Cub Scout Pack 140 and Elizabeth Lane Elementary School are teaming up to raise money for the school with discarded candy wrappers. Mars, Wrigley and Cadbury candy companies have launched TerraCycle, a recycling project that gives schools 2 cents for every wrapper collected. The Cub Scouts and the Elizabeth Lane Green Team ask that students – and community members – bring candy wrappers from M&Ms, Snickers, Starburst, Swedish Fish, Twix and Skittles to the receptacle located in the school’s main lobby, located at 121 Elizabeth Lane in Matthews. The fundraiser will run through Nov. 4.

TerraCycle offers collection programs that regularly collect waste from more than 14 million people in 11 countries and convert it into more than 1500 new products and materials. Many of the collection programs are free and focus on waste that is not recyclable via traditional methods. The items are then sold at a variety of retailers, including Walmart and Whole Foods Market. The program was founded in 2011 and aims to eliminate the entire concept of ''waste'' by proving that everything we throw away is actually reusable. Tom Szaky began TerraCycle when he was just a 20-year old college freshman attending Princeton University and started by producing organic fertilizer that was packaged in used soda pop bottles.

TerraCycle: http://www.terracycle.net is a great company doing great things with previously useless trash. They turn Starburst wrappers into messenger bags and chip bags into park benches. And they get those wrappers and bags from community collection brigades and directly from the companies whom might have extra packaging to get rid of. So, the upside is that those items are being kept out of the landfills where they may never decompose at all because of the science behind aerobic and anaerobic digestion.

  To help celebrate Earth Month, Earth Day, Easter and Cinco de Mayo, TerraCycle is launching several campaigns that put a new spin on recycling, making it more creative then ever and easy for everyone to get involved. On April 11, TerraCycle will join with the Garnier Brand to provides the first comprehensive solution for all cosmetic packaging waste. Billions of pieces of waste are expected to be collected by Garnier which will dramatically reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills.  Through the sponsorship of worldwide Cosmetics Brigade, cosmetic packaging will be collected and shipped to a TerraCycle facility. All kinds of cosmetic waste that would otherwise end up in our trash can now be recycled or reused. This is huge. Not too long ago I was discussing reusing and recycling cosmetic waste. Now Garnier and TerraCycle offer a fabulous solution.

Potato Chip Bags and drink pouches: TerraCycle operates around the world and turns otherwise unrecyclable goods into useable products such as fence made from drink pouches, recycling bins from recycled plastics (very clever), Starburst Insulated Coolers made from candy wrappers and more.

An American company that up-cycles wrappers from a number of food & drink products, turns them into new products. Not only do they recycle, but they buy waste products from the public to recycle & they donate to charity.

Terracycle - An American company that up-cycles wrappers from a number of food & drink products, turns them into new products. Not only do they recycle, but they buy waste products from the public to recycle & they donate to charity.

For those not familiar with "Terracycle", it is one of many organizations that work to create useful items out of waste products. "Terracycle", in conjunction with both consumers and people from within the food and beverage industry, collects empty and discarded items like foil cheese packets, foil beverage pouches, potato chip bags, gum wrappers, beverage bottles and other items. "Terracycle" then converts those items into a wide array of new items like insulated coolers, garbage cans, fences, plant food, household cleaners, photo frames, jewel cases, clothing and fashion accessories. Part of the proceeds from the sale of those items is in turn donated to area schools and non-profit groups.

In 2010 proof of the ever burgeoning green movement can be found throughout the stories that made it into the headlines of mainstream media. For instance, there were several stories of various young ladies creating prom dresses out of used gum wrappers and foil beverage pouches. In addition, more and more items made from recycled materials such as t-shirts made from ground up soda bottles began showing up in retail stores. This increase in repurposing materials has caused food and beverage manufacturers like Kraft Foods to stand up and take notice. Proof in point is the company's recent decision to add foil cheese packets to their pre-existing "Terracycle Collection Program."