Maxwell Elementary School pupils are saving the world. And they recently received an award for their efforts.
Lynn Davidson/McDuffie Mirror
TerraCycle Inc. named the school among the Top 100 in the nation for recycling drink pouches. Lauren Taylor, of TerraCycle, said Maxwell Elementary was ranked because it had collected 44,517 drink pouches by October.
"Obviously, the children there are passionate about recycling and aware of what steps they can take to protect the environment," Ms. Taylor said. "It's great to see them taking part in such a large-scale project."
A certificate in a frame made from shredded drink pouches was sent to the school and presented during a faculty meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 19. Maxwell Elementary was one of only four elementary schools in Georgia to receive the recognition, according to Ms. Taylor.
TerraCycle provides free waste-collection programs for hard-to-recycle materials. The company transforms the waste into affordable green products, according to its Web site. The company recently reached a milestone. It has collected 50 million drink pouches -- the equivalent to 20 school buses in weight, 480 football fields in length, enough to stretch across the Grand Canyon nine times if laid side-by-side.
"So, the children at Maxwell Elementary helped because the 44,000 they collected contributed to that," Ms. Taylor said.
TerraCycle collects drink pouches, soda bottles, chip bags, candy and gum wrappers, zip-close bags, cheese wrappers, coffee containers and Lunchable containers and turns them into tote bags, lunch bags, book bags, coolers, clipboards, picture frames, bottles, fences and other items, which are sold at Target, Kmart, Walmart, The Home Depot and via its Web site,
www.terracycleshop.com.
Terracycle upcycles consumer waste into new salable goods. They primarily harvest their raw material from schoolchildren as part of charity drives, though they are now placing recycling stations at certain Walmart stores. At the Walmart centers they pay 3 cents per piece, but only for a narrow range of product packaging; the website supports a wider range of recyclables.
From its humble beginnings selling worm-poop fertilizer, this New Jersey product manufacturer upcycles retail trash into retail treasure.
Each and every product on this earth has a life span,” said Tom Szaky, CEO and vice president of licensing and product development at
TerraCycle, Inc. “The end-of-life reality of a bag of potato chips is that the food ends up in the toilet and the bag ends up in the garbage. Same with a pen; you buy a pen, the ink runs out. The only difference is, some products can be recycled easily and others not so easily.”
Jackie Fashjian became very passionate about spreading awareness to future generations on this very serious environmental issue. She began working with a company called Terracycle. Terracycle creates new products from non-recyclable trash that would otherwise end up in the landfills. They resell these innovative products to major retailers like Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Home Depot just to name a few. The best part about this program is Terracycle donates 2 cents to a school or charity for every piece of trash sent in. So far The Dumpster Divers have diverted thousands of pieces of trash from the landfills and raised well over $100 for Floral Street School. They have also opened a new account to raise $$ for a local Girl Scout troop. Their hope in the future is to spread this program throughout Central MA and raise a lot more money for local schools and other non profit charities.
I hadn’t heard of
Terracycle until it made news recently by making a deal with Wal Mart. Until April 29, the national chain will sell Terracycle’s upcycled backpacks, pencil cases and more, right next to the product the new merch was made from.
Want a frito lay purse? Hit up the chip aisle. For a Capri Sun backpack, head down to the drink section.
"At
TerraCycle, everything is made from garbage, and garbage is free." says owner Tom Szaky. His green company makes usable products from throwaways and worse...that stinky garbage no one wants to have around.
It started from a college project that mushroomed into a viable green business for the 21st century, now worth $7.45 million. Not bad for garbage!
TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky has turned garbage into a revolutionary new industry.
