says. “My goal is at least 5,000 juice pouches collected during this upcoming school year.”   She keeps them packed in a yard-debris bag in her garage, but recently a school custodian allowed her space in the Hayhurst boiler room, where the juice pouches can dry. Some money comes back to the PTA for funding school activities, but that’s not the emphasis for organizers.   “About $200 a school year is not really what it’s about for us; it’s more about the sustainability piece,” KIC says.   Apparently, the secret is getting out, as this will also be the third year of a TerraCycle program at Sojourner School in Milwaukie. “Sojo” is an alternative magnet school and, at about 186 students, the smallest elementary in North Clackamas School District. Known for a high number of volunteer hours parents put in, it turned out to be a perfect early adopter of a TerraCycle program.   Starting with juice pouches in the first year, the Sojo program added toothpaste tubes, flip-flops, glue sticks and tape rings last year. TerraCycle program coordinator and former PTA Vice President Polly Lugosi says the brigades have extended their reach to neighbors not usually involved with the school. They’ve taken to collecting from soccer games.   “I find that people don’t throw them away even when they’re not at school,” Lugosi says.   At a holiday assembly this year, Lugosi says students will get a chance to vote on charities to donate about $100 collected from the program.   TerraCycle spokeswoman Lauren Taylor says a lot of people find out about the programs through the packaging, such as by seeing the labels on Capri Sun juice boxes, and then they go to the website. “It’s very easy for people to sign up based on the waste stream they’re looking to collect,” Taylor says.   Nationally, TerraCycle says its programs have raised $4.5 million for charity, thanks to nearly 31 million people collecting trash.   All schools are eligible, Taylor says. A tax ID number is necessary so the money can go to charity. The revenue from recycling can go to any charity — even the National Rifle Association (we asked).   The growing list of Portland-area schools getting involved includes Menlo Park Elementary School, David Douglas Arthur Academy, Faithful Savior Ministries, Earl Boyles Elementary, Mount Scott Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, John Wetten Elementary, Chief Joseph Elementary, Sauvie Island Academy, John Jacob Astor Elementary, Markham Elementary, Laurelhurst Elementary, Parklane Elementary, Lynch Meadows Elementary and Creative Science School.

Another Successful Terracycle shipment from the HUB!  This shipment tacked up another 4670 points in Terracycle points.  There were 316 Candy wrappers, 1208 Chip bags, 1420 Energy bar wrappers and 101 yogurt cups mailed!  This was just the summer collection.   Keep up the collection efforts!  These points will benefit THON and the Educational Equity Scholarship Fund (yogurt cups).   Thanks to all who participate.nother Successful Terracycle shipment from the HUB!  This shipment tacked up another 4670 points in Terracycle points.  There were 316 Candy wrappers, 1208 Chip bags, 1420 Energy bar wrappers and 101 yogurt cups mailed!  This was just the summer collection.   Keep up the collection efforts!  These points will benefit THON and the Educational Equity Scholarship Fund (yogurt cups).   Thanks to all who participate.

When the glue sticks lose their sticky, the markers dry up and the tape is tapped out, we usually throw them out. In the course of the school year, that can add up to a lot of classroom waste. But what if those small, leftover parts could find a new life outside of the landfill?

TerraCycle has the answer: upcycling, or converting waste products that would not normally be recycled into useful items.

The Trenton, N.J.-based company has long teamed up with area school and civic groups to collect landfill-bound trash like juice pouches and candy wrappers and turn them into useful products, including back-to-school gear like totes, pencil cases and lunch bags.

The list of participating Capital District schools continues to grow and includes Shaker Road Elementary, Eagle Point Elementary, Bethlehem Central Middle School, Lynwood Elementary in Guilderland, North Colonie Central Schools, Bradt Primary School in Schenectady and Stevens Elementary in Ballston Lake.

The company relies on participants to help spread the upcycling message.

“(Schools find out by) reading about us … and word of mouth,” said PR Director Lauren Taylor,

Over the years, TerraCycle has added to the list of things collected for upcycling, which now includes glue stick containers and old computer mice.

Following the collection, scientists analyze what the packaging is made from. “From there, we can see where it has value,” said Taylor.

This year, the schools involved with TerraCycle will be participating in the second “Box that Rocks” contest. In this contest, participants try to produce the most creative collection bin for TerraCycle Brigade items. The winning team can earn extra money and TerraCycle prizes.

“Some locations have fun with collection boxes,” said Taylor.

Students send their used supplies to TerraCycle, Inc. instead of to landfills. TerraCycle uses the items to create trash cans, watering cans, park benches, playgrounds, and other products that are sold at stores like Walmart and Whole Foods Market. In turn, every object students collect earns points toward a donation to the school or a charity. Nearby TerraCycle participants include Blair Mill Elementary School, Pennypack Elementary School, and Upper Moreland Intermediate School in Hatboro; Enfield Elementary School in Oreland; Epiphany of Our Lord School in Plymouth Meeting; and Robbins Park Environmental Education Center, Mattison Avenue Elementary School, Shady Grove Elementary School, and Lower Gwynedd Elementary School in Ambler. Art teacher Mary Arbuckle is the coordinator for Blair Mill and Pennypack. “I…thought it would [be] great to encourage all of my students to start collecting juice pouches to send to [TerraCycle],” Arbuckle explains via email. The schools have added glue sticks, laptops, computer mice, cell phones, candy wrappers, Lunchables, chip bags, energy bars, old shoes, and more to their collections. The approximately 750 children from Blair Mill and Pennypack are very involved in the TerraCycle process. Teachers, staff, and children collect items at home and at school, and students “sort items to be shipped to [TerraCycle]….They are also using their imaginations and [coming] up with their own ideas for reusing items instead of throwing items away,” Arbuckle says.