Winning the national Takis Back-to-School Recycling Challenge was relatively simple for Thomas Viaduct Middle School staff and students. All they had to do was eat hundreds of Takis spicy snack chips and save the bags for recycling.

Students and staff at the Hanover school celebrated their reward Friday — a new custom learning garden made from the recycled bags.

The national contest was held in partnership with TerraCycle, a company with the mission of “eliminating the idea of waste.” The three schools that recycled the most signature purple bags from the snacks received a garden bed, a compost bin and two recycled flower planters made with materials from the recycled bags.

“Our school is just 10 years old, so it’s exciting to win a national competition, and we’re looking forward to continuing this momentum and participating in other contests, competitions, anything that will give the students an opportunity to learn something,” Principal Denise Young said.

Thomas Viaduct Middle School collected nearly 8 pounds of Takis packaging, shipping it all off in four copy paper boxes. The last time staff checked the leaderboard, the school was in fourth place nationally. To win the grand prize was a shock for Young and gifted and talented resource teacher LeAnn Rice, who led the team’s participation in the contest.

“Our Green Team efforts have shown how even small actions like saving snack bags can make a huge difference in reducing waste and making a positive impact on our planet,” Rice said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the learning garden. “It’s proof that when we come together, we can achieve great things, one bag at a time.”

During the summer, Rice was planning to relaunch the Green Team, a gifted and talented seminar open to all students and focused on climate, recycling and protecting the environment. She looked for opportunities to grow more student interest and buy-in, discovering the Takis challenge and some other recycling contests.

Rice and Young knew the Takis challenge would be the right one for their school. With students often eating the snack and leaving empty bags around the building, Young said the challenge was a fun way for students to learn the importance of recycling.

“Kids are eating [Takis] all the time,” Rice said. “And so, we knew that that would be something that students would be able to easily participate in by just having the collection boxes in the cafeteria during the lunchtime.”

Students in the Green Team would check the collection boxes in the cafeteria and alert Rice when they were full, and she mailed the packaging to TerraCycle. Students shared recycling reminders on the morning announcements at school, and Young would include information in school newsletters so families could learn more and send in empty packaging from home.

The compost bin, flower planters and garden bed will be placed outside by the school’s recess area. Flowers that attract butterflies will be planted in the garden bed, Young said, establishing a butterfly garden as another environmental initiative.

The school will continue collecting Takis packaging using bins in the cafeteria and sending boxes to TerraCycle. With the learning garden installed, Young said she hopes it will foster more interest in the Green Team, as students will be needed to do the planting and keep up with the maintenance. She would also like to participate in further initiatives that help to bring students together.

“Students were encouraging each other and reminding them, ‘Oh, don’t throw that away, make sure you put it in the bin,’ ” Young said. “So, we would be looking for any other competition, initiative to try to continue that type of spirit of school community.”

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