So far we have collected 63 units and earned 326 points! With just our points from December we have earned enough to plant three trees, provide a goose to three families or we are half way to protecting an acre of land sponsored by the National Wildlife Organization.

Community of Faith's Stepping Stones ministry participates in TerraCycle, a fundraising through recycling program. The following list of items may be brought to church and droped off in the TerraCycle bin located next to the Stepping Stones registration desk. Last year this program raised over $1,200 for use in commuity and other special projects.

Nicole Patrick has a passion for recycling that she's not afraid to share with others. The Westover resident is a brigade administrator for several TerraCycle projects and recently brought Pepsi and Waste Management's Dream Machine Project to Purchase Line North Elementary School. TerraCycle, Patrick explained, is a national organization that offers programs called brigades that allow individuals or groups to send in waste to be recycled. Its goal, she said, is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating a recycling system for anything that must be sent to a landfill.

One Bexley classroom has jumped into action, based on the November Board of Education approval of a district partnership with AmeriCorps. The AmeriCorps program addresses critical needs in communities across America, offering “75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups,” according to americorps.gov.

For my final post in this TerraCycle Refresher Week, I'd like to give you a glimpse into how TerraCycle operates here in our elementary school.

For today's post during this TerraCycle Refresher week on our blog, I'm sharing a list and description of what items we collect for TerraCycle here at Blue Ridge. Glue Bottles/Sticks Any size Elmer's brand glue sticks and plastic glue bottles are acceptable. Only Elmer's please! We earn $0.02 per item.ri

REESE - Just by eating lunch, students at St. Elizabeth Area Catholic School are fundraising for their school. The students separate their Capri Sun pouches from the rest of their waste and send the popular juice containers to TerraCycle of Trenton, N.J., which in return gives the school 2 cents for every juice pouch recycled.

Are you looking for a great earth-friendly gift for your friends and family? Well a backpack made out of juice pouches, or a wallet made out of candy wrappers would be perfect for this holiday season. Lucky for you, TerraCycle makes those kind of products. TerraCycle is a company that diverts trash from landfills and creates new products out of it. Terra means earth, so TerraCycle is earth-cycling. TerraCyclewas founded in 2006 by Tom Szaky, 29. It all started in college when Tom and his friends started feeding the leftovers from their cafeteria to worms, and selling liquid worm poop in used bottles at hardware stores. Since then, they have grown to become "one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world." In only three years, more than 20 million people are helping to collect trash in more than 70 thousand worldwide locations. In 2006, Inc. Magazine named TerraCycle "The Coolest Little Start-Up in America!"

And there was more: Neosporin tubes, tortilla bags and all types of pen 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.

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.