This contest is now closed thank you to all that entered.
(Never had such a hard time giving away free stuff before, so far two winners have been chosen and emailed but no one emails me back with shipping address. I’ll try one more time to choose a winner. Thanks)
TerraCycle is offering a free back to school prize pack for one lucky Eco Child’s Play reader.
Would you like to win a TerraCycle Billboard Backpack, a Drink Pouch Lunch Box, a Drink Pouch Pencil Case, and a Chips Ahoy Notebook, for a retail value of around $55?
All you have to do is read through this post and leave a comment with your contact info to be entered in the contest.
TerraCycle is known for upcycling trash into awesome usable items.
“Every year in the United States, the vinyl from over 3 million billboards is sent to landfills. That’s almost 10,000 tons of vinyl, roughly the weight of 2,500 full-grown elephants worth of material that does not biodegrade and will spend an eternity in our landfills. To address this environmental issue, TerraCycle and Yak Pak have partnered to construct durable, affordable bags and accessories by upcycling this difficult to recycle material.”
“Upcycling is the practice of transforming disposable materials into something of greater use and value, giving that material new life. The new TerraCycle-Yak Pak billboard product line represents the ultimate achievement in upcycling. By combining the durability of the billboard vinyl with Yak Pak’s expertise in design and manufacturing, the resulting products are not only great looking, but also nearly indestructible allowing every item to come with a lifetime warranty.”
They also collect used drink pouches, potato chip bags and an assortment of other products and turn them into school and office supplies (among other things).
The non-recyclable drink pouches are made into bags, pencil cases, and homework folders that “are as stylish as they are eco-friendly”. The items are available at Target, Office Max, Walgreens and Shoko stores nationwide. New items are being added for the 2009 back to school season, including backpacks and lunch boxes!
Now you have the chance to own one of these wonderful upcycled backpacks, a drink pouch lunch box, drink pouch pencil case, and Chips Ahoy notebook. All of the upcycled items are perfect for back to school.
The contest starts today, Monday August 3, and will be open for two weeks. A winner will be chosen on Monday August 17 and announced in the comments section of this post and at the top of this post as a notice.
Good luck to all that enter.
[This post was written by Wenona Napolitano.]
This stuff is great! The backpack has a very cool vibe to it and the lunchbox would be perfect for my kindergartner!
Excellent idea. Perhaps water rafts or lifejackets can be made with all those plastic water bottles being discarded.
Sign me up for this contest! A teacher at our high school was making bags out of capri sun packages and I loved the idea – think it’s great they can use all these other packages as well!
What a great upcyling idea! Love it!
Nice! I love the notebook!
I would especially love the lunch box set!! Is that available in a national retailers yet?
I love the idea of upcycling. My son will be starting pre-school this fall and we want to use all “green” products. He will bring his organic lunch (along with a small container for leftovers to be composted) and just needs to have a great backpack to carry it all.
Love it! Just saw the terracycle stuff at Target this past weekend. fun, fun!
I love the idea of upcycling. Thanks for sharing.
How cute! I’d totally carry that stuff myself! 🙂
TerraCycle is a great and innovative company. Trash is the only “commodity” with a negative demand. Genius!
I love the Terracycle products. My son began a drink pouch recycling program in his school to raise money for school and keep the pouches out of the landfill. Wouldn’t he look great walking into school with one of those backpacks to support the cause?
I love the Terracycle stuff!
yes, this stuff is sooo cute!! Thank you for the chance to win!
I love the Terracycle gear. It is an awesome way to send a message and for the little one to tote her math and lunch! I have seen a girl in my Environmental class with a Capri Sun pouch tote bag. I asked where she got and she said don’t know it was a gift. My daughter and I just love it!!
I’ve been a fan for a long while now. These products are great for the environment and **BONUS** super handy too!
I love upcycling, I just don’t have the time to make stuff while I am in school full time. Their stuff is so cute! 🙂
I’d love to win this stuff! I just wrote an article all about the program http://tinyurl.com/n6g2ge Includes details on where to buy the products and how to start your own recycling program with TerraCycle
I absolutely think this is adorable!!!! Cute and fashionable all in one!
Thank You for helping earth by upcycling. I’ve seen your products at Target. Cute!
We love the products! Kudos to upcycling!! My daughter’s elementary school has a recycling program, and this would just support what we are already teaching them.
You all are doing such a wonderful job. I would def be interested in getting a hold of these products and having my son carry them around. We are also enrolled in your drink pouch upcycle program. Can’t wait to see if we receive something from you all.
I love the backpack!
WE just signed up for the terracycle upcycling program for our school. We are very excited to be apart of such a wonderful program with cool and useful products! Thanks!!
Beautiful! I’d love to win this for my daughter!
This is an ingenious and fashionable idea! Either of my two grand daughters would love to add these products to their wardrobe. Their school has a recycling program and we are going to try to add this one to the list. What a great way to educate our children about recycling and caring for our environment.
I have one of those pencil cases made from drink pouches. It’s fantastic (and shiny).
I love the idea of pencil cases. Our elementary school lets students earn play money and the students can purchase items from the store at school. Students can purchase pencils, erasers, small stuff animals or what ever the store has. Prices range from one buck to 15 bucks. Students really save them up for the big items. Teachers even use the bucks in their room for rewards during the school year. The pencil pouches would be a great added item to the school store for students to buy.
I love this idea – I think all governments all over the world should join forces with your company and it’s ideas and incorporate them into every country in the world…the world would be a tidier place for all and it would create so many employment opportunities for all. BIG THUMBS UP to you guys for your excellent enthusiasm – keep up the great work!
What a totally fun concept!
i think these products are AMAZING!! i was starting to think that no one cares for the world or recycling anymore. this is a terrific and FUN way to help!!! i’d rock ALL these products
I think this is probably the best idea someone could have ever come up with, my kids love this stuff and love helping out by collecting their drink pouches.
This is one of the GREATEST ideas ever!!!
This is a great way to show (& teach) kids that there is a reuse for almost everything!
It really bothers me the way our society has become such a throw-away society!( and I’m not that old! )
I would love to see all school participating, because those of us who are teachers know that A Lot of these wrappers are thrown away at school, especially during teating!
As far as the billboard vinyl…That is really cool! I do know that the farmers have started to use them for covering hay from rain. But a backpack is so much more fun!!
Upcycle…a new way to reuse & reduce!! Way cool! 🙂
Our school has been recycling with Terracycle for around a year now. It is a great way to teach the kids how to recycle. I have a Capri Sun bag and all the kids want it.
My name is Nico Schwartz and I am 9 I would love to sign up for the contest. I love being green my best friend,me,her brother,my sister,and my 2 other neighbors we all went around the whole neighborhood and in all we picked up one whole bag of trash!I have 16 juice pouches and I want to learn how to make stuff out of them. Please sign me up for the back to school prize pack it would be great to get the prize pack I would really appreciate it so thankyou!
hope I win so that my school can use it as a prize for the student who collects the most drink pouches.
This is so smart. I love it.
Wonderful looking products! We would love to have them!
Well this year I am hoping that by some miracle I will be able to start a back to school tradition with my daughter.I know that growing up my sister and I would get so excited about going shopping for new clothes, a new backpack and all the supplies that were on our list. Mom would take us and one thing I always will remember is being able to buy new shoes and having to wait to wear them so they would remain brand new for the first day of school. Well I dont know if that will be a possibility this year for my own daughter. She is 5 and this year she will be starting Kindergarten. She is so excited and feels so big but it breaks my heart when she sees all of her friends getting new clothes, shoes , backpacks and supplies then she asks me when will I take her to go shopping so she can get her things as well. I just dont know how to tell my 5 year old daughter that this year , her first year of school that mommy and daddy dont have any money. How do you explain to a 5 year old that daddy got laid off and because of the economy daddy cant find a new job and has had to go back to school full time so that next year we can do all the things that are needed. We have tried to get supplies but I went to 2 different school supply giveaways. The first I waited 2 hours in the heat and when it was my turn I was told me they had run out. The second one I got up at 5:30 am today and waited in line till 8am and when I got to the tent they told me my daughter had to be present, even though I had her social security card and school list. Well this morning she wasnt feeling good so I decided to leave her home with my husband and not make her wait with me. I went home and picked her up and when I got back they had already given everything away. I have always pictured this first year to be a year for all of us to remember especially my daughter but I am afraid the memory will not be a good one.
Love the whole concept, wish I’d thought of it! My 1st grader would be so proud to be wearing one of these to school.
Love the concept, wish I’d thought of it! My 1st grader would be so proud to be wearing this to school.
I LOVE this stuff. Our school started saving all of these items last year, and it has really taken off! Fun to think that something we saved MIGHT be part of a backpack at the store! We are having a huge contest this summer to see who can collect the most recyclable items, and of course the prizes are all Terracycle goodies! Even got the worm poop plant food for our top teacher! I can’t wait to see how much the students saved over the summer . It is quite addictive!
Thanks for creating such a wonderful program! Our school is signed up for the drink pouch recycling. This will be our first year and we’re excited to try it out! I’d love to have these products for my child!
Great stuff, the kids love to see their recycling made into something fun!
Ohh, this would be great for the kids!!
I love all of the items! It is such a great idea.
Love the upcycling! What a great way to teach our kids to help take care of our world!!
sweet products
Love the lunch box! TerraCycle is making great stuff that kids love!!
What a cool way to show off your love for the environment; definitely the envy of all your friends!
My grandchildren would love to take these items to school – In fact – I would love to take these to work with me! Fun for all kids – all ages! can’t wait to get some!
I think we need to recycle so the earth can return to its original beauty and stay clean for us to live longer n the earth would be around for a long time. I believe in a giving attitude is a good one.
love the idea – so much! but, i do not like that oreo and kool-aid, etc are getting free advertising!
Choosing green school supplies is definitely the way to go. Give the earth a hug and your kids an education.
What a great idea! Teaching the kids the value of their own upcycling efforts. Our VERY needy elementary school and its students will be learning a great deal from Terracycle.
Thanks,
George Polur
Louisville KY
Love the site and the concept– not to mention the recyled products.
My grandkids have learned so much about composting– upcycling is just another way for them to help save the planet. Thank you!
I just purchased the Terracycle lunch tote for my 4th grader and she thinks it it totally cool. We got the Kool-Aid pattern in blue!
I think the idea of recycling and turning these materials into reusable items is wonderful. My only condern is the products that are advertsed on the folder and the lunch box.. as a teacher I am naturally interested in seeing kids eat foods that provide good nutrition for brain and body development.. the amount of sugar in the Kool-Aid drinks concerns me and there are far more nutritionally sound snacks than cookies.. our farmers are producing fresh fruit and vegetables, much of it organic, and the dairy producers are making milk and cheese.. I’m sure they would be willing to sponsor something like this…just a thought.. we need to keep a healthy environment and a healthy mind and body for our future generations.. just some thoughts.. not meant as criticism..
Wow. Those are neat, I’d like to win.
neat-o! i love upcycling, as a college student it is a wonderful way to save money and have fun!
And the winner is Susie. Congrats. Now you son will be able to walk the walk proudly with his recycled/upcycled school gear!
I saw the terracycle pencil pouches and folders at a Kmart this weekend, I fell in love with then. I just looked on the website and wish that they would have had a bookbag a Kmart. I would have preffered to gotten a recycled bag for my kids.
Its a shame i reading this too late to enter but this is a great way to teach the younger generations not to be wasteful and to be resourseful. i will be reading this to my little girl who starts school in a couple of weeks. starting early to teach them to be aware is so important:)
I have contacted the winner but so far no response if I have not received a reposnse by Monday August 24 I will choose a new winner.
I picked a new winner, it’s Katie.
Thanks to all who entered. I hope this time the winner will respond so the prize pack can be mailed out.