After receiving a Jamba Juice smoothie in a Styrofoam cup, California fifth-grader Mia Hansen started an online petition for Jamba Juice to stop using polystyrene. 

Nearly three weeks and 135,00 signatures later, Jamba Juice announced it would phase out polystyrene cups by the end of 2013.

"I'm 10 years old and when I was at Jamba Juice a couple weeks ago, I ordered a smoothie and they gave it to me in a Styrofoam cup! The person behind me ordered yogurt and they gave her yogurt in a Styrofoam container, too. That's just ridiculous. It bothered me so much, my mom encouraged me to start a petition," said Hansen. Check out earth911 for the full story.

Composting helps eight New York City public schools reduce cafeteria waste by 85%

On Manhattan's Upper West Side five green mothers launched a cafeteria composting pilot program on February 27, 2012. By the end of the school year in June, the program had diverted 450 pounds of food waste from the landfill daily!

“This fantastic endeavor succeeded because of the vision, collaboration and dedication of the workers, parents, and school professionals,” said District 3 Council Member Gale A. Brewer. The five mothers met through volunteer programs where they met monthly to discuss how to have a positive environmental impact and reduce waste. With the help of Laura Rosenshine, a composting consultant, in February they put their plan to action! IESI, a private waste hauler, donated collection and composting services. The five women provided training and the students responded well to the new procedures. The pilot team weighed their compost, garbage, and recycling for a week each month to collect statistics.

The pilot team has not only helped to reduce waste, but also decrease the number of garbage bags used daily from 54 to 8. It is estimated garbage bags alone would save the schools $3,000 per year, not to mention more than $3,700 savings in garbage disposal fees. They hope to add 20 more schools to the program this September. For the full article from 'The Green Schools Alliance', click here.

Created in 2001, by Princeton University freshman Tom Szaky, this company has grown into one of the fastest green-growing companies in the world. TerraCycle's purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. This company converts previously non-recycable or hard-to-recycle waste into many products and materials sold at major retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Whole Foods Market.

With over 20 countries involved, TerraCycle has converted billions of units of waste into over 1,500 products! Their ultimate goal is to "eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today must be sent to a landfill."

View the TerraCycle website and Facebook page for more information!