With budget cuts increasing every year, local teachers are saving trash to meet their classroom needs. Thomson Elementary, Norris Elementary and Maxwell Elementary schools earn money for used drink pouches, cookie and candy wrappers, chip bags and other trash that they send in to various participating companies. Thomson Elementary School has the biggest "trash to cash" program, according to Lauren Taylor, public relations person for TerraCycle. TerraCycle accepts empty drink pouches, chip bags, cookie wrappers, candy wrappers, yogurt cups, Lunchables and lotion tubes and pays the school two cents for each unit of packaging. Ms. Taylor said Thomson Elementary students collected approximately 82,000 wrappers and earned $1,640 during the first semester of last school year. It is not yet known how much was collected/earned during the second semester. In addition to the products turned into TerraCycle, Thomson Elementary students also collect Campbell's soup labels, General Mills Box Tops for Education, Coke caps and tabs, old ink cartridges, old cell phones, empty Neosporin tubes, gum packages, and empty Ziploc bags. All items earn money for the school, with the exception of Coke can tabs, which Mrs. Giles sends to the Ronald McDonald House for their benefit. Maxwell Elementary School also participates in the TerraCycle program. Parent volunteer Judith Hodges was recognized by News Channel 12 for her efforts at the school. According to Ms. Taylor, Maxwell Elementary students collected almost 63,000 wrappers and pouches, earning the school $1,250 after the first semester. Maxwell Elementary Principal Donna Bennett said those numbers should be higher after the second semester, because Mrs. Hodges has hosted several contests with big prizes, such as a week-end at the beach. At Norris Elementary, QUEST students who make up the "Green Team" collect Capri Sun pouches and Frito Lay chip bags for TerraCycle. QUEST teacher Khrista Kent said the school has no parent volunteer to assist in the efforts, so their collection is much smaller. She said Norris Elementary earned approximately $45 during the first semester. "It just helps us focus on recycling, and we used the money to buy flowers that the students planted around the school," Mrs. Kent said. TerraCycle uses the trash to make a range or products like Seed Starter kits, pencil cases, cleaner bottles and tote bags. In a release, Ms. Taylor said the trash "came full circle back to Thomson" this year when these items were sold at Walmart in Thomson for the first time in early April. For information, visit www.terracycle.net.

TerraCycle  has gotten a lot of media attention for its unusual business model: Basically, it takes waste and turns it into a wide range of products, from fertilizer to computer bags to kites. Co-founded by Tom Szaky, who dropped out of Princeton University to start the company, TerraCycle, which is based in Trenton, N.J., has been the subject of an Inc. magazine  cover story, a National Geographic reality show, and a recent profile in the Wall Street Journal. But in 2009, the privately held company says it lost $2.2 million on sales of $7.6 million. The problem, according to Mr. Szaky, TerraCycle’s chief executive, was that the company didn’t really know how to manufacture its many products. You can find out how he addressed the problem — and why he’s projecting a $3.2 million profit on sales of $16 million in 2010 — by watching the video below.

TerraCycle is a company that makes eco-friendly products out of recycled and upcycled items.  For instance, I am on their cork brigade.  I collect corks, save them, and then send them into TerraCycle.  There they upcycle them into cork boards.  I have friends and businesses help me save, and collect the corks.  They do this with many products such as juice pouches, cookie wrappers, chip bags, candy wrappers, soda bottles and milk jugs.  Those are just a few of the items they reuse.  They always need more “brigaders”.  The brigades are a wonderful school fund-raiser.  You can also raise funds for other organizations.  For instance, I donate the funds from my cork brigade to The Nature Conservancy.   Please take a look at TerraCycle and consider being a “brigader” for them.  It’s a win-win for all involved.

Nomacorc has joined with TerraCycle to upcycle corks.

TerraCycle's Green Up Shop in New York City is profiled in a Japanese magazine.

There are similar projects to Trashy Bags in other countries. "Bazura Bags " in the Philippines makes bags from offcuts left over by packaging companies, India's "Thunk in India," makes all kinds of recycled products, including pencil cases made from fruit juice cartons, and "TerraCycle " in the United States makes a range of items, including backpacks made from cookie wrappers.

Where in this is environmental education? In most cases, non existent. This is a problem—How can we expect the children of today to be capable stewards of our troubled planet when they don't have the basic knowledge of what's going on, what their role is, and what they can do? That's why I'm really proud to have launched the free TerraCycle Curriculum <http://www.terracycle.net/curriculums/overview> , with a lot of help from the preeminent sustainability education designer Cloud Institute <http://www.sustainabilityed.org/> . What is it? Well let me start with what it's not: Another rehashing of the basics of, let's face it, how to be a "better consumer." Don't get me wrong, of course I'm in support of more people making greener purchase choices, recycling, using CFLs, etc. But that's being covered everywhere you look these days, in all manner of media. What kids need is a solid foundation of environmental knowledge, that can be applied in the rest of their lives—From where they live, play and work, to what they create at work and then what they do with it at the end of its useful life. From there, they can apply it to help shape the world in a positive way, rather then feeling like a victim of it.

As part of a new collaboration, a handful of residents is turning trash into cash. It's an effort to go green while getting green. Gloria Gilbert, founder of the Westford Farmer's Market, recently launched Sustainable Westford -- a nonprofit platform created to organize local groups with the common goal of promoting green initiatives. "There are many groups covering a range of topics including water pollution, organic farming to alternative energy however there is not one platform. They're spread out all over the place," Gilbert said. "I wanted to partner with local programs with the same mission as ours -- to create an eco-friendly and vibrant Westford." One of the first programs Gilbert teamed up with in town is Upcycle It! created by fellow resident Kristina Greene. The initiative collects non-recyclable items such as chip bags, candy-bar wrappers, coffee bags and juice pouches in a number of drop-off bins around town. The bins are collected weekly and then sent to Terracycle, an international company that takes the "trash" and makes it into a number of products. Skittles wrappers become an insulated cooler tote bag. Crushed computers and fax machines are morphed into flower pots. Circuit boards are reused as clipboards and drink coasters. Oreo Cookie packaging is transformed into a kite and much more. The innovative "recycling" is not the only benefit to Westford. Each piece of trash that's collected and sent in is worth anywhere from two cents for chip bags to 25 cents for cell phones. All the money Greene collects from Upcycle It! is then donated back to Westford schools.

Health Magazine includes TerraCycle's Glass Cleaner as a Best Home Buy.

As the grand marshal of Sunday’s Strawberry Festival parade, Rita Materni may be waving, but she won’t be chucking candy at crowds. But if she did, she’d probably shout out, “Recycle that wrapper!” She’s joined two “brigades” through www.terracycle.net, collecting used cookie wrappers and juice pouches and getting paid 2 cents for each. These items are turned into unique accessories and other products, according to TerraCycle, which says that over 10 million people worldwide have collected 1.8 trillion units and earned over $1 million for charity.