Many of the items we use on a daily basis produce a large amount of waste.  Much of our trash comes from food and beverage containers.  You eat a bag of chips, and then that bag sits in a landfill for years.  Other common sources of trash include school and office supplies, small electronics, and shipping materials.  However, there are ways to actually make money from items that normally go straight into the trash. Here are five types of items that you can get paid to get rid of in an environmentally friendly way. 1.        Food and beverage containers Within the last few years, a new company known as TerraCycle has found a creative way to reuse candy wrappers, chip bags, beverage containers, and even wine corks.  They take in these types of trash and then turn them into useable products, such as school and office supplies.  The best part is, TerraCycle will pay you for your trash.  By registering your organization (usually a school, scout troop, or non-profit), you can begin to keep track of what you send to the company.  The price is usually $0.02 per piece of trash, but it all adds up to help produce less trash and raise money for local schools or charities. For more information, visit www.terracycle.net

The school turned its trash into cash by sending various items to Terracycle, a recycling company. Through the program, the school has collected and saved more than 22,000 drink pouches, 200 tape dispensers and cores, more than 700 glue sticks, 4,000 chip bags, 350 lunch kits and more than 3,000 writing instruments from the landfill.

At the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City, a pop up shop has taken over the space at 8th Avenue and 41st Street. This once empty retail space is now home to TerraCycle‘s Green Up Shop. This innovative store will feature TerraCycle’s full line of over 100 products literally made from common waste materials such as chip bags, food wrappers, yogurt cups, glue bottles and writing instruments. In addition to selling its affordable, fun products made from waste, TerraCycle will use the space to collect over 30 different non-recyclable items, turning the store into the world’s largest upcycling center. Consumers who drop off waste will be given a discount on the products they purchase at the Shop.