Pennsbury In a continuing efforts to "go green" at Makefield Elementary School, students and teachers have been working extra hard to recycle. Led by teacher Roberta Stafford, the Recycling Club's goal is to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible. The kids spend time each week collecting water bottles, soda cans, paper, cardboard and composted scraps from the cafeteria. The school has also shipped more than 3,200 Capri Sun packages, 100 Kashi packages and 75 chip bags to TerraCycle, a company that reuses packaging to make new products such as book bags that are sold at major retailers.

The winner’s family will also win a trip to New York to visit the headquarters of recycling company TerraCycle where they will have the chance to see their winning design turned into reality. As part of the campaign, Ben will also be taking part in a national ‘roadshow’ (stopping off at Chester Zoo and Longleat Park along the way) to encourage as many kids and their families to take part from the local area.

So, you've picked all the low-hanging eco-fruit. You've changed out your light bulbs and done a variety of home energy saving retrofits. You've put in tap aerators and shortened your showers. You walk and ride your bike instead of drive as much as you can. You've even started using the clothesline in your laundry room to cut your dryer use by two-thirds...now what? Go eco-shopping to celebrate. Here are thre great products that you can use to "pitch in."

TerraCycle produces very cool consumer products from recycled food packaging. But for businesses trying to grow revenues in this “soft recovery” the coolest thing about TerraCycle is its creative business strategies for generating top-line revenue results with attractive profit margins. How it engage its customers is what makes TerraCycle’s strategy unique. For example, it “up-cycles” Capri Sun wrappers to create products like pencil holders that target the very school children who are the principal consumers of Capri Sun juices. Its customer engagement program involves encouraging school children to collect the wrappers as a fund raiser for their school and a path for learning about recycling. Beyond this being a brilliant social marketing example it also makes money. From a production-cycle perspective, TerraCycle takes a zero-cost waste stream and converts it into a product with attractive margins.

TerraCycle was founded by a brainiac college student back in 2001 & started as organic fertilizer company {ever see the  worm poop in an upcycled soda bottle?} in addition ~ they run free national collection programs to collect wrappers from tons of products from companies like Frito Lay (Pepsi), Kraft Foods, Stonyfield Farm, Mars Wrigley {and many more.} from schools & non-profits & regular people like you & me!

TerraCycle takes drink pouches, wrappers, corks, yogurt cups, chip bags and other waste. Each is shipped to a specific "brigade" which in turn takes the material and crafts it into unique and functional items for kids and adults. The recycling program allows almost any school or non-profit organization to save items, keeping them from landfill. TerraCycle will pay 2 cents or more for each item, giving the funds directly to the donating organization. Since the beginning of the 2009-10 school year, Sloman Primary has earned more than $325.

Sharpie, Paper Mate and EXPO have partnered with TerraCycle to collect and reuse pens, markers and other writing instruments in a way that helps schools, charities, and non-profits to raise funds. Groups that want to participate can print pre-paid shipping labels from TerraCycle’s website. The collected writing instruments are then shipped to TerraCycle. Once received, TerraCycle upcycles trashed pens into new products.

Nancy Baiche would have an entirely green school if she could, but for now she's happy believing that teaching the prekindergarten classes at Williams Ledger Elementary School about recycling could impact the world and maybe save the earth someday. "They love it," she said. "They're becoming little voices that I'm hoping in the future will become bigger voices." Recycling is part of the curriculum in prekindergarten classes every year, but this year the eight classes at Williams Ledger are getting hands on experience while earning extra money for the school. Baiche, a prekindergarten aide in Bernadine Wagner's class at Williams Ledger, said she was looking for lessons and educational tools to help her students understand recycling when she came across the TerraCycle program. "There's a lot of information out there for adults, but it's really hard to teach to a 3- or 4-year- old," she said. TerraCycle is a company that takes trash such as drink pouches and chip bags and turns it into products such as CapriSun tote bags and pencil bags made from cookie wrappers.

  Lee Elementary School students turned juice pouches into pencil cases, chip bags to lunch boxes and candy wrappers into backpacks as part of a national initiative that combines fundraising and recycling. Students collected nearly 6,000 pieces of non-recyclable waste, such as bags, wrappers and bottles, and shipped them to TerraCycle, a company that makes new products from lunchroom garbage. TerraCycle turns food packaging destined for the landfill into products for home, school and the office. The company’s tote bags, trash cans, picture frames and more are made from the waste and sold at major retailers like Target, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot.