TerraCycle pouch recycling program
Submitted by Sonya Leingang
The Community Preschool of Roselle Park is always looking for ways to help the community and teach our students to be the best person they can be. This school year, we have registered to the TerraCycle pouch recycling program. Fruits, vegetables and yogurt pouches are among the most popular snacks with preschool children. The pouches are a single serving size, do not require utensils and are mess free.
These pouches are made of “multiple materials including inner aluminum with a BPA-free plastic layer, a recyclable outer paper layer and oxygen barriers for freshness”1. Unfortunately, they aren’t recyclable in the United States “which mostly focus on paper and corrugated and lack the materials sorting-and-stripping capabilities to handle flexible plastics”2.
Teachers happily use the colourful caps for arts and crafts projects but the ideas are limited and the quantities outrageous. So CPS looked into TerraCycle to join their free recycling program. So far, since the Summer, the school has mailed over 3000 pouches back to TerraCycle who transforms them into outdoor furniture and decking, plastic shipping pallets, watering cans, storage containers and bins, tubes for construction applications, flooring tiles, playground surface covers, athletic fields, and more, according to their website.
If you would like to participate, our school is a drop off point and will accept all brands of snack pouches. You may contact us for more information on how to participate at rpcommunitypreschool.com.
