What's Upcycling?

Upcycling is when you take something that's usually thrown away and turn it into something people can use. Upcycling means LESS trash ends up in landfills, and that's a lot BETTER for our planet.

Pouch Brigades are groups of kids and adults who are collecting empty pouches. When they collect enough, the pouches are mailed away to be upcycled. Think of how many pouches are saved from landfills every year! Your school gets $.02 for every drink pouch you turn in. So the MORE pouches your class collects, the MORE you help the environment, and the MORE cash you earn for your school. Sweet!

Easy. Your teacher has set up a collection bag for empty pouches in your classroom.
So all you have to do is:

1. Finish your drink.

2. Remove the straw.

3. Put it in the collection bin. No rinsing or washing!

And like all good brigades, kids have a mantra to help you remember to walk right past that
trashcan and bring your pouch back to the collection bin. C’mon, let's say it together:
Drink it. Save it. Upcycle it!

Empty pouches are mailed back for free to TerraCycle, a company that turns them into cool bags and pencil cases for kids and adults.

Oh, and don't worry— they wash the pouches first!

The Drink Pouch Brigade program is sponsored in part by Capri Sun beverages. The program is not intended as a marketing initiative for Capri Sun. Please do not put the Capri Sun or Kool-Aid brand names on any of the Pouch Brigade materials that you display or distribute to the students.

Kraft Foods, the parent of the Kool-Aid and Capri Sun brands in the U.S., has pledged that none of its brands will conduct in-school marketing campaigns -- including high schools and below -- during school hours.