Chesnut Charter Elementary is starting off the new year by participating in the TerraCycle’s Drink Pouch Brigade. The goal of TerraCycle, an international upcycling and recycling company, is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution programs for all kinds of typically non-recyclable waste (“brigades”).
According to Terracycle, every year billions of drink pouches end up in dumpsters and landfills across America. Starting this week, the Chesnut community began contributing plastic drink pouches (with or without straws) and drink pouches with spouts to two collection containers, located in the school cafeteria. The school is also accepting drink pouches brought in from home. The pouches are sent to Terracycle (shipping is free to the school), and, in turn, the company converts the drink pouch material into innovative products from tote bags and pencil cases to plastic lumber and pavers. Chesnut’s Ecology Club will be promoting the program, as well as the benefits of recycling in general, to the student body.
There is no cost for Chesnut to participate in the Drink Pouch Brigade. While saving the earth, an added benefit is helping the school. For each unit of waste collected, Chesnut will earn TerraCycle points redeemable for donations to the school.
