“We’ve done a whole bunch of recycling,” Muska said. “We collect used cell phones, batteries, crayons. We are with a company called Terracycle that we send chip bags and Capri Sun pouches. We get two cents for every pouch and two cents for every chip bag.

The Swigert Daisies have started a Terracycle program in our cafeteria.  If you are unfamiliar with Terracycle, check the out here: www.terracycle.com.  Terracycle reduces waste by recycling many items that are not traditionally able to be recycled.

MENALLEN TWP. — Menallen Elementary School has taken this school year to learn to value and respect the environment through recycling. Its efforts in a recycling program called TerraCycle resulted in the school placing among the top 50 schools in the nation. “We’re very pleased with the turnout from the community with the recycling program,” said Principal Paula Work. “It all comes back to our theme of respect. Respecting our planet, respecting our place on our planet, respecting our school, respecting others.” The TerraCycle recycling program started at the school three years ago. Students collect various waste products to be recycled and, in turn, receive money for the school. Products such as snack chip bags, juice pouches and fruit cups from each lunch period are recycled. Various other recyclables, including paper products and plastic wrappings, are brought in from the students’ homes. Each product is given a dollar value (about 2 cents per item) by TerraCycle and, when collected, the efforts add up to the school’s total. Menallen was ranked 36th in the nation.

In 2009 a parent volunteer at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Glen Burnie saw an advertisement for a company called TerraCycle. Its “Get cash for trash” headline caught her attention, and before you could say, ‘Sounds too good to be true,’ there was a bin in the school cafeteria for the students to deposit their empty juice pouches at lunch. Since then, the school has collected over 70,000 juice pouches and recycles an average of 1,000 pouches per week during the school year. Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, TerraCycle began upcycling various products around 2007. An initiative that started with drink pouches, today the company offers more than 40 Brigades® that collect what was previously non-recyclable or difficult-to- recycle waste. A brigade is simply the term TerraCycle uses to designate its donations—so there is, for example, the Yogurt Container Brigade, the Cheese Packaging Brigade, and the Candy Wrapper Brigade. St. Paul’s initally joined the Drink Pouch Brigade. Most of the brigades are free for participants and include free shipping as well as a donation for each piece of waste recycled.

Schools create quite a lot of waste products that is thoughtlessly gotten rid of when it can be recycled. An exceptional recycling strategy labeled as TerraCycle has brought about a huge change in the recycling behavior of schools in the United States. This program takes the initiative to recover food packaging goods that are difficult to recycle and in addition pays schools for their hard work. As per a MichigansThumb.com report, the program awards points to schools dependant upon the quantity of recyclable goods delivered to TerraCycle. The arrival of single-serve food products has inflated the quantity of disposable waste and led to a rising pile of harmful waste material in landfills.

BCE Team Green was named a finalist in the Florida Green School Awards sponsored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The team has implemented recycling initiatives at the school, which have reduced trash consumption one-third. Members have raised more than $400 for the school through efforts to recycle juice pouches and chip bags in partnership with Terracycle. The team also has raised money for the nonprofit organization Charity Water, which builds wells in developing countries. The statewide winners will be announced during an awards ceremony Nov. 10 at the West Palm Beach Marriott.

With the wide variety of individual-size packaging for food products, creating a portable lunch that will please youngsters’ tastebuds is easier than ever. However, it also causes more waste, which leads to fuller wastebaskets, and eventually, fuller landfills. That’s where the program TerraCycle comes in. The company, headquartered in New Jersey, collects difficult-to-recycle food packaging and turns it into extra money for schools. Three area schools currently are participating in this program: Bad Axe Elementary, Owendale-Gagetown Area Schools and Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic School in Harbor Beach.

PTAs often combine fundraising efforts with service to the environment or community.  For example, Debra Johnson, president of Weyanoke PTA, has garnered funds through the collection of juice pouches and chip bags.  Sent to Terracycle.net to be “upcycled” into items like tote bags, they earn a few cents each.  The used flipflops they’ve collected will be turned into playground material. For Lisa Keyes and her PTA at Columbia ES, their efforts include helping families in need. “Some of the community events we are involved in are sponsoring a school supplies drive for families in our community, participating in a food drive to help stock a local food pantry, a coat and hat drive for our community,” she says.