TerraCycle takes recycling to a whole new level with their recycling brigades program. The company was originally founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, a then 20 year old Princeton University Freshman. TerraCycle started by producing organic fertilizer (worm poop) in used soda bottles.
As part of its sustainability efforts,
Spud also collects and reuses difficult-to-recycle items through
TerraCycle's Brigades collection programs. Items are recovered and upcycled into consumer products like toys and office supplies.
Students at Pine Creek Elementary sort through boxes of wrappers and other recyclables for a program called TerraCycle in which students earn points that are redeemable for cash for the school, or they can choose o donate the money to charities.
Now, Pine Creek students and staff are raising money for their school while keeping hard-to-recycle items out of landfills.
TerraCycle eliminates waste through upcycling, the process of converting waste or useless materials into new products of better quality or a higher environmental value.
Through the program, students at Pine Creek upcycle a majority of their food wrappers, such as chip bags, granola bar wrappers and Capri Sun pouches and send them to TerraCycle.
With 44 different brigades, or waste streams, schools and other organizations can recycle items from cellphones to toothpaste tubes to writing instruments.
Pine Creek participates in more than 20 of the brigades.
Dear Parents,
Our TerraCycle brigade has been going well! Instead of going into the landfill, these hard-to-recycle items are being turned them into affordable green products! For more information about the TerraCycle program and products, visit
www.TerraCycle.net. Thank you, everyone, for your collection efforts!
Battle Creek's St. Joseph Middle School and Purdy Elementary are participating in the TerraCycle Brigade recycling program, according to a news release from the Trenton, New Jersey-based company.
Through the program, schools can recycle lunch wrappers from chips and crackers and more and send the recycling in to earn points toward cash, according to the release.
TerraCycle said schools can sign up for free at terracycle.net.
