School is just around the corner and it’s time to load up on all those back to school supplies. I used to love getting new supplies, my mom would have everything laid out in the living room and we would collect what we needed.
As most of us have recently been hearing across the media spectrum,
recycling today is in trouble. Recyclers can’t secure the margins that make recycling profitable, recovery rates are stagnant, and waste management companies are looking at the future of the U.S.’s recycling infrastructure with a skeptical eye. What can we do, as social entrepreneurs and conscious consumers, to get back on track?
Human beings manufacture nearly 200 billion pounds of plastic every year. To really grasp that figure, consider these facts: there are also about 200 billion stars in the Milky Way and approximately the same number of galaxies in the entire universe.
Butterfield Elementary School
Sanger school is a top collector of recyclables
Butterfield Elementary School is one of the top Texas collectors in TerraCycle’s Personal Care and Beauty Brigade recycling program.Students at the Sanger school collected hair care, skin care and cosmetic product packaging and assisted in diverting 7,200 units of waste from landfills, according to TerraCycle officials.
There are a lot of ways to raise money, but school districts are getting smarter and clever in how they go about doing it. Such is the case with students at Yake Elementary School who figured out a way to soak up the sun — Capri Suns to be more specific — while earning several hundred dollars all at the same time.
There is a solution out there for plastic and other items that cannot be recycled locally. Businesses and some residents in Citrus County are turning to a company called TerraCycle to take items local recycling centers don’t want, according to the Citrus County Chronicle. The company’s goal is to eliminate waste from landfills, and to be able to reduce and recycle everything.