Many are the residents of and visitors to Lincoln County who have started viewing throw-away items as raw materials to be recycled. From cigarette butts to cell phones and toothpaste tubes to e-tablets, TerraCycle provides opportunities for people to recycle items without damaging the environment while supporting philanthropic giving. The county TerraCycle Depot is Coyote Howling Shop for a Cause. Since the mission of Coyote Howling is to provide nutritional meals for children, TerraCycle rebates are donated to Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). The volunteers who work with the sorting and packaging of TerraCycle affectionately call the campaign "TC." As of July 1, TC has a sister. Meet "TX"—and I don't mean Texas! Applause if you are recycling your cardboard in the community! KUDOS if you are already taking your TerraCycling items to Coyote Howling! Standing ovation if you are already doing both and step up to the next challenge! Coyote Howling is introducing another recycling effort as part of our FMSC mission to feed more children. We are now accepting textiles — affectionately dubbed TX—clean, wearable clothing and footwear. Please bag the footwear and clothing separately. Our goal for July: 20,000 pounds of textiles to be re-used by people in over 80 nations of the world. As with our TerraCycle campaign, our textiles campaign will support our FMSC MobilePack program. The third MobilePack is scheduled for the last weekend of Febr. 27 and 28, at The Foot of the Cross Christian Ministries at Mountain Annie's, 2710 Sudderth Drive. Again, our target is to pack more than 100,000 meals and to do so we need to raise $24,000. All donated items should be bagged separately, clearly labeled, and taken to Coyote Howling Shop for a Cause during business hours. If items need to be dropped off during non-business hours, please secure the items and leave them in boxes under the back stairs. Coyote Howling Shop for a Cause will award gift cards to donors. Each day a donor participates, his or her name will be added to the drawing. Each month, two names will be drawn and awarded $10 gift cards. Donors who take their items to Coyote Howling on TerraCycle Tuesday also save 10 percent on an item of their choice (some exceptions may apply). For updates and to check out what throw-aways TerraCycle can take, review the details at the TerraCycle link under Recycling. The Textile link under Recycling also features updates at www.CoyoteHowlingShopForaCause.com, or visit Coyote Howling and learn how to take your throw-aways back from the landfills and fund meals for children. For more information on Feed My Starving Children visit www.FMSC.org/mobilepack/events New Mexico. Tonya Huber, PhD, is founder and owner of Coyote Howling Shop for a Cause Contact her at CoyoteHowlingNM@gmail.com 575-808-8320.

Saving juice boxes at home and school was a move that benefited the environment for sure. But for local elementary school students and their families, it was also a rewarding act as it helped raise a significant amount of money for Tewksbury schools. Heath Brook Elementary School and Trahan Elementary School Parent Advisory Committee members collected and recycled drink pouches used both at home and in the schools' lunch rooms. As a result the groups recently reached the second level of the TerraCycle and Capri Sun's Drink Pouch Brigade® milestone contest, hitting over 18,000 drink pouches. To reward the schools for their accomplishments, they earned over $1,600 through the program. Thousands of schools around the country are taking part in the recycling program. For more information, visit the group's website. "The Milestone Program is meant to inspire individuals and organizations to collect more waste while receiving prizes for their achievements," said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle. "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."

WHEATON – Lowell Elementary School students have earned more than $560 for their school by collecting more than 18,000 Capri Sun drink pouches, according to a news release from Terracycle, Inc. The students collected the pouches for the Drink Pouch Brigade, a free recycling program that gives rewards for sending waste to TerraCycle, Inc., an international upcycling and recycling company that takes difficult-to-recycle packaging and turns it into affordable products.

University School of Jackson students earn money and prizes for their school by collecting and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. USJ 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, according to a news release. To date, the students have earned $1,973.03 for their school by collecting the drink pouches. The Drink Pouch Brigadeis a free recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle to be recycled or upcycled, the release said. The Milestone Program began in September 2013 when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts. Now, 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,” said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle in the 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.” Thousands of other schools across the United States participate in the Drink Pouch Brigade. To learn more about the program or to sign up, visit www.terracycle.com. The program is free to any interested organization or individual, and all shipping costs are paid. In addition, for each piece of waste received, participants earn money for a charity of their choice.

A local elementary school has raised more than $1,000 for charity by recycling Capri Sun drink pouches. Las Sendas Elementary School has collected nearly 80,000 pouches during its drive and raised more than $1,300 in the process. Annie Brown, a first-grade teacher at Las Sendas Elementary in Mesa, said she first began to collect Capri Sun drink pouches about three and a half years ago when a child in her class asked to collect them for a project conducted by his mother, a fifth-grade teacher at another school. Brown and her class sent the pouches home with the student at first but later decided to collect pouches themselves. “This was something doable. The kids can be very much involved in it on an everyday basis,” Brown said. The Drink Pouch Brigade, a recycling incentive program by TerraCycle, involves 40,000 schools across the country sending in the Capri Sun drink pouches many kids drink every day. The program, which began in 2007, took off when Capri Sun joined in 2008. It recently started the Milestone Program with rewards for schools, groups or individuals who reach certain recycling goals. “The program is free to anybody,” said Lauren Taylor, director of U.S. public relations for TerraCycle. “A school can sign up, individuals can sign up. It’s really a great opportunity to teach about recycling.” Taylor said the program is simple and convenient to use. Pouches just need to be empty and in some sort of shippable container; there is no need to process them at all. Shipping labels can be printed from the company’s website. TerraCycle pays 2 to 3 cents for each pouch, depending on the volume sent in, and schools can keep the proceeds or choose a charity to have a check sent to. Las Sendas has sent in 18,000 pouches just since the Milestone Program began, not counting the estimated 60,000 before then. The school donates its proceeds to Arizona Brainfood — a group that sends backpacks of food home for the weekend with local children in need. “It’s easy to participate,” said Taylor. “Put in the tax ID number where you want the money to go and start collecting. We have schools that design really incredible collection bins. It can be a very formal or informal program at the school.” With more than 78,000 locations, the Drink Pouch Brigade program has collected more than 2 million units and raised more than $4 million dollars.

Students are consistently recycling at Orville C. Krause Later Elementary School, and they’re earning money for it. As of June 30, they have reached the second level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches for a total of $2,500. “This is a wonderful program. We earn two points per pouch as long as the shipment is more than five pounds and they will pay more for shipments more than 58 pounds, but we try not to let them sit that long,” said Veronica Burell, president of the Tiger Cub Boosters, a non-profit volunteer parent group. The Drink Pouch Brigade is a free recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle to be recycled or upcycled. The milestone program began in September 2013 when Capri Sun added prizes for collecting certain amounts of pouches. Now, 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," said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, in a press 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." TerraCycle Inc. is an international upcycling and recycling company that takes difficult-to-recycle packaging and turns it into affordable, innovative products. Founded in 2001, TerraCycle is the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable post-consumer waste. “The program is easy and doesn’t take much time. The whole school is involved. The ladies in the cafeteria have a box set up for the kids with a bucket next to it. They empty any remaining juice into the bucket and throw the pouch in the box. When the box is full, the janitor puts the bag in the Tiger Cub Boosters room and we rinse and throw them into a box lined with a plastic bag for mailing,” said Burell. Since joining the program in 2009, the school has earned $2,568.28 and has sent in 130,935 pouches. “I took over the program this past school year and for the most part we would ship one to two boxes a month. We earned just over $800 this year alone,” said Burrell. “It’s not about earning money. It’s more about realizing the importance of recycling.”

Patterson Elementary School students are earning money and prizes for their school by collecting and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. Patterson 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. The students have earned more than $2,600 for their school by collecting the previously-tossed drink pouches. The Drink Pouch Brigade is a free recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle to be recycled or upcycled. The 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 rewards. "The Milestone Program is meant to inspire individuals and organizations to collect more waste while receiving prizes for their achievements," said Tom Szaky, chief executive officer of TerraCycle. "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." Thousands of other schools across the United States participate in the Drink Pouch Brigade. The program is free to any interested organization or individual, and all shipping costs are paid. In addition, for each piece of waste received, participants earn money for a charity of their choice. Founded in 2001, TerraCycle collects and reuses non-recyclable post-consumer waste. TerraCycle works with more than 30 major brands in the United States and around the world to collect used packaging and products that would otherwise be destined for landfills. It repurposes that waste into new, innovative materials and products that are available online and through major retailers. The waste is collected through TerraCycle's Brigade programs, which are free fundraisers that pay for every piece of waste collected and returned.

Local TV brigade hit.

Local TV brigade hit.