Get paid to recycle. Start a drive at your school to collect yogurt containers, drink pouches, chip, cookie and candy packages, plus Scott and Huggies wrappers and Elmer’s glue sticks and bottles. The school can earn 2 cents per piece of packaging (terracycle.net/brigades).

Next time you purchase a box of Capri Sun drinks, a tube of Colgate toothpaste, a Clif bar etc.. consider hanging on to your trash and sending it to Terracycle! TerraCycle takes a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials and then makes affordable, eco-friendly products. Terracycle is hoping to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage. With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Consider what happens when your kids finish drinking a Capri Sun…they toss the empty juice box in the trash which eventually ends up in a dumpster or landfill. Instead of adding the drink pouch to a pile of other pouches at the landfill, TerraCycle converts the used drink pouches into unique fashion bags, tote bags, pencil cases, and other items for kids and adults (check out the adorable Skittles bag below made from recycled Skittles wrappers)!

Price: $14.99 These iPod speakers are made with wrappers from food conglomerate Mars that would have gone to waste. The speakers come in different designs, either M&M wrappers, Skittles or Starburst (pictured here). The speakers don’t require batteries or need to be plugged into an outlet, making them safer for the environment.