P.S. 105 is one of the top schools when it comes to collecting drink pouches for recycling. As part of the “Drink Pouch Brigade” program, the makers of Capri Sun and recycler TerraCycle have collected 50 million drink pouches nationwide. The squishy juicy-drink holders are recycled and made into new materials for eco-friendly products.

One man's trash is another man's...retail shop? What? This is what.  TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  "upcycles" already-used drink pouches like CapriSun drinks into cool, unique things! To date, TerraCycle has kept 50 million juice pouches out of landfills. 50 million!

Teachers and students at Green Acres Elementary used to see a lot of used Capri Sun drink pouches get thrown awayWhen they signed up to send them to a company called TerraCycle, the school began earning two cents for every one of those pouches and became part of a nationwide effort that just reached an impressive milestone of keeping 50 million pouches out of landfills.

Other things such as juice pouches and potato chip packages are collected and sent to Terracycle, a company which promotes a way to help “outsmart waste.” Items from Terracycle include fence partitions made from “up-cycled” drink pouches, insulated coolers made from candy wrappers, and recycling bins made from recycled plastics. Backpacks and shower curtains also are made from the recycled trash the school kids are sending in. These things can be found at stores including Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot, said Galvan.

One company is making a big impact with their innovative initiative to find a practical use for nearly all commercial packaging waste. TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  not only encourages recycling through their upcycling brigades, where consumers are paid for their waste, but they turn said waste into valuable products! These products are then sold at major retailers nationwide, such as WalMart, Target, Petco, and Whole Foods.

But, really what WOW’d me were the TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  goodies. Have you heard about Terracycle? What you do is collect drink pouches, ziploc bags, cookie wrappers, candy wrappers (see the whole collectable list <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades?show_all=true>  here) . For every approved wrapper you get .02 cents donated to a charitable organization. And the items you send get turned into fences, coolers, totes, binders, backpacks and more. And you can BUY these cool goodies online or at retail stores, like the Home Depot or Wal-Mart.

The girls in Brownie Troop 1345 used to see a lot of Capri Sun drink pouches get thrown away. Once they signed up to recycle them through a company called TerraCycle, they began earning two cents for every one of those pouches and became part of a nationwide effort that has just reached a milestone — keeping 50 million pouches out of landfills.

Lovell J. Honiss School's Honiss Environmental Club in Dumont and the Berkley Street School in New Milford are participating in the TerraCycle Brigades, a trash-to-cash collection contest, sponsored by Walmart and TerraCycle, that will reward the top-collecting New Jersey public schools with $125,000 in grants.

Lovell J. Holniss School's Honiss Environmental Club in Dumont and the Berkley Street School in New Milford ar participating in the TerraCycle Brigades, a trash-to-cash collection contest, sponsored by Walmart and TerrraCycle, that will reward the top-collecting New Jersey public schools with $125,000 in grants.