Awhile back, we talked about juice pouches being icky and sticky, and how to deal with storing them. We know that collecting enough trash to meet Brigade minimums can be challenging, and that it’s difficult to store so much trash. Collecting should be fun, not problematic, so here are a few more ways to get around the storage issues that often arise, including bugs and smells!
1. Use a plastic storage bin that is airtight when the lid is on. This way, you can close off the trash completely and bugs won’t be able to smell it and get in. You won’t be able to smell it either!
2. Make sure that you have a liner in your bin. It is best if this liner can be sealed, or at the very least closed or folded down when the bin is closed, then opened back up to add new trash. This limits exposure to bugs.
3. Store your trash in the garage, near your trash cans, or outside.
4. Make sure that juice pouches are dry, chip bags are empty of crumbs, and so on and so forth before you put your trash in your bin.
We recently visited Countryside Elementary School, and they had their own way of making sure that trash moves through quickly so they don’t need to store very much. Here are some of their ideas, and you can watch the video below to hear what they have to say!
First, choose one day for trash drop-off. This means having students, office staff, or community friends bring their trash to you all on the same day. That way, you’re not storing half of it while waiting for the other half of the trash so that you can send it off.
Second, communicate this “drop off day” via newsletters, flyers, or emails. Countryside Elementary includes their TerraCycle collection encouragement in a weekly newsletter.
Third, have people sort the trash at home, and then bring it in. This makes it easier to package the trash quickly and send it off right away!
Do you have any tips for storing TerraCycle trash? Make a video and submit it to comments@terracycle.com
Thank you so much for visiting our school and spotlighting us!!!