Bensenville school in recycling quest for new playground

Students at one small private school in Bensenville are in a contest to win a playground if their recycling of oral care products measures up to be the best in the region.

But for the substitute teacher behind Zion-Concord Lutheran School's entry in the TerraCycle Recycled Playground Challenge, it's not so much about a new outdoor play space - although the school's swings were knocked out in a maintenance accident and some of the playground equipment is roughly 25 years old.

It's all about the Earth and protecting it for future kids and parents and substitute teachers and, well, everyone - by recycling, says Fran Dellar of Park Ridge.

"I've become very passionate about recycling and doing what we can to save our Earth and also be good stewards of what God's given to us. I just think it's important," said Dellar, a Zion Lutheran congregation member who taught at the school for two decades before retiring in 2009.

"If we use up all of our resources, there will be nothing left for future generations."

So Dellar has the school's 110 students, from preschoolers to eighth-graders, reusing resources instead, mainly through the company TerraCycle, which runs brand-sponsored recycling programs for all kinds of common things that usually end up in the trash.

The star products of the contest that could result in a fresh playground are all mouth-related. Colgate runs a recycling program for empty toothpaste tubes, caps and cartons, empty floss containers, used toothbrushes and toothbrush packaging.

When there's not a promotion to win a playground, the school collects points through TerraCycle that eventually result in money back.

"It helps a little to make some funds for our school," Dellar said. "We don't get a lot. It's more to try and educate the children."

But until June 18, the game is on, featuring schools in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin - all the states where fellow contest sponsor Meijer has stores. All the oral care waste Dellar has sent in from students' families will join with online votes the school receives at http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/contests/2016meijercolgateplayground/leaderboard to give it a chance to win.

Or not.

"I would like it to go to someone who really needs a playground," Dellar said about the grand prize, a red and blue outdoor fun zone designed by California recycled playground company PD Play. "We're not desperately in need of one."

Dellar is fine with the result either way, as long as kids are learning the value of keeping the things they use out of landfills. And that's exactly what TerraCycle tries to teach, too, said Maame Mensah, a senior account manager in charge of the Recycled Playground Contest.

"It gives the kids something tangible to see you don't have to throw away your waste," Mensah said about the contest, which is back for a second year after Dutton Christian School in Caledonia, Michigan, won the first time around. "You can recycle it and make something like a playground."

Zion-Concord recycles deodorant, personal care products such as shampoo and conditioner, writing utensils, the inner plastic cores of rolls of Scotch tape, and - this is a big one among the grade-school crowd - those foil-like pouches that contain sugary juice drinks like Capri Sun.

"We started with juice pouches in 2010 and kept adding programs as I'd go, 'Oh, we could save those,'" Dellar said. "I wish more companies would back the (TerraCycle) program so that more things could be recycled."

When things like empty toothpaste tubes and used-up toothbrushes are sent to TerraCycle, the company sends it to a partner that sorts the waste, then to another partner that processes it by washing, shredding and "pelletizing" it into tiny plastic particles. Then it's off to another TerraCycle partner company, in this case PD Play, to become a new final product.

"It's more sustainable because you're not using virgin plastic to make the playgrounds," Mensah said. "It's just to create less of an impact on the environment."

Win or lose in the quest for a new playground, that's what Dellar is all about.

"It's nothing for me to walk past somebody's garbage can and say, 'Ooh! That's something we can recycle," and pick it up and walk away with it," she said. "We have to do things to be more responsible."