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‘The children are so excited’
Published March 16, 2010
Sloman Primary School students are working on ways to make their school a little more eco-friendly.
Just inside the front door are a line of white baskets designated for collection of a variety of items, such as potato chip, cookie and candy wrappers and drink pouches.
“There is a lot of stuff that comes through here,” said Sloman Principal Scott Bonds.
“We are working to get the elementary and middle schools involved with what we are doing.”
Kerry Stone, kindergarten teacher, said each of Sloman’s 460 students was given a letter, outlining what types of material was recyclable and collected at school. They started small, only accepting juice pouches at the first of the year.
“I keep checking for new things they are accepting. We are now able to recycle glue bottles, chip, candy and cookie wrappers, markers and other things,” Stone said. “I am always online looking at new things to collect.”
When the minimum number of items has been collected, teachers box them up and ship them to TerraCycle.
The company pays for the shipping so the schools are only out the cost of tape and shipping labels.
“Its a really good deal for us,” Stone said. “The children are so excited to be doing this and know what they are doing is helping the school and the students.”
All the funds raised goes back into the school, she said, to pay for things like instructional supplies and books.
“I knew our instructional supply money would be going down due to proration, so I thought when I saw this program, that it would be a good thing for us to do for many reasons,” Stone said.
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.
“We’re asking folks in the community and parents that if they have things to donate, to bring them to the school and drop them off here,” Stone said.
“The $300 we have raised doesn’t sound like much, but it all adds up in the end. This is such a good opportunity for the students to learn about recycling.
“They are at the point now that they bring me things asking if they are recyclable. To see them that excited is wonderful.”
Students, staff and the public are not the only ones involved. The lunchroom workers try to collect as many chip bags and other wrappers as possible, bringing them to the front of the school for collection.
“We have nearly 460 students in this school alone,” Bonds said. “The middle and elementary school each have about that many as well. If they would all try to collect those wrappers, we could really have a large number to recycle.”
TerraCycle currently has 178 products available for sale at various national retailers, such as Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart and Home Depot. Thus far, TerraCycle has donated $637,000 to a variety of charities and schools.
Products, such as backpacks, pencil pouches, holiday bows, gardening supplies and toys, are also available online at www.terracycle.net.
TerraCycle is partners with various types of drink pouch manufacturers, Mars candy, Nabisco and Keebler cookies, Frito Lay brand chips, and Kashi foods, Expo and Sharpie brand markers, Scott tissues, Scotch brand tape, plastic bottles and cell phones. Not all items are accepted in all locations, so call first to see what items are acceptable.
Donations of some brands will, in turn, spur donations to the national Partnership for Women and Families,
For a complete list of what types and brands of items are accepted by TerraCycle and how organizations or schools can become a part of the program, log onto www.terracycle.net.
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