Hi, kids!  Have you heard of TerraCycle?  TerraCycle is the first company to create every part of its recycled products from trash.  For example, TerraCycle takes empty juice pouches and chip and candy bags and makes them into stylish totebags, purses, and cell phone holders.

Here is something totally cool I just found out about!  TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net>  is the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable post-consumer waste. TerraCycle works with over thirty major brands in the U.S. and in a growing number of other countries to collect used packaging and products (chip bags, candy wrappers, juice pouches, pens, toothbrushes, etc.) that would otherwise be destined for landfills.

TerraCycle has a more unusual model. It collects all kinds of hard-to-recycle stuff by mail — drink pouches, candy wrappers, plastic bags, wine corks, toothpaste containers — and then turns them into other things. “In 2011, you’ll see a playground made out Capri Sun and Honest Kids drink pouches,” said Jo Opot, TerraCycle’s vice president of business development. Consumers who send trash get rewarded with donations to schools or charities, and they get the psychic satisfaction of knowing that something useful was made out of their garbage. You’d think that  few people would bother to send their trash in the mail to New Jersey–Terracyle’s home base–but the company says 12 million people have participated, returning 1.8 billion items. The company gets paid by brands whose products it recovers, by manufacturers who buy its materials and by marketers who use its logo on finished products. There’s lots more about this all works at the TerraCycle website, here.

Kids and faculty over at Old Pueblo Children's Academy have taken to recycling all of their used-up Capri Sun pouches through a company called TerraCycle. As of Oct. 21, the students have helped to keep 8,221 pouches out of landfills, and raised $164 for their school.  Nationwide, 50 million drink pouches have been recycled so far. That's the weight of 20 school buses, and the length of 480 football fields.

Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> has so many great things that they make! For my review they sent me this great messenger bag! Terracycle is giving the lunch bag above to one lucky Songberries Follower! To enter please go to Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> and look around, come back here and in a comment tell me comment something you learned. Make sure you’re a follower!

Then there was keynoter Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> , whose out-of-the-bottle thinking created a new business and a way to recycle a multitude of products previously designated for the waste stream. After devising an ingenious method for farming worm poop (yes, I said worm poop) and converting it to fertilizer, TerraCycle then came up with the idea of recycling old Coke and Pepsi bottles--as is, without breaking them down first--to distribute the product, turning two types of garbage into a resaleable and useful product simultaneously and cheaply. (The only first-run part of the product is the label.)

SOUTHBOROUGH, MA, October 20 – The teachers at the Woodward Memorial School 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, the school began earning two cents for every one of those pouches and became part of a nationwide effort that has just reached an impressive milestone of keeping 50 million pouches out of landfills.  In addition, TerraCycle, which makes affordable, eco-friendly products from packaging waste, and Capri Sun have paid one million dollars to schools and non-profits in return for the recycled drink pouches.

A company has recognized Holy Name School for its extensive efforts to recycle Capri Sun drink pouches.  TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials, according to its Web site.  The company and Capri Sun recognized Holy Name for being one of the Top 100 collectors nationwide. The school earns two cents for every pouch that is saved.

Terra Cycle has been so awesome in offering one lucky reader of One Busy Moma the chance to win one of their Drink Pouch Lunch Boxes <http://www.dwellsmart.com/Products/TerraCycle-School/TerraCycle-Drink-Pouch-Lunch-Box> !! Before we go into the giveaway details please take a minute and read about their... DRINK POUCH BRIGADE SPONSORSHIP HITS $1 MILLION MARK FOR  SCHOOLS

Well I have read and heard some pretty awesome things about Terra Cycle so when I had the opportunity to share about them and check out one of their products I got really excited!! TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide  range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products  available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot,  OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the  fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to  eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for  materials others deem garbage.