When students in Liz Gingrich's second-grade class at Westmere Elementary School aren't learning to add and subtract fractions, they're busy recycling juice pouches as members of TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. TerraCycle collects hard-to-recycle items -- like Capri Sun juice pouches, candy wrappers, even toothbrushes -- from school and nonprofit "brigades" across the country, donating a few cents per unit collected. The company then turns those used materials into affordable, eco-friendly green products, a process know as "upcycling." Since the spring of 2009, students at Westmere have collected a total of 4,300 juice pouches. At two cents a pop, they've received about $90 from TerraCycle. Money raised through the program will be donated to local nonprofit and charitable organizations, which the students will help choose.

Creekside and Grand Ridge achieved Level 1 in the Green Schools Program, focusing on waste reduction and recycling. Creekside, a LEED certified building, opened in fall 2010 and started recycling from the get go. Today, students and staff have a recycling rate of 55 percent and reduce their waste by recycling not only the usual suspects — paper and plastic — but also milk cartons and food scraps. “The kids are really great about it,” Program Assistant Judy Bowlby said. “They dump their milk cartons out and put the carton into the recycle bin.” Students can participate in TerraCycle’s Capri Sun Juice Pouch Brigade, directing the discarded pouches toward artists that can make them into bags, clipboards, pencil cases, waste baskets and fences. Though staff members led the initial “green” initiative, student leaders plan to get involved soon.

Other Recycling: Check out TerraCycle to find out about setting up recycling to raise money for your group or school.

TerraCycle takes used drink pouches and sews them into amazing products.

Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste in the United States.  Almost 2.5 million tons end up in landfills each year. When electronics are not properly disposed of, they can leak harmful toxins into the environment. TerraCycle upcycles a wide range of different non-recyclable items, including electronics, into new products.  The TerraCycle Crushed Electronics Trash Can is one such item.  Each trash can saves a few old electronic such as fax machines, printers and computers, from reaching a landfill.  This one of a kind trash can is painted in shades of green by artists in inner-city Trenton, New Jersey.  It is nearly indestructible.  Priced under $10, this useful and eco-friendly trash can makes for a practical green gift.

Other green initiatives in the school include recycling paper and upcycling drink pouches. The pouches are collected and shipped to a company called Terracycle that converts them to tote bags, pencil cases, lunch boxes and book bags. More than 3,500 pouches have been collected since the program started during summer camp in July.  “We’re a Juice Pouch Brigade,” said Jarrell. The school gets 2 cents for every juice pouch sent in. Money collected is put back into green programs for the school. “More importantly, our students are learning how to recycle and making an impact on the environment.”

TerraCycle This innovative company creates bags, bows, flower pots and even kites from, well, trash. TerraCycle will pay you to mail in empty drink pouches, potato chip bags, energy bar wrappers and other packaging waste for them to upcycle into brightly colored products that definitely won’t end up in a landfill anytime soon.

The club is leading efforts to reduce waste in the Washington School lunch room by encouraging their fellow students to recycle items like their milk cartons, and they are collecting items like juice pouches for Terracycle, a company that repurposes packaging to make items such as folders and binders. This winter, the club is participating in the big shoe sort at SWANCC (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County).

  Feb. 15. Tom Szaky. Founder TerraCycle Inc. “Redesigning the Throw-Away Culture.” TerraCycle upcycles trash into consumer products sold at the world’s largest retailers. Good-bye juice pouch; hello book bag! Szaky is an inspirational, award-winning sustainable entrepreneur whose company is redirecting our throw-away culture, with over 14 million people, collecting over 4 billion formerly non-recyclable items, in 11 countries. These recycling “Brigades” have earned over $2 million for their schools and non-profits. Star of National Geographic Channel’s “Garbage Moguls,” Szaky left Princeton in his freshman year to pursue his dream of this grassroots, collaborative business model. www.terracycle.net.

During the past two months, several Floral Street School students with the help of the eco-friendly organization the Dumpster Divers, collected over 2,000 empty juice box pouches and snack bags, which will be sent to the eco-friendly company Terracycle.  Terracycle collects various types of trash and creates new products, such as coolers and backpacks, to be sold in major stores across the country, such as Walmart, Target and Home Depot.