Turn Classroom Clutter Into Recycled Products – For Free

With the mid-way point in the school year upon us, recycling firm TerraCycle is encouraging  teachers and students to use the semester break to clean out their desks and lockers.

TerraCycle, an international upcycling and recycling company that takes difficult-to-recycle packaging and turns it into affordable, eco-friendly products,has partnered with Newell-Rubbermaid, Elmer’s and 3M to organize the Brigade recycling program. Through Brigade, any school, family or individual can collect common classroom items like old glue, pens, tape, etc. and send them to TerraCycle to be recycled into various plastic products such as park benches, flower pots and plastic lumber.

“Items with mixed materials and mixed plastics, like most classroom supplies, are not recyclable in most areas around the country,” TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky said. “By opening a nationwide recycling Brigade to collect these items, our partners are giving their consumers an option other than the landfill, and ensuring that there are innovative options for these products.”

There is also a charitable aspect to the Brigade program. Schools can earn points based on the amount of recyclables they turn in. Those points can be redeemed for charity gifts, or converted to cash donations to a charity of choice.  For every piece of waste participants send in to TerraCycle, they receive two points.

Anyone can sign up and send these items in for free by visiting www.terracycle.net and printing out a postage-paid shipping label from his/her account. Once TerraCycle receives the package, the participant’s account will be credited with earned points. TerraCycle has already kept over two billion pieces of trash from going to the landfill, and with its partners, dispersed more than $2.5 million to charity through the Brigade program.

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