Projeto escolar ensina a transformar embalagens usadas em cadernos e outros produtos reciclados, além de reverter a coleta em doações para entidades. A atividade partiu da professora de religião de 5ª e 8ª séries, Lorita Menegon de Souza, ao descobrir o trabalho da TerraCycle, uma das principais empresas do mundo na área de reciclagem.
Students at Woodward Elementary School are learning the meaning of the adage, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."
In the students' case, the trash consists of discarded juice pouches. For one New Jersey-based company, the little unwanted pouches represent the treasure.
TerraCycle, a company founded by Princeton University students Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer in 2001, has matured from a small start-up showing people how to compost with earthworms to a global leader that takes garbage and "upcycles" it into usable products. Students earn two cents for their school for every empty juice pouch donated to TerraCycle. But they say one of the best parts is having the chance to see their used pouches transformed into backpacks.
Terra Cycle is a recycling program, and website, on the cutting edge. On their website you can locate a participating drop off location or sign up for a Brigade and start collecting yourself; there's a drink pouch Brigade, a Clif Bar Brigade, a candy wrapper Brigade; just to name a few. These Brigades are responsible for collecting the wrappers / empty containers and shipping them off to Terra Cycle where they are turned into treasures like these (pictures of products are from official website or their facebook page)..
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.
