Grade 2 Starts New Recycling Program!

Grade 2 presented their new recycling program that starts today! Elementary students collected the pouches from our EC students for a week and calculated that Gillispie students throw 6,000 of these pouches in the landfill every year! 

But don’t worry, our Grade 2 students have a solution! 

Student 1: Hello Gillispie Community! Today we are going to tell you about a new recycling program we are going to start here at Gillispie.

Student 2: Has anyone ever had one of these for a snack or had one packed in your lunch?

Student 3: These are flexible snack pouches, usually holding apple sauce or other squeezable snacks.

Student 4: Unfortunately, they cannot be recycled in our blue bins and have to go straight to the landfill. After collecting these pouches for a week down in EC we collected 150 from the EC students alone.

Student 5: That means Gillispie throws away 6,000 every year! But don’t worry, we found a solution!

Student 6: There is an organization called TerraCycle that has a special recycling program for these pouches and lids! Every time we collect at least 10 pounds of pouches and lids, we can print off a free shipping label and ship them to a recycling plant.

Student 1: The pouches and caps will be turned into plastic pellets which is the base ingredient for new plastic items. Isn’t it neat that instead of them going to a landfill they can make new things?

Student 2: Every time we send in a shipment of pouches and caps, we also earn points. We will earn about 800 points for every 10 pounds of pouches and caps. We can then use those points through the TerraCycle program to do great things for the world like plant trees, adopt wildlife land, or provide food, water, and warm clothes for people in need.

Student 3: Starting today there will be labeled bins located in all of the snack and lunch areas. If you use one of these pouches please recycle them in these bins and Second Graders will collect them each day.

Student 4: The TerraCycle program allows us to recycle all brands of these pouches and caps and they do not need to be cleaned out or sorted.

Student 5: We will update you throughout the year on how many pouches and caps we collect this year and how we have used the points to help the earth.

Student 6: If you have any questions about the program just find a second grader to help you! Thank you for helping us and have a great day!