How I Started Collection Juice Pouches and How You Can Too

I started collecting juice pouches by buying juice pouches  for my kids and keeping the ones that they drank. In fact the only reason that I ever started buying juice pouches for my kids was so that I would have them to make things out of. I wasn't thinking in terms of convenience or school lunches but in terms of crafting and design. I went to the grocery store and bought pouches based on their color, graphics, and overall look. I didn't care about flavor or price, or even nutrition. I just bought what looked good.

Saving ones that your kids drink is fine if you are not crazy like me. I soon discovered that it took too long for my impatient creativity to wait for my kids to drink juice pouches. After all they had to drink other things like milk and water to stay healthy. Luckily for me, my son had started kindergarten by the time I became obsessed with creating and the hundreds of potential lunch time juice pouches began calling to me.

One day I timidly went into the office and asked the school secretary if it would be okay for me to set up a recycling bin in the cafeteria to collect juice pouches. Her immediate response was, "Are you making purses?"

"Not exactly," was my response. Feeling kind of silly.

She explained to me that they had had someone collecting juice pouches once but they stopped because it hap become too much trouble for them. I was confident that I could handle it and made a recycle bin dedicated to recycling juice pouches that weekend. At first the juice pouches were very few but as soon as it caught on I was getting enough to make whatever my heart desired. Over the summer I was busy washing, sewing, designing and anticipating the next years collection.

On the first day of school I walked into the cafeteria and to my dismay there was a recycle bin for juice pouches (not mine). Who had the nerve to muscle in on my juice pouches? Well it turned out to be the school PTO so I politely stepped aside. About halfway through the year I noticed that the bin was gone. As it turned out the labor intensiveness of collecting juice pouches had proved too much for the PTO. Since the PTO had given up I happily started collecting again with a goal of selling my items at the community market that summer.

Now I collect all of the juice pouches for the school. There are so many that I don't buy them for my kids any more and all of the extra ones that I collect, I send to Terracycle. A company that the PTO set up an account with so that they could get 2 cents for every pouch they turned in.

If you are only interested in doing a few little things then having your kids, grand-kids,  or nieces and nephews drink juice pouches will yield enough for you to make things out of. If you are wanting to go all out like me or don't have any kids to suck down juice then I suggest making friends with your local elementary school secretary.

A few things to remember when collecting juice pouches from a school are:

• Ask first before you start collecting. Make sure that the appropriate people know what you are doing, what your recycle bin looks like and where it should be. A good person to start with is the office secretary they can usually answer your questions or send you in the right direction.
• You may have to go into the cafeteria during lunchtime to tell the kids about your recycle bin and ask the kids to recycle.
• Make sure that your bin is clearly marked for recycling plastic juice pouches. You may find that some people mistake it for a trash can or put other juice containers in it. I use a tall trash can so that it doesn't take up too much room and plastered it with signs printed from my computer and juice pouches so there is no mistaking it.
• Try to collect your juice pouches on a regular basis. You do not want the left over juice to start to ferment and smell and you don’t want your bin to become full.
• Make sure that you cooperate with school staff and enter and exit the school appropriately. Make sure you know and follow all of the schools rules and regulations regarding visitors.
• If the school is already collecting juice pouches for Terracycle ask if you can help with the collection and keep a few for yourself. They may be grateful for the help and happy to repay you in extra juice pouches.