It looked like a cleaner form of dumpster diving as fifth graders at San Clemente's Truman Benedict Elementary School gathered juice pouches and chip bags from two big recycling bins. While other students played handball just yards away, the fifth graders boxed up trash that would soon be turned into backpacks, kites and other products. The process is called upcycling and it's part of a new Orange County Department of Education initiative to encourage schools to reduce waste. Schools across the county have been recycling for years, but the new Project Zero Waste OC initiative aims to pump up the volume on those programs, said Lori Kiesser, a Department of Education representative.

TerraCycle produces very cool consumer products from recycled food packaging. But for businesses trying to grow revenues in this “soft recovery” the coolest thing about TerraCycle is its creative business strategies for generating top-line revenue results with attractive profit margins. How it engage its customers is what makes TerraCycle’s strategy unique. For example, it “up-cycles” Capri Sun wrappers to create products like pencil holders that target the very school children who are the principal consumers of Capri Sun juices. Its customer engagement program involves encouraging school children to collect the wrappers as a fund raiser for their school and a path for learning about recycling. Beyond this being a brilliant social marketing example it also makes money. From a production-cycle perspective, TerraCycle takes a zero-cost waste stream and converts it into a product with attractive margins.

TerraCycle was founded by a brainiac college student back in 2001 & started as organic fertilizer company {ever see the  worm poop in an upcycled soda bottle?} in addition ~ they run free national collection programs to collect wrappers from tons of products from companies like Frito Lay (Pepsi), Kraft Foods, Stonyfield Farm, Mars Wrigley {and many more.} from schools & non-profits & regular people like you & me!

While recycling statistics show the U.S. making little strides every year, there are certain items that still fall in the "what the hell am I supposed to do with this?" category. Throwing them in the trash is never the best option, as many of these items, such as light bulbs and batteries, can be toxic. Don't let that burnt-out light bulb intimidate you-- If there's a will, there's a way to recycle everything from light bulbs to Capri Sun pouches. So if you will, here are some recycling options for those harder to recycle items.

The second grade students at Bonner Elementary School in Phoebe Bradberry, Amanda Kirkman, Wendy Bradberry, and Sloan Dills’ classes recently worked hard to earn money for the Summerville Miracle League. They found an awesome company named Terracycle that reuses empty juice pouches and chip bags to create new school supplies such as pencil pouches, book bags, lunch boxes, and folders. Juice pouches are made out of aluminum and pouches and chip bags are laminated with a plastic layer, which make them non-recyclable. This program still benefits the earth because it is preventing these items from piling up in the landfills.

ROANOKE RAPIDS — Making moves to enrich the environment and their education is what some 4th graders at Belmont Elementary School in Roanoke Rapids have been up to lately. Working with a company called TerraCycle, the Belmont students help turn some of their trash into useful products and help raise money for a program bringing them closer to the environment their recycling efforts help protect. “It’s teaching them a lot about recycling,” said Heather Karns, a teacher involved in the program at Belmont. “After their soccer games, the kids will bring back a pile of the Capri-Sun pouches and instead of throwing them out, they bring them in for recycling.”

Fourth-grade teacher Stephanie Gawbdzinski’s worried that she’s going to be asked how to spell her last name. But Gawbdzinski had an easier task on Tuesday: describing how Thomas Obbink, her student at Sunrise Elementary, came up with a plan that would save the environment and earn money for the school. “Thomas is our class recycling expert,” she said. The student hates to see anything thrown out that might be recycled or put to work with a new use, Gawbdzinski says. An empty Kleenex box in the trash is likely to be retrieved and turned into an impromptu pencil box.