Mary Baldwin College students recently added recycling receptacles from TerraCycle, a New Jersey based company that specializes in hard-to-recycle items, such as Capri Sun pouches, yogurt containers, candy wrappers, chip bags, paper towels, cell phones, tape dispensers, wine corks, writing instruments and ink cartridges.

Between Halloween and Valentine’s Day, Americans spend over $3.1 billion dollars on candy <http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/ns/article/0,27972,366420,00.html> . Besides having a horrifying effect on the waistline, this type of consumption sends tons of waste to the landfill in the form of discarded candy wrappers. Last Halloween <http://www.care2.com/greenliving/give-used-halloween-candy-wrappers-a-second-life.html> , I reported on a unique program created by TerraCycle to increase recycling rates of candy <http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vegan-organic-fair-trade-corn-syrup-free-candy.html>  wrappers called “The Candy Brigade.” This initiative is in full effect again now that Valentine’s Day has passed. As a fun activity for Valentine’s Day, TerraCycle and Nestlé have  designed a unique and fun DIY project <http://www.care2.com/greenliving/thinking-outside-of-the-candy-bag-a-diy-safe-fun-and-green-halloween.html>  suitable for any age. The craft  project will turn chocolate wrappers into a “love bracelet” that can be  given to friends or family as a gift! (Download the instructions here.) <http://www.terracycle.ca/31?locale=en-CA>  When you’re done with your  bracelet it can also be returned through the Chocolate Wrapper Brigade <http://www.terracycle.ca/brigades/8-Chocolate-Wrapper-Brigade-Sponsored-by-Nestl-Canada> ! Even if you’re not the crafty type <http://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-fun-eco-crafts-for-kids.html> , you can still return the wrappers free of charge to TerraCycle to be upcycled into items such as tote bags, kites, backpacks and other accessories that will be readily available at major retailers and www.TerraCycleShop.com <http://www.TerraCycleShop.com> . In addition, packaging that is not suitable for the above items can be used in industrial products such as floor tiles, plastic lumber, etc. For each wrapper returned through the program, Mars and TerraCycle will pay two cents to a charity of the your choice.Since the program started, TerraCycle’s Brigade Programs have diverted almost two billion pieces of waste from landfills with the help from almost 60,000 locations participating. Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/recycle-valentines-candy-wrappers-with-easy-diy-project.html#ixzz1E44pxmcd

She found out the offer came from TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade, a free fundraising program for schools and nonprofit groups that pays 2 cents for every Capri Sun pouch collected. So far, TerraCycle has collected 50 million drink pouches through its program, and paid out $1 million. "Our goal is for people to look at waste in a whole new way," said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. "The $1 million that Capri Sun has helped us give out is a powerful sign of the enthusiasm that communities across the country have for the goals of this program."

One man's garbage is another man's treasure. While the concept is as old as the hills, it's taken on a new, greener meaning this decade. And it even has a new name: upcycling. "Upcycling is finding value in the material as it exists now, retaining that value or increasing it by turning it into a new creation," explained Stacey Cusack, 26, public relations manager for a company born from the upcycle theory called Terracycle, Inc. based in Trenton, N.J. The term "upcycle" is attributed to William McDonough, one of the co-authors of the book "Cradle to Cradle," published in 2002. "Our founder, Tom Szaky considers (McDonough) his mentor," Cusack said. Szaky, according to Cusack, dropped out of Princeton University almost 10 years ago at age 19 to start what would become Terracycle, a global upcycling company that converts trash (snack bags, cookie wrappers, and drink pouches) into a variety of products, such as Frito Lay messenger bags, Skittle kites and Capri Sun totes.

“They panic if a milk carton lands in the garbage,” she says, noting that she watches as her kids regularly fish Capri Sun pouches, Lay’s potato chip bags and Nabisco cookie wrappers out of the trash to save and send to TerraCycle, a company that converts trash into bags, kites and other products.

• Terracycle.net: Get paid for your trash—TerraCycle pays for everything from Capri Sun drink pouches to Lay’s potato chip bags and Elmer’s Glue bottles, which it turns into other products.

The logic is simple and sustainable. By reusing post-consumer waste, “trash” never makes it to a landfill, and an environmentally-invasive production cycle stops. As we are the most wasteful nation in the world, we should pay attention to this incredible usage of garbage. There are already some American companies who are paying attention. TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net> , a small but successful New Jersey-based company, is pushing the boundaries of reusing waste that is hard to recycle. TerraCycle began in 2001 by two Princeton freshman, who collected Dining Hall waste and used a worm compost to make natural plant food products. Now, TerraCycle is making everything from Capri-Sun drink-pouch backpacks to M&M-wrapper messenger bags.

Trash to Treasure partners with the Broward College and TerraCycle  to collect nontraditional items for reuse and recycling.  TerraCycle pays for these materials and Broward College uses the revenue to fund the Michelle Lawless Scholarship which provides tuition for a student majoring in Environmental Science.

Wetumpka Elementary School received the America’s Best Brigade Award 2010 from TerraCycle for being one of the top 100 collecting schools in TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. The local effort helped TerraCycle reach the milestone of 50 million pouches collected and $1 million paid to schools and nonprofits. TerraCycle said the total number of recycled pouches is enough to cover the Grand Canyon nine times. The Wetumpka Elementary PTO spearheaded the project, recycling Capri Sun pouches.

Tom Szaky, the 28-year-old founder of  TerraCycle, one of the fastest growing green companies in the world, is making a business out of recycling and a name for himself as "#1 CEO in America Under 30."

When students in Liz Gingrich's second-grade class at Westmere Elementary School aren't learning to add and subtract fractions, they're busy recycling juice pouches as members of TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. TerraCycle collects hard-to-recycle items -- like Capri Sun juice pouches, candy wrappers, even toothbrushes -- from school and nonprofit "brigades" across the country, donating a few cents per unit collected. The company then turns those used materials into affordable, eco-friendly green products, a process know as "upcycling." Since the spring of 2009, students at Westmere have collected a total of 4,300 juice pouches. At two cents a pop, they've received about $90 from TerraCycle. Money raised through the program will be donated to local nonprofit and charitable organizations, which the students will help choose.