There are companies that do this, too. TerraCycle, a global firm based in Trenton, NJ, is focused on recycling everything from worm poop (into fertilizer) to cigarette butts (into plastic pellets). It upcycles and recycles traditionally non-recycable waste (including drink pouches, chip bags, and tooth brushes) into a large variety of consumer products.

St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens is hosting its first TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash through Aug. 15. The community is asked to gather trash from the list included here below and bring it to the TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash Showdown on Aug. 16 at a location to be determined. The person that brings the most trash, by weight, will win a free semester at the University of Georgia — in-state tuition only, estimated at $3,800. Trash that will be accepted includes: Drink pouches, straws and straw wrappers, coffee pouches, cookie and cracker wrappers, energy bar, breakfast bar and energy food wrappers, candy and gum wrappers, chip and pretzel bags, all lunch kit trays and wrappers, dairy containers, Sprout brand baby food and crushed fruit bags, containers and wrappers, cereal bags, Bear Naked brand granola and cereal product wrappers, wine corks, disposable household tape dispensers, plastic sandwich bags and temporary plastic containers. Also, wrappers from toilet paper, napkins and paper towels, toothpaste tubes, dental floss devices and used toothbrushes, glue containers and glue sticks, all writing instruments except chalk and crayons, beauty and skin care product tubes and containers, diaper wrappers, cheese wrappers, tortilla, tostada and bread wrappers, home cleaning containers and items, plastic drinking cups, laundry and dish wash detergent briquette bags, wine pouches, hummus containers and cigarette and cigar waste including ashes, unburnt tobacco, filter stubs, plastic outer wrap and aluminum paper inner wrapping. St. Gregory also will accept all cellphones, MP3 players, digital cameras, GPS systems, calculators, printer and toner cartridges and laptop computers including all cords and chargers, and all shoes. For information on how to package the trash, about the competition, about TerraCycle and more, call Andrew Lane at (706) 296-6631 or emailandrew.s.lane@us.army.mil.

Can Faith Middle School make it to $1,000 before the end of the school year? May 30, the last day of school, is fast approaching, but Faith’s ecology club and recycling coordinator, Julie Deckard thinks it can be done if people send in their drink pouches. From box tops to toothpaste and even mp3 players, Faith Middle School has been collecting items from the Fort Benning community for the past two years. By doing so, Faith has raised money for its school and for charity. Through recycling, she said, people can help with clean drinking water, meals and schools supplies or the environment by planting trees. Deckard has put in more than 650 hours to sort items and package them to be shipped to Terra Cycle, but it’s always easier with a team of people, she said. For those simply wanting to send in recyclables but think it may be tedious or complicated — it’s not, Deckard said.Simply rinse out containers and put them in plastic bags. You don’t even need to sort them by type.     

Douglas MacArthur Elementary School has been named a Great Drink Pouch Derby winner by the New Jersey-based company Terracycle. Each day, MacArthur students recycle their drink pouches at school and send the pouches to Terracycle. Recently, MacArthur received a check for more than $1,700. During December, MacArthur sent in more pouches than any other location in Virginia and won the Terracycle Great Drink Pouch Derby for that month. The school was rewarded with bonus points to its account and now is in the running for a chance to be crowned the Great Drink Pouch Derby National Winner, worth 50,000 bonus points.

Now that Summer has ended….and we are putting up the Summer clothing and shoes and breaking out our Fall and Winter items….it is a great opportunity to get rid of your old, worn-out flip flops. Instead of just tossing those in the trash, check out Flip-Flop Brigade  and you can earn you a FREE pair of NEW Flip Flops (so you’ll be ready for next Summer) as well as some HOT Old Navy coupons….   Through TerraCycle’s partnership with Old Navy, consumers can do the right thing for the environment and their wallets and recycle their old flip flops for free through the Flip Flop Brigade. For every 25 pairs collected, participants receive a coupon for free flip flops and a packet of coupons for $10 off an Old Navy purchase to share with those that helped in the collection efforts. These might come in handy for Back-to-School shopping! The program is open to anyone, free to join, and all shipping costs are paid. For more info, please visit http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/oldnavy.html. Aside from this program, flip flops are not widely recyclable and usually have no end-of-life solution besides the landfill. It is estimated that 1.3 million tons of flip flops are thrown away each year. After a couple of hundred years, when flip flops finally start to break down, they can leach chemicals into the ground and the air. TerraCycle and Old Navy had a month-long flip flop collection program in 2011 and the year-round collection program was instituted by popular request. In addition to the Flip Flop Brigade, TerraCycle collects about 45 different kinds of products and packaging including personal care and beauty waste, household cleaner packaging, Solo cups, chip bags, drink pouches, writing instruments and much more. TerraCycle awards points for each one of these items sent in. These points can be used for charity gifts or converted to cash and donated to a favorite charity or school. Since 2007, we’ve kept 2.3 billion pieces of waste from ending up in landfills and paid over $4 million to schools and non-profits. People who are interested in signing up for these or any other TerraCycle programs should visit www.terracycle.com.