At a time when education funding is drying up, some schools are finding cash in their trash. For several years now, school districts around Michigan and around the nation have been turning their waste streams into a revenue stream through cooperative program with TerraCycle, a Trenton, N.J. firm that buys discarded juice pouches, potato chip bags, plastic cups and other typical lunchroom debris.

Almost fairytale-like, Noble Elementary School this year converted trash into treasure. But it took a lot more than a fervent wish and a wave of a wand for the Berryessa school to win a $50,000 play structure for the school's empty playground. In a mega-recycling campaign, for one year students and parents saved, sorted and shipped what normally ends up in the trash: empty Doritos bags, Lunchables trays, Elmer's glue bottles, Colgate toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. And there was more: Neosporin tubes, tortilla bags and all types of pens and markers. In all, parents collected and sorted into 37 bins items from both home and school, and sent them to Terracycle, a not-for-profit New Jersey company dedicated to recycling the previously unrecyclable.

Students at a Michigan elementary school are raising money for their school, while keeping hard-to-recycle materials out of the waste stream. It’s called “upcycling” and at West Ottawa’s Pine Creek Elementary School, it’s becoming part of the school’s culture. “One of our focuses is incorporating environmental education into our curriculum and raise kids’ awareness,” said Principal Dave Gough. “We wanted to think about how we can problem solve and have a positive impact at the same time.” The school’s efforts are run through TerraCycle, a company that finds new uses for trash, turning otherwise unusable waste into things like coolers, picture frames and cleaning supplies. Students, teachers and staff members collect things like food wrappers and juice boxes and turn them over to TerraCycle, which transforms them into other, usable items.

"The monthly drop off on Recycle Day is new, both in having a once/month date and also by opening it up to miscellaneous products (per website). Items range found on our list include old toothbrushes and toothpaste, old make-up containers, plastic wrap from paper products, Elmers glue products, and juice pouches. There are more products, too! "Unfortunately, we don't at this time take pop cans or items, which are not on our list. We are currently working with www.Terracycle.net and are limited by what they offer. Terracycle pays for shipping of all products, so this is a help. Of the products that we collect, only one has any restriction of the brand, which is Elmers, but this may be any size (glue sticks or bottles). All other products may be any brand or size," Tysee said.

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.

One of my most recent recycling dilemmas involved glue and tape. I have two little girls who love to create what they call “masterpieces,” which usually involves paper, paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils, glue and/or tape. Unfortunately, my local recycling program does not accept empty glue sticks or tape dispensers for recycling. Recently, however, I found a company that will help me recycle my glue containers: Elmer’s Glue. The company, which began in 1947, started its recycling program for schools on Earth Day 2011.

Angela See remembers looking at the back of a Capri-Sun drink box when something caught her attention. It was a logo promoting TerraCycle, a recycling company, which collects food packaging for recycling.

Angela See remembers looking at the back of a Capri-Sun drink box when something caught her attention. It was a logo promoting TerraCycle, a recycling company, which collects food packaging for recycling. TerraCycle's program, known at Brigade, enlists the community's help in collecting items that typically couldn't be recycled so it can be repurposed into other products.