TERRACYCLE NEWS

ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

Posts with term tape dispensers (3M) X

Save Those Chip Bags

A shelter volunteer turned the humane society on to TerraCycle, which works with more than 100 major brands in the U.S. and 22 other countries to take the packaging from many common, but difficult-to-recycle products and turn it into affordable, innovative products items such as lunch boxes, office supplies, fertilizer, clothing, jewelry and more (view products on dwellsmart.com)

St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church collects trash for competition

St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens is hosting its first TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash through Aug. 15. The community is asked to gather trash from the list included here below and bring it to the TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash Showdown on Aug. 16 at a location to be determined. The person that brings the most trash, by weight, will win a free semester at the University of Georgia — in-state tuition only, estimated at $3,800. Trash that will be accepted includes: Drink pouches, straws and straw wrappers, coffee pouches, cookie and cracker wrappers, energy bar, breakfast bar and energy food wrappers, candy and gum wrappers, chip and pretzel bags, all lunch kit trays and wrappers, dairy containers, Sprout brand baby food and crushed fruit bags, containers and wrappers, cereal bags, Bear Naked brand granola and cereal product wrappers, wine corks, disposable household tape dispensers, plastic sandwich bags and temporary plastic containers. Also, wrappers from toilet paper, napkins and paper towels, toothpaste tubes, dental floss devices and used toothbrushes, glue containers and glue sticks, all writing instruments except chalk and crayons, beauty and skin care product tubes and containers, diaper wrappers, cheese wrappers, tortilla, tostada and bread wrappers, home cleaning containers and items, plastic drinking cups, laundry and dish wash detergent briquette bags, wine pouches, hummus containers and cigarette and cigar waste including ashes, unburnt tobacco, filter stubs, plastic outer wrap and aluminum paper inner wrapping. St. Gregory also will accept all cellphones, MP3 players, digital cameras, GPS systems, calculators, printer and toner cartridges and laptop computers including all cords and chargers, and all shoes. For information on how to package the trash, about the competition, about TerraCycle and more, call Andrew Lane at (706) 296-6631 or emailandrew.s.lane@us.army.mil.

Recycling | Gray’s Woods Elementary is model school

It’s June, and that means the end of the school year is near. I am dedicating this month’s column to one of our local schools for going above and beyond with recycling and sustainable practices. It is my hope that the Gray’s Woods Elementary School can serve as a model for other schools in Centre County. When the Gray’s Woods Elementary Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) met last fall, it was evident that they wanted to ramp up the school’s recycling program. Gray’s Woods had already been recycling paper, metal cans, plastic bottles and cardboard. The school was also collecting soda tabs that are donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Danville. However, they wanted to do more. I volunteered to be chairwoman of the recycling committee, and we started full speed ahead. One of the first new initiatives was to integrate the “TerraCycle Brigades” program. We set up recycling collection bins for the following “hard to recycle” items: paired shoes & flip flops, empty glue sticks, old writing instruments and empty tape dispensers. Once we collected enough of each item, they were mailed to TerraCycle (free of charge) to be recycled. TerraCycle offers reward points for each item. The points can be donated as cash to a charity of the school’s choice. Many local schools and churches participate in TerraCycle Brigades. More information can be found at www.terracycle.com. In addition to the TerraCycle program, recycling bins were set up to collect miscellaneous plastics, lids/caps and plastic bags. When the bins were full, I took the items to work to be incorporated into the county’s recycling program. One great thing about the Gray’s Woods Elementary recycling program is that it’s open to Gray’s Woods families. Parents can send recyclables to school with their child to add to the school’s items. If your school would like to learn about incorporating more recycling into the mix, please contact me at amyschirf@uplink.net, and we can work on it.

Columbus students reduce, reuse, recycle

By Starla Pointer Of the News-Register
Instead of tossing empty juice pouches and granola bar wrappers into the trash, Columbus Elementary School students are recycling them by sending them to a company that uses them to make new products. The project is good for the environment, good for the instructional program and good for the school, said CB Mason of the Columbus PTA. She collects the recycled packages and prepares them for shipping to Terracycle, the remanufacturing company. In return, Terracycle offers cash the school can use for educational activities or equipment, or points the school can exchange for the company’s products. This year, she said, Columbus is using points to “buy” pencil bags that will serve as prizes for winners of the jog-a-thon. Grandhaven Elementary School had been involved in Terracycle recycling projects in the past. Mason learned about that school’s successes and brought the idea to Columbus two years ago. At first, Columbus students recycled only aluminum and plastic juice pouches. It has collected more than 13,000 so far, picking them up at a clip of about 125 a week. Last year, an after-school recycling club added granola and energy bar wrappers. This year, it’s expanded to other food packaging —chip bags, salty snack bags, cheese packaging, tortilla and tortilla chip bags, and tubs and lids that held cream cheese, yogurt, butter and other dairy products. In addition, students also can recycle mechanical pencils, pens, markers, Elmer’s glue packages, plastic tape dispensers and tape cores. Used batteries are being collected separately. PTA members will take them to local hazardous waste collection events. Teachers and staff members taught their students about the recycling project, explaining what could be recycled and how to do it. Students drop items into marked bins in the cafeteria, often encouraging one another to recycle rather than throwing things away. “My fourth-grader, Isaac, will see a friend with a package and tell him he can put it in the Terracycle box. A lot of kids do that,” Mason said. The PTA volunteer collects the recyclables on Fridays, spending about 30 minutes a week on the project. “It’s cumbersome to some extent, but I remind myself every week that we’re taking things out of the waste stream and earning a little money for the school. “And usually, several kids from Kids on the Block want to help,” she said. “The kids are pretty excited.” More information about the recycled materials company can be found at www.terracycle.com.