In Tom Szaky’s vision of the new economy, nothing is garbage. Not cigarette butts. Not dirty diapers. Not even used tampons.

For the fourth year in a row, Willis Lane Elementary has earned a Green Ribbon School designation for recycling and reducing waste. Sponsored by Cyberways and Waterways, an Austin-based charity focused on empowering kids to positively impact their health, environment and education, the Green Ribbon Schools program recognizes campuses that have extensive recycling efforts. PTA volunteer Melissa Malone got the school involved with the program and completes the annual application that details all the efforts.

Diane Davis, of Val Caron, is the TOP collector nation-wide of used lunch kits, which she sends to TerraCycle through their Lunchmate Brigade. The folks at Lunchmate have decided to TRIPLE her points until the end of the year, so she can raise as much money as possible for SickKids Hospital and the Starlight Foundation, charities that really helped her son Joel, who sadly passed away from a heart condition at just 18 years old. To help Diane, simply bring all of your used lunch kit packaging (any brand, such as Lunchmate, Lunchables or other tray-based lunch packaging) to École Jean Paul II, anytime Monday to Friday during school hours. To learn more about TerraCycle, visit their website.

"It smells. It's nasty," said Gwen Shindel, who teaches fourth and fifth grade at Prairie Winds Elementary School in Monument. But not one student has complained about the school's efforts to save normally unrecyclable food packaging from ending up in the garbage.

WOOD RIDGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — A New Jersey first-grader is on a mission to secure a new playground for her elementary school.

Students at Hayden R. Lawrence Upper Elementary have collected more than 17,600 snack bags to recycle, making them top collectors in a free national recycling program created by The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. and TerraCycle.

Last school year, Madison Simis Elementary Green Team students earned money and prizes for their school by collecting and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the lunchroom. Madison Simis Elementary students reached the third level of TerraCycle (www.terracycle.com) and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest by collecting more than 40,000 drink pouches. For their accomplishment, the school earned 50 TerraCycle wristbands and a vinyl banner announcing their achievement.

Students and teachers at Sacred Heart School are the top collectors of lunch kits in the Lunch Kit Brigade, a free, national recycling program created by the trademark student lunch and snack company Lunchables Lunch Combinations and New Jersey-based waste recycler TerraCycle.

Harley Hood, Lauryn Dunlap and Keitron Fountain take a break from sorting recyclable items to be sent to TerraCycle. Students and teachers at Mount Vernon Intermediate School (MVIS) are among the top collectors of lunch kits in the Lunch Kit Brigade®, a free, national recycling program.

Students and teachers at Saint Patrick School are among the top lunch kit collectors in New Hampshire for the Lunch Kit Brigade, a free national recycling program created by Lunchables Lunch Combinations and TerraCycle.