BRASHER FALLS – St. Lawrence Central Elementary School students earned over $700 for their school by collecting and recycling the drink pouches they use at home and in the school lunchroom.

This spring, the school reached the first level of TerraCycle and Capri Sun’s Drink Pouch Brigade milestone contest by collecting more than 10,000 drink pouches. The students have earned over $700 for their school by collecting the pouches.

The Drink Pouch Brigade is a free recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle to be recycled or upcycled. Since 2007, Drink Pouch Brigade participants have kept almost 235 million drink pouches out of landfills and raised more than $4.5 million for charity.

With the milestone program, in addition to the money earned for each piece of waste collected, participants can win prizes made from recycled drink pouches, such as storage bins, a playground and other fun rewards.

"The milestone program is meant to inspire individuals and organizations to collect more waste while receiving prizes for their achievements," said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle. "It is rewarding to see the students and administration get so involved in making this work. It’s an incredible achievement to have kept so many pouches out of the waste stream."

Thousands of other schools and organizations across the United States participate in the effort. To learn more, visit www.terracycle.com.