After transforming over 1,500 lb of recycled personal care packaging waste into a one-of-a-kind Garnier Green Garden in Harlem and overhauling a garden at a special needs school in the Bronx, Garnier and TerraCycle took their eco efforts on the road with the “Where Should Our Garden Grow?” campaign to award one recipient with a new community garden. After a public voting period, The ReFresh Project of New Orleans has been named the winner.

After transforming over 1,500 lb of recycled personal care packaging waste into a one-of-a-kind Garnier Green Garden in Harlem and overhauling a garden at a special needs school in the Bronx, Garnier and TerraCycle took their eco efforts on the road with the “Where Should Our Garden Grow?” campaign to award one recipient with a new community garden. After a public voting period, The ReFresh Project of New Orleans has been named the winner. The campaign, which kicked off in Earth Month and ran through June 15th, asked fans to vote for which deserving community should win its very own Green Garden. The ReFresh Project’s ReFresh Community Farm is a new teaching farm located in Treme/Mid-City New Orleans. The new garden will be capable of yielding more than 2,000 lb of vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers. It will not only provide New Orleans residents with a safe space to connect and enjoy nature, but will also allow community members to grow their own fresh food locally. The ground breaking is expected to take place this fall. The plastic components of the garden, such as raised beds, picnic tables, and trash receptacles are made from recycled beauty-care packaging waste collected through Garnier’s Personal Care and Beauty Brigade®. The Brigade is a free fundraising program that donates money to a charity of the collector’s choice for every piece of beauty and personal care packaging waste returned to TerraCycle for recycling. The collected waste, which would otherwise be destined for landfills, consists of non-recyclable hair care, skin care, and cosmetic packaging. “We are thrilled to announce The Refresh Project in New Orleans as the community where the next Garnier Green Garden will plant seeds and flourish,” says David Greenberg, President of Maybelline New York-Garnier-essie. “Keeping beauty packaging waste out of landfills is only part of the mission. It is equally important to make sure that we help communities across the country create sustainable gardens and playgrounds, and this is a perfect way to use the beauty waste we’ve been able to collect through our Brigade. We are excited to see this project come to life.”

MOUNT LAUREL — The Countryside Elementary School placed second in the Colgate and ShopRite Recycled Playground Challenge, it was announced last week. Schools participating in the challenge earned credits for shipping empty toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes and floss containers to TerraCycle, an upcycling and recycling company that repurposes difficult-to-recycle products. Additional credits could be earned by voting online. The school with the most playground credits, the Beloved Charter School in Jersey City, with 178,309, won a playground made entirely of recycled material, which will be installed during this year's back-to-school season. Countryside, a pre-kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school, earned 169,398 points and will receive 500 upcycled tote bags, 500 upcycled pencil cases, 500 upcycled pens, and a $750 ShopRite gift certificate. The Thomas E. Harrington Middle School, also in the township, participated in the competition and received an honorable mention. It earned 5,817 points and won 250 upcycled pens and a $150 ShopRite gift card. Hawthorne Elementary School in Willingboro placed third with 28,362 points and won 250 upcycled tote bags, 250 upcycled pens and a $500 gift certificate. The challenge was an initiative that sprung from a partnership involving ShopRite, Colgate and TerraCycle. "At TerraCycle, collecting the oral care waste is only half of the story,” said Tom Szaky, company founder and CEO. “The real magic happens when our partners choose to reuse the waste in a way that has a lasting benefit to a community, like Colgate and ShopRite have done with these playgrounds.” Szaky founded the company in 2001 with an organic worm-feces-based fertilizer. The Trenton firm has since expanded to produce recycling bins, fences, book bags, office supplies, home décor and more, all from recycled materials. The competition, which ran from March 19 to June 30, was open to schools in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Patricia Lukas up cycles tents from TerraCycle into rugs.

MATTHEWS – Bain Elementary School students have been earning money and prizes for their school by collecting drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. Bain Elementary students have just reached the second level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches, earning the school more than $5,000 in the process. The waste is sent to TerraCycle, which recycles or upcycles it instead of it all going to a landfill, and the company rewards schools and other waste donors for their efforts. Carrie Vizzini, an art teacher and the recycling coordinator at Bain Elementary, noticed all the waste generated in the school’s cafeteria in 2009 and knew she had to do something. After going to the school’s principal, Vizzini headed the TerraCycle team at Bain and started collecting drink pouches in the lunchroom as part of the Drink Pouch Brigade at TerraCycle. “Once we got the program going and taught the kids what they’re throwing away” the effort took off, Vizzini said. John LeGrand, who recently left Bain to become principal at Butler High School, said the program is the result of a decided effort from Bain educators to teach the importance of being green. The school plans to use funds received from TerraCycle to buy recycling-related items to help continue “to enhance and bolster our recycling efforts,” LeGrand added. “We made a decision a couple years ago to really teach our students environmental stewardship,” he said. “We sought out programs that would follow that.” Vizzini also created a Green Team at Bain, which has two representatives from each class who help carry out recycling efforts. “It gave them more of a leadership and ownership role,” Vizzini said. The students would collect all the TerraCycle items from their lunch tables and classrooms to be sent to TerraCycle. Along with juice pouches, the school collects Elmer’s glue sticks and containers and granola bars. All the items are upcycled at TerraCycle. The team also coordinated the activities for the school’s celebration of Earth Day, where two first-graders coordinated an initiative with LeGrand for each student to pick up three pieces of trash at recess. Vizzini said it was rewarding to see the students get involved, while it’s also rewarding for the students, as they learn to think about what they’re throwing away and have taken that lesson home to their families. Although Vizzini has headed Bain’s recycling efforts since September 2009, TerraCycle’s Milestone Program began in September 2013 when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts. In addition to the money they earn for each piece of waste collected, participants can win prizes made from recycled drink pouches, such as park benches, recycling bins, a playground and other fun rewards. “The Milestone Program is meant to inspire individuals and organizations to collect more waste while receiving prizes for their achievements,” Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, said in a news release. “It is rewarding to see the students and administration get so involved in making this work.  It’s an incredible achievement to have kept so many pouches out of the waste stream.” The school earned an official TerraCycle collection bin and 10 8.5-by-11-inch Drink Pouch Brigade stickers after reaching the 18,000 milestone. But Vizzini now has her sights set on the next milestone: 40,000. The school is already up to more than 30,000 drink pouches. The achievement will earn the school 50 TerraCycle wristbands, a vinyl banner, an official Certificate of Achievement and a storage bin. Bain has been considered a model school for environmentalism, according to Carton Council, a group of carton manufacturers that focus on diminishing waste. The council recognized Bain for their collection of milk cartons in the 2011-12 school year. Since Bain took on a recycling initiative, teachers have taken on environmental stewardship. Janet Barnhardt, Bain kindergarten teacher and chairperson of Bain’s Environmental Leadership Team, which is a group of teachers from each grade, said the faculty focuses on energy awareness, air quality, and – the biggest component – recycling. Barnhardt said the team’s challenge for this year was to educate students to take recycling efforts to their homes, and teachers gave students visual aids to track waste and recyclables. “We were able to add the curriculum into the recycling process … and instill in the students a sense of responsibility for their environment,” Barnhardt said. Although most of the juice pouches or other items came from the school cafeteria, Vizzini hopes to encourage families and businesses to contribute to Bain’s recycling efforts. She said she has received contributions from some businesses, such as Sunny Days Afterschool in Mint Hill. “We’re trying to find a place for (the recycling initiative) to grow outside of Bain, and make it a community thing,” Vizzini said. Nevertheless, Vizzini is assured Bain will continue to recycle. “It’s become a habit now – everyone pitches in.”

Summertime Drinks for Active Family Times You’ll, obviously, notice that I shared a few times about Capri Sun.  While Capri Sun and BlogHer made this post possible, it’s still true that I love bringing along Capri Sun juice drink pouches for activities, along with some bottles of water. I love that the pouches aren’t boxy like other juice boxes, so it makes them so much easier to toss in my bag before we head out for an activity (especially because then I don’t get poked in the back by a juice box corner over and over). I also love that pouches can be recycled into projects – since 2008, 200 million Capri Sun Juice Drink pouches have been collected through Capri Sun’s partnership with TerraCycle and recycled and upcycled into durable goods. One of the coolest things about the Capri Sun pouches now, since they listened to requests made by their consumers, is that the pouches now feature a clear bottom!  That’s right – you can now look right into the pouch from the bottom.  Of course, I did have to remind my kids to stop doing it after they had it open.  Silly kids!

Packing a fun nature kit for kids is a great way to foster a love of nature, and get outdoors with minimal hassle throughout the summer months! They are so much fun to put together, and you can use many household items you probably already have on hand. Nature packs make it easy to enjoy plenty of impromptu outdoor adventures because everything you need is conveniently packed in one easy location! Special thanks to Capri Sun for sponsoring today’s Summertime play idea!   For the Kids: §  Simple Field Guide §  Flashlight §  Compass §  Old Camera §  Pocket Notebook and Pencil §  Reusable Water Bottle or Juice — I love Capri Sun Juice Drinks because they are affordable, and they do not contain any artificial flavors, colors/dyes, or preservatives! Capri Sun has recently introduced new stronger pouches for their juice drinks that feature a clear bottom (a feature requested by many of their consumers), making it easy for Moms to check if a pouch has been punctured or is leaking. I love how convenient Capri Sun Juice Drinks are for impromptu family outings! I was also impressed by Capri Sun’s commitment to the environment with over 200 million juice pouches being upcycled into durable and useful goods through their partnership with TerraCycle. Capri Sun has also re-developed the box to be made out of paperboard instead of cardboard, which reduced packaging waste by millions of pounds. §  Energy Bar or Trail Mix §  Binoculars §  Whistle

Take a tip from the repurposing gurus at TerraCycle and copy their plastic bottle partitions. You can use clear bottles if you want light to pass through your bottle wall or darker bottles if you prefer more privacy.

Bethany United Church of Christ is located at 1235 Broad Blvd. on the northeast corner of Broad and 13th Street. Bethany encourages visitors to join in worship with them on Sunday or to participate in one of the many activities offered during the week. The church is beginning a new recycle opportunity through TerraCycle, a free waste collection program for hard to recycle materials. The collected waste is turned into affordable green products. Bethany will begin collecting Entenmann's Little Bites pouches, will send them to TerraCycle and get money back. Look for the collection boxes at church. For more information, visit the website at www.bethanyucc.org or call the church office at 330-923-5277.

VINELAND – By caring for the Earth, D'Ippolito Elementary School students are able to help classmates in need. TerraCycle Inc., an international recycling firm based in Mercer County, is awarding the North Valley Avenue school more than $1,800, which was based on the number of drink pouches the school recycled. "We have been participating in this program for the past three years," said Gail Curio, the school's principal. Stephanie Staffieri, the school's student health services coordinator, oversees the program. She was the one who found the opportunity and suggested that D'Ippolito get involved, said Curcio, who endorsed the school's participation. "We use the money to fund our Crisis Team Fund, which is used to help families in crisis throughout the year," Curcio said. Students recycle the drink pouches during breakfast and lunch, the school principal said. "It has become routine," she said. Allison Gove, who will be a fifth grader this September, explained that after meals the students don't toss their empty drink pouches in the trash. "We put them in a special bin," she said. It's a red recycling container. Allison said she is a fan of Capri Sun Orange and estimated she's contributed about 50 empty pouches to the recycling program. When she learned the students' efforts earned the school more than $1,800, she said, "That's pretty neat." The check should arrive in October, Taylor said, explaining the firm pays out the awards twice per year. TerraCycle Inc. focuses on reusing difficult-to-recycle packaging and that includes the drink pouches made from a combination of plastic and aluminum, said Lauren Taylor, a media spokeswoman for the company. Where plastic and aluminum can easily be recycled on their own, it is the combination of the two that poses the challenge, she said. Drink pouches are just one of about 50 specific areas, dubbed "brigades" by the company, addressed in its recycling program. Groups enroll in the recycling program and earn rewards on a points-per-item basis. The award funds must be earmarked for a nonprofit purposes, Taylor said. Used pouches are sent at no cost to TerraCycle Inc. in packages that must weigh about 5 pounds, which is about 430 pouches. The straws do not have to be removed. More than 217,594,991 drink pouches have been collected from more than 78,000 locations, earning organizations more than $4.1 million, according to TerraCycle Inc. The pouches are recycled into items including lunch boxes, pencils cases and tote bags. Other recycling brigades offered by TerraCycle Inc. include Elmer's Glue bottles and sticks, chip snack bags, energy bar wrappers and GoGo squeeZ pouches. For more information about the TerraCycle Inc. recycling program, click on www.terracycle.com.