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November 4, 2007
Kids: Get paid to collect drink pouches for recycling
Company turns them into totes
By Matt Andazola
Just ask a school janitor: That Capri Sun drink may lighten a child's day, but it sure doesn't lighten the trash bag.
TerraCycle, a company that made a name for itself recycling plastic bottles, is now looking to collect these types of formerly nonrecyclable pouches.
"A surprising amount of kids drink these every day," said Chris Lynn, director of TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade, who noted statistics from the Container Recycling Institute estimating Americans throw away about 3.6 billion of these containers yearly.
The firm partnered with Honest Tea (maker of the Honest Kids pouch drinks) to collect the containers and turn them into accessories such as tote bags.
TerraCycle pays 2 cents for every Honest Kids juice pouch and 1 cent for pouches of every other brand. Participating locations get a prepaid container in which to ship the pouches to TerraCycle. The company then sends the pouches to Vietnam, where they're made into tote bags and pencil cases.
Lynn said Target Co. will sell the tote bags at its stores sometime next year.
To set up a TerraCycle container at your school, house of worship or community center, go to the TerraCycle Web site at terracycle.net/ brigades.
Courtesy of TerraCycle
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