MOUNT LAUREL - The Countryside Elementary School has earned a $30,000 grant for placing second in a statewide contest that encourages the "upcycling" of post-consumer packaging. The "Trash for Cash" program is sponsored by TerraCycle, a Trenton manufacturer of goods made from used materials, and discount retailer Wal-Mart. In addition to the grant, the school earned $931 in funds for the parent-teacher organization, an award based on the unspecified number of boxes of recycled materials submitted for the contest.

Parents and kids at the K-2 school finished fifth in a statewide recycling contest sponsored by TerraCycle, a company started by a Princeton University dropout who sold organic “worm poop” fertilizer in used soda bottles and then branched out to make lunch bags, fences and other products from hard-to-recycle materials. TerraCycle partners with major brands to create products from packaging that otherwise might pose a public relations problem for them. The company was founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a 20-year-old freshman at Princeton. When his worm fertilizer idea only finished fourth in the Princeton Business Plan Contest, he left school to develop the concept and won a $1 million competition. He turned down the money to retain control of the company. TerraCycle now operates from a Trenton headquarters decorated by graffiti artists. The company has turned nearly 2 billion pieces of trash into a line of 246 recycled and “upcycled” products sold by the likes of Walmart and Whole Foods Market. More than $1.6 million has been generated for schools and charities. On Earth Day 2009, Tom Szaky published Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle is Redefining Green Business.

9. Companies learn to close the loop. Starbucks announced it’s made considerable progress toward turning used coffee cups into new cups, and five Walmart stores began testing a collection system for 28 types of trash (candy wrappers, yogurt tubs, pens, coffee bags) that TerraCycle can convert into tote bags, plant pots, backpacks and portable speakers. Hasbro is increasing the recycled content of its packaging and paper materials to 75 percent this year, and Pepsi-owned Naked Juice is converting all of its bottles to 100 percent post-consumer content.

Countryside Elementary School has earned a $30,000 grant for placing second in a statewide contest that encourages the “upcycling” of post-consumer packaging. A public school serving children in grades K-4 in Mount Laurel, Countryside community saved 46,554 items from the trash, including juice pouches, candy wrappers, sandwich and snack bags, and yogurt containers. Parent Kate Esaia rinsed them out and prepared the items to be shipped to Terracycle, a Princeton-based international company that creates new products, such as insulated coolers, with the recycled materials. The “Trash for Cash” contest was sponsored by TerraCycle and Walmart. A total of $125,000 is being awarded to New Jersey schools that contributed the most post-consumer packaging between Oct. 1 and Dec. 15.

Trenton-based TerraCycle converts non-recyclable products and packaging into affordable, eco-friendly items that range from backpacks to benches. Its design team suggests a novel interior decorating idea: Drill holes in vinyl records and connect them with jump rings to make a room divider.

She found out the offer came from TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade, a free fundraising program for schools and nonprofit groups that pays 2 cents for every Capri Sun pouch collected. So far, TerraCycle has collected 50 million drink pouches through its program, and paid out $1 million. "Our goal is for people to look at waste in a whole new way," said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. "The $1 million that Capri Sun has helped us give out is a powerful sign of the enthusiasm that communities across the country have for the goals of this program."

  In addition to new mums, poinsettias and hard goods products, the event – dubbed Plants On Parade – gave Clearwater the opportunity to talk about a few of its unique initiatives, including an interactive sustainability initiative that involves kids collecting reusable plastic food tubs in which plants are grown. “We’ve grown our mums in these I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter tubs,” Medeiros says. “Kids will collect them after the flowers have played their role, and they’ll return them to their school or an area that’s been designated by the store for two cents each. “TerraCycle has agreed with us on an exclusive agreement and for any store that participates, we will implement a marketing/PR program that enables us to go into a geographic area around the grocery store and direct market to that elementary school.”

TerraCycle is a company that converts ordinary trash into consumer goods.  They work with schools and non-profits to obtain the materials they use.  TerraCycle provides the groups with collection kits and pays them for the waste material they send in. TerraCycle upcycles things like chips bags, drink pouches, and candy wrappers into backpacks, clipboards, buckets, and cleaning solutions.  Now TerraCycle  has introduced the Frito-Lay speakers.  These speakers are portable, foldable, and work with any computer or mp3 player that has a 3.5 mm headphone jack.  The speakers are about $20

One man's garbage is another man's treasure. While the concept is as old as the hills, it's taken on a new, greener meaning this decade. And it even has a new name: upcycling. "Upcycling is finding value in the material as it exists now, retaining that value or increasing it by turning it into a new creation," explained Stacey Cusack, 26, public relations manager for a company born from the upcycle theory called Terracycle, Inc. based in Trenton, N.J. The term "upcycle" is attributed to William McDonough, one of the co-authors of the book "Cradle to Cradle," published in 2002. "Our founder, Tom Szaky considers (McDonough) his mentor," Cusack said. Szaky, according to Cusack, dropped out of Princeton University almost 10 years ago at age 19 to start what would become Terracycle, a global upcycling company that converts trash (snack bags, cookie wrappers, and drink pouches) into a variety of products, such as Frito Lay messenger bags, Skittle kites and Capri Sun totes.

  • Chip bags: These aren’t accepted in your blue bin, however you can join or start a local “brigade” of collectors for many hard-to-recycle items including chip bags, and earn cash for your school or nonprofit by signing up at www.terracycle.net If this is not an option, please place them in the trash.