I wrote about my class visit to the landfill (oh yes, I've been to TWO different landfills in the last six months) and about how that has impacted both my students and our school. Along with kicking butt in paper recycling (our Abitibi dumpster was filled to the brim today in our first post-spring-break recycling collection), we've slowly but surely started plastic bottle recycling.

Even our small school (320 students) generates a ton (figuratively) of plastic beverage bottles every day. I also mentioned that were were recycling our 20 ounce bottles through Terra Cycle's Bottle Brigade.

Terra Cycle, in short, rocks. Founded by Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer in 2001 while students at Princeton, Terra Cycle started as a way to spread the benefits of vermicomposting (that is, composting with worms) to a larger audience. For those out of the loop, worm poop is awesome fertilizer for your garden. Brown gold, if you will. Szaky and Beyer were eventually able to earn startup funds, and by 2004, Home Depot was carrying Terra Cycle Plant Food on their website.

Not only is their actual product eco-friendly, but their packaging is, as well. That's what happens to my kids' 20 ounce soda bottles: we send them back to Terra Cycle (sans label and cap), who pays us for the bottles. A nickle each. Anyone can do this, although you don't really get paid: the charity of your choice gets the money. This works for us, since technically, our school is a charity, so we can get paid. Terra Cycle takes those bottles, washes them, and relabels them. They add a trigger spray (a leftover from another corporation that produced too many) and the product is ready to ship.

Nowadays, you can still find Terra Cycle Plant Food at Home Depot, along with multiple other outlets. You can also join the Bottle Brigade, and Terra Cycle will send you prepaid shipping boxes to send them your 20 ounce bottles, which you can send back to them and donate your contribution to your favorite charity. More information on both the worm poop and the Bottle Brigade at Terra Cycle's website.