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Elmer’s Glue Sticks and Bottle Recycling Program & Giveaway

By: Anna248 Comments

GlueCrew Logo

See Update below:  12/21/2010:  TerraCycle is now collecting glue bottles and sticks as part of their brigade program.

Check out the giveaway below!

If you have kids, you have Elmer’s glue in the form of glue sticks or glue bottle.  My kids are notorious for leaving off the glue stick caps or using way too much glues from the glue bottles.  I can’t recycle either the glue bottles or sticks.  (Even though the glue bottles are a #1 or #2, my area only collects #1 or #2 plastic soda bottles.)

For those who are uber-recyclers, Elmer has teamed up with Walmart and TerraCycle to take back those bottle and sticks!   Elmer’s Although the program is geared towards teachers, encourage a teacher at your school to sign up.  Then, offer to take care of the recycling part for the teacher. It is easy! For instructions on how to belong to the Teachers can join the Elmer’s Glue Crew Recycling Program. See here.  The program contains resources and contests to win prizes in addition to information on how to return recycled glue sticks and bottles to the Company.

However, teachers are not the only ones who can get into the excitement of collecting. You can volunteer to help your art teacher or collect them on your own by signing up to partipate in the Elmer Glue-TerraCycle Bridgade.  Here is what you have to do:

Make sure the bottles and glue sticks are cleaned out before putting them in a box. Once the box is full, attach the return label and take it to one of the people greeters at Walmart between April 22, 2009 2011 and the end of school.  (See the instructions, here.)

Alternatively, you can sign up for the TerraCycle bridgade and send them your glue bottles and sticks.  The Company pays your designated charity 2 cents per item sent.

Once you have signed up, you are in the program forever.  You don’t need to re-register each new school year. I will be asking my art teachers if they will sign up and perhaps have a central location for collection.

So, what happens to the glue sticks and bottles once recycled?  The recycled bottles and glue sticks are made into garden equipment, packaging and even park benches. (See here on the recycling process.)

elmer glue back pack

To get the glue stick rolling here in honor of Earth Day, Elmer is giving away a gift pack of a supply of elmer’s glue in a small backpack  to five lucky Green Talk reader. (See picture above.  A $50 retail value of glue!)  Many of you might be thinking why I would be giving away a plastic giveaway.  For the simple reason, that I want you to know about this recycling effort. Less trash in the landfills is a good thing.  So, if you want to enter, here are the rules.

  • You must be over 18 and live in the US or Canada.
  • Leave me a comment here telling me about your favorite art project as a kid or adult.  If you don’t have one, just say so.
  • To double your chances consider joining my Feedburner email list or subscribe to my RSS feed. Both subscriptions are listed on the upper right hand column. Be sure to come back and leave a separate additional comment to tell me which one you joined. If you are already a member, just say so.
  • To triple  your chances of winning, twitter about this contest and come back and leave a separate additional comment of the url (weblink) of your twitter comment.
  • You must enter by May 1, 2009  6 PM EST time to win. A winner will be chosen at random on Monday, May 4, 2009.  This is a short contest! Good Luck everyone!

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About Anna

Anna Hackman is the editor of Green Talk, and owner of The Naked Botanical and a avid (okay obsessed) gardener. She also loves video and podcasting and hosts Green Talk TV and Green Talk Radio. Her most important role is being a mother of four boys.

Chat with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest , and .

Comments

  1. 1

    Condo Blues says

    I made my favorite art project last year. I watered down white glue and used it to decopage pages from old thrift store books on the walls of my powder room as wallpaper. Then I used old teabags and coffee grounds to stain the book pages and coated everything with clear glaze to project it. Looks great and saved a lot of things from the landfill.

    Reply
  4. 4

    Anne says

    My favourite art project is one I did as an adult!

    I was having a hard time with depression and suddenly started making wonderful realizations about myself, my life, and God.

    I expressed this in a piece I made. (I used a lot of glue from glue sticks)!! I portrayed my journey from a place of darkness (depression) to that of light on a piece of cardboard. I used dark, knotty wool on the bottom and gradually lightened it up (with wool, feathers and beads) until a beautiful rainbow covered the top.

    It was beautiful and meant so much to me!

    Thanks for a great giveaway!

    nancyrobster@gmail.com

    Reply
  8. 8

    Carol says

    My kids love making jewelry out of red shoestring licorice, Fruit Loops, and Cheerios. They also like making pinecone birdseed birdfeeders.

    Reply
  15. 15

    Margaret Smith says

    This is so wonderful that Elmer Glue has thought to recycle thier tubes. I’m going to pass this along to our kids teachers.

    This giveaway is wonderful. Very useful with kids around. We love Elmer’s Glue.

    My favorite art project as a kid was painting. I really loved anything to do with drawing and then painting the drawings.

    Thanks so much and please enter me.

    Reply
  17. 17

    Elizabeth Y. says

    My son and I like to make caterpillars out of old egg cartons, using pipe cleaners for legs and antennae, and googly eyes!

    Reply
  19. 19

    Jill L says

    I have always loved doing paper mache. I’ve done lots of projects with the kids and they seem to enjoy it too.

    Reply
  22. 22

    Mary DeBorde says

    My favorite art project as a kid was to take my dad’s dry cleaning cardboard inserts and then to draw, color and cutout the Addam’s Family characters and put on little plays — I was a strange child LOL

    Reply
  23. 23

    Melissa Barnes says

    My favorite art project would be making Christmas ornaments. I have a new theme every year and make ornaments to share.

    Reply
  26. 26

    Stefanie Hartman says

    In second grade I made a funny looking paper mache turtle and I still have it. It now has crayon marks on it through the years and other damages, but I just can’t part with it. Blessings, Stefanie

    Reply
  28. 28

    Nora SP says

    I loved putting together with our boy for his history project last year a display of John Dilinger. I learned so much and of course I used alot of elmers school glue.

    Reply
  31. 31

    Danielle Crown says

    my fav project was the tissue are pictures. I made one for my best friends mom when we were in 2nd grade and her mom still hangs it up every xmas!!

    Reply
  33. 33

    Jennifer Elliott says

    My favorite art project when I was a kid was probably building christmas ornaments out of popsicle sticks!

    Reply
  36. 36

    kay wolter says

    Love this I thought I was doing good at the beginning of the school year and bought another brand well they are all dead and never opened in April….dryed out never again Son tried to make His genre project tonight and the old did not work but WE found an Elmers bottle and it was old but it came thru…..thank you Kay MI

    Reply
  37. 37

    Ellen Ring says

    I do art projects with my grandaughters. Their favorite right now, it changes quite often, is making houses & towns out of boxes. They build their town & add trees & plants they cut out of paper. Then their Littlest Pet shop animal inhabit it.

    Reply
  40. 40

    Abby says

    I always loved the art project of coloring with a white crayon and water coloring paint over top. I thought it was like magic!

    Reply
  41. 41

    Dana says

    my favorite art project is the one my mom didn’t know about 🙂 we had a black tar deck and in the summer time I would melt crayon bits into my own giant crazy crayon!

    Reply
  47. 47

    Michelle says

    My favorite art project as a kid was the tissue paper designs; we’d shape them like a flower and glue them on construction paper. (Actually I used to get yelled at A LOT for letting Elmer’s Glue dry on my hands and peeling it off).

    Reply
  53. 53

    Linda Fish says

    making stain glass jars with watered down glue and tissue paper with my grandma was my favorite as a child

    Reply
  57. 57

    Tari L says

    When I was in 6th grade we had to design a house and make a 3D model of it using styrofoam. It was such a cool project.

    Reply
  61. 61

    Carol G says

    I don’t really have a favorite art project, either as a child or as an adult. I do, however, do a lot of handwork (knitting, crocheting, embroidery) so I guess they could be considered art projects.

    Reply
  62. 62

    Kate says

    As a kid I loved any project that involved glitter LOL. With my boys we love watercolor painting and rubber stamping, and building things (for which the glue is used often)

    Reply
  64. 64

    Stephanie Dobbins says

    My favorite art thing to do is with my kids, they love to use foam sheets to make anything the can. it’s fun to watch the imagination at work. And we also love to use contruction paper and Elmers glue to make flowers and houses.

    Reply
  66. 66

    Mary Marlatt says

    I think my favorite art project was the Christmas ornaments I made as a teenager. I used beads, sequins, ribbon, etc. and covered foam balls. My mom still uses them, and I still think they are pretty!

    Reply
  67. 67

    Joannie says

    My favorite art project was making papier mache masks and animals using a bowl, flour paste and strips of newspaper!

    Reply
  71. 71

    allyson ayala says

    my kids are in college and i still put glue and glue sticks in their stockings for the many projects they do for school

    Reply
  75. 75

    mickeyfan says

    I liked doing the pictures where you’d color on a paper, then paint black over the top. Scratch off some of the black in whatever design you chose to reveal the color underneath.

    Reply
  81. 81

    Pat says

    As a child I liked to cut snowflakes out of plain white paper folded and folded again. Never knew what pattern I’d get when I experimented with
    different cutting techniques. Sometimes the teacher would display the work of our entire class on the classroom windows. Thank you for the contest.

    Reply
  82. 82

    Kris T. says

    My favorite art project as a kid was pasting different seeds and beans to a board in various designs. That and spreading glue all over paper and sprinkling glitter on top! Typical kid “art” projects. Thanks for the chance to win some more glue!!!

    Reply
  83. 83

    Tawnda says

    my favorite school project was to make buildings using just stuff lying around the house… old cardboard, plastic, etc… We came up with some very awesome buildings including a bookstore, firehouse (complete with sliding door, windows with #6 plastic, an antenna made from stripping a twisty…) My daughter still has all of them on display in her room after 8 years. We’ve kept almost all of the projects the kids did, but they are all in boxes except those…

    Reply
  85. 85

    Claire says

    I loved making hand turkeys! Especially when the teacher would let us cover the “feathers” with construction paper.

    Reply
  87. 87

    Linda says

    My kids love making various things from empty toilet tissue rolls,wiping tissue rolls and empty boxes of kleenex.

    Reply
  90. 90

    Jennifer Short says

    I loved glueing construction paper together. I’d go through phases of what I’d create. Sometimes it was rabbits in overalls, sometimes it was lion faces, sometimes it was mosiacs, and sometimes abstract art.

    Reply
  93. 93

    J Chaborek says

    My favorite art project as a kid was scrapbooking. Cutting things out of magazines was actually one of my favorite things to do. I still scrapbook to this day.

    Reply
  98. 98

    Heidi says

    I loved every art project. I was a crafty kid, so papier mache, clay, sewing, paper cutting, drawing, painting, etc was my heaven.
    Still is, really. Though I HOPE I am a little better at it than back then 🙂

    Reply
  100. 100

    Shilo Beedy says

    My favorite art project was when we made ornaments in school for Christmas. We would always put are school photos on them and my mom always enjoyed getting them and putting them on the tree.

    Reply
  112. 112

    Anna says

    One of my favorite projects is to make small boxes from greeting cards. It recycles those cards that we all receive, but most of us don’t save them. This project also teaches math to students. All it requires is a greeting card or a file folder. A ruler or popsicle stick makes a good scoring tool, which you need because the paper is thick. My fourth, fifth, and sixth graders love this project!

    If you go to raft.net you can search for an download the pdf file with directions. R.A.F.T. stands for Resource Area for Teachers and is a non-profit organization benefitting students and schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. I don’t work there, I’m just a happy teacher.

    Follow this link and search for “folder boxes”. Have fun!

    http://raft.net/index.php?pg=ideas

    Reply
  113. 113

    Pamela S says

    The favorite art project my daughter did was paint a “undersea” picture which we had copied onto two tote bags for each of the grandmas as a gift. So cute!!

    Reply
  114. 114

    Debbie Welchert says

    My favorite art project as a kid was making pictures out of macoroni, rice, and beans by gluing them on a piece of paper making a picture out of them.

    Reply
  119. 119

    Heather says

    My kids do a lot of craft projects but their favorite ones are building things with popsicle sticks and Elmer’s glue!

    Reply
  123. 123

    Angie P says

    I remember making a mother’s day plaque for my mom when I was in 2nd grade. We wrote a poem out with colored markers and then decoupaged it onto a piece of wood. That was a fun project.

    Reply
  124. 124

    Rosey says

    My favorite art work, done when I was a child, was of a pair of praying hands I molded out of ceramic in Sunday School. My grandma had those hanging on the wall for many, many years.

    Reply
  127. 127

    amir says

    When I was in grade school I made my Mom a noodle vase for Mother’s Day. It was all elbow maccaroni glued to a beer bottle (yup a beer bottle in school) and then we spay painted it gold.

    Reply
  132. 132

    AmandaK says

    Every Thanksgiving, when I was younger, my sister and I would make tons of Hand Turkeys for Mom to put up. We had so much fun we did it every year until we hit the 8th grade!

    orchestratenoise0726[at]yahoo[dot]com

    Reply
  133. 133

    Kelly Ann T. says

    I make tote bags every year for our local canine games. It is a fundraiser for local rescue groups. I fill the tote bags with dog treats and toys and these serve as prizes for our costume contest.

    I also turn wooden spoons into snowmen. These turn out so cute and everyone loves them at christmas time.

    Reply
  135. 135

    carol says

    my favorite project is of course my scrapping that I am doing now…I enjoy looking at all the finished albums of my grandkids growing up and me enjoying the time with them…thanks for the great giveaway

    Reply
  137. 137

    Kim F says

    When I was a kid, I love making felt book marks. My favorite was a hotdog dog. Still remember that dog from forty years ago. I wonder what happened to him?

    Reply
  140. 140

    Anna G. says

    My favourite art project is a rather large one…every year for the past 15 years, we have decorated the gym at school for the Grade 6 Graduation party…themes have ranged from ….Paris to the Heavens Above….to Disco…to Venice (this year)…what a big canvas we have to work with each year and it is a labour of love!!

    Reply
  144. 144

    Christie says

    My favorite project was one where we had to choose several parts of different animals and incorporate them all into one papier mache creature. Wings, hooves, tails, fur, whatever, all got mixed up into one creature. That was fun.

    Reply
  145. 145

    Pauline M says

    In elementary school, we use to have contests for the coolest valentines box every year. My Dad used to help us make some of the most elaborate valentine boxes ever! I will never forget the time we spent with our Dad doing this every year…. and we always won!

    Reply
  148. 148

    Susan Ledet says

    I take care of my 2 God-children for a month out of every year and we always do great arts & crafts project. We enjoy doing paper mache, making paper dolls and jewelry as well as scrapbooks.
    This is a great giveaway. Thanks for the chance.

    Reply
  150. 150

    Sharon Seneker says

    We liked making cards for others. A favorite project was cutting out Valentine hearts and writing I chews you to be my Valentine and cutting a slit in the middle and inserting a stick of chewing gum! Thanks!

    Reply
  152. 152

    Sheila R says

    My favorite craft as a child was taking little squares of tissue paper and wraping them around the eraser side of a pencil and dipping them in glue then putting them on a piece of paper and making a picture.

    Reply
  153. 153

    Laura Emerson says

    Our son wanted a train set so badly one year for Christmas and the money just was not there to buy one. My husband and I felt so bad as it was the only thing he had asked for and he believed that if he believed hard enough in Santa he would get one. My husband and I decided to build one for him. Every night after work when our son was asleep we would work on the train set. We spent hours and weeks carefully trying to make a train villiage, train set itself and even a conductor and passengers. We used popsicle sticks by cutting them in half and using whole (I think we cut our fingers almost as much as we cut the sticks!) and made an entire village. We then painted each piece and used pieces of tree branches for trees and made leaves and and tree tops out of play doh. The train was made out of wood but we took wheels from some of our son’s old cars so the train would move. We even made passengers from wood. We took a little whistle and put a string on it and put it on the train so the train would have its whistle. On Christmas morning my son went to the Christmas tree and found his train all set up. With tears in his eyes he looked at us and said “I just knew Santa would bring me my train! He played with that train for years and when he was a little too old for it he carefully put it on his shelf. Of all the toys throughout the Christmases he still says that the train set was the best gift he ever received!

    Reply
  160. 160

    Christine says

    My favorite art project is coloring with my son. We made a calendar that I hung in my office…it is one of my prized possessions! Thanks for the chance!

    Reply
  163. 163

    Justine says

    My fave art project was when my daughter and I made a piggy bank out of a discarded oatmeal container, it turned out super cute 😀

    Reply
  168. 168

    Tammy says

    My favoite activity that I remember from when I was little was using watered down glue to glue tissue paper to a glass jar to make a candle holder. I think we did this in art for every holiday.

    Reply
  169. 169

    Tammy says

    I remember taking watered down glue and glueing tissue paper to glass jars to make candle holders. I think we did this in art for every holiday.

    Reply
  172. 172

    Michael says

    Not so much an art project as woodworking shop. We made snow skis from layered wood bonded together with glue. I ‘feel’ your reaction – we didn’t think so either… guess that’s why we were the students! 🙂

    Reply
  173. 173

    Ellie W says

    My mom and I always made little ghosts that we would hand outside for Halloween every year. Neither one of us was very crafty but that was one thing we did well.

    Reply
  174. 174

    Amy says

    I loved crafts a a child (still do!) I used to make greeting cards for family members, especially my mom. I also liked making popsicle stick boxes, using lots of Elmer’s Glue.

    Reply
  175. 175

    Lisa G. says

    I love decorating old frame that I find at garage sales. I love finding unique ways to decorate them and I love having personal frames!
    Thanks!
    lisalmg25 at gmail dot com

    Reply
  181. 181

    Beverley Justice says

    I made a pair of earrings for my mother when I was in first grade. That’s been a long, long time ago…

    Reply
  183. 183

    Lucynda Zimmer says

    In the 6th grade our teacher asked us to make a list of all the kids in the class and tell her what you would give that person as a gift.

    I still remember it to this day we had to draw what we wanted to give each person. What a great idea.

    Reply
  184. 184

    Debra F says

    I’m not a craft kind of mom, but I do like creating creatures with kids with modeling clay. Thanks for the giveaway

    Reply
  187. 187

    Cynthia Mercado says

    I made a paper mache skunk in 4th grade. I am not very artistic but enjoyed that project.

    mercsmercado at yahoo dot com

    Reply
  189. 189

    Patricia says

    I have No art talent. One of my daughters does, tho. I can recall being so envious that other very youngsters could color their pumpkin so much better than I . 🙁

    Reply
  190. 190

    Jammie says

    We love doing art in my home. I home school our daughter and we do lots of art at home this would be great. My favorite art project was a littlest pet shop pinata I made for my daughters birthday the bad part was i put many hours into it and on the day of her birthday we discovered the mice got it and it was no good.

    Reply
  191. 191

    DANIELLE WALDO says

    My favorite art project was when i was 11 years old. I am now forty one and i have done it with each of my three children.
    PAPER MACHE PIGGY BANK
    1 steralized empty bleach bottle, 2 toilet paper rolls, glue, sizzors, newspaper, water color paint, 1 pipe cleaner. Cover bottle in strips of newspaper soaked in glue paper mache mix, place bottle on its side with handle faceing up, cut paper rolls into half attach as feet to bottom cover with glue paper mache, add ears with paper and cover with mache. let dry paint, poke hole in bottom for tail made out of pipe cleaner. cut slit for coins to go in.

    texaswaitress(at)hotmail.com

    Reply
  194. 194

    Sherri B. says

    My favorite art project as a kid was making Christmas ornaments. We made all different kinds. Some of them would be as simple as drawing a star with glue on construction paper and putting glitter on it to define it or as complex as making little houses out of toothpicks glued together. Toothpicks are not the easiest to work with when you have little hands! My mom still puts them on the tree every year and I love just looking at them and having pleasant memories of a simpler time. Thanks!

    sherri419 at gmail dot com

    Reply
  195. 195

    Lori Z. says

    We’ve been doing a lot of paper mache/starching stuff to make nests and masks and I love some of the things that the kids have made.

    Reply
  200. 200

    Miriam Tisdel says

    I really don’t remember any art projects as a child. But as an adult I love to draw and paint pictures of cartoons.

    Reply
  201. 201

    Crystal F says

    I like getting handprints from my girls. It’s something that you can put up and show them when they are older. It’s hard for them to believe that they were actually that small. thank you!!

    Reply
  202. 202

    Wendy Wallach says

    My favorite art project was a ceramic statue that I painted as an adult a few years ago.

    madamerkf at aol dot com

    Reply
  209. 209

    Jay French says

    In Jr High I had the grand illusion that I’d be a great sculptor. I had a special project in art class to create a bust, and spent a ton of time on it. What I found was that it wasn’t easy for me. But it is my most memorable project.

    Reply
  214. 214

    carol~ says

    As an adult I have enjoyed painting but I haven’t done any for awhile. As a kid I would say it was ceramics.

    Reply
  216. 216

    Marie says

    My favorite art project, which I share with my kids a lot, is collage — we love to get old magazines and glue sticks and go to town making all sorts of collage pictures together!

    Reply
  218. 218

    Judith T says

    My favorite art project has been scrapbooking, especially now since the arrival of our first Grandchild. But I have a craft room, so you might imagine, I have loads of crafts that I love and share. I owned a Gift Basket business for 15 years and hand crafted many baskets. Great idea on your prize, thanks!

    Reply
  221. 221

    Erin D says

    I don’t have a specific favourite project but I do find that the glue is great for both scrapbooking (my hobby) and notebooking (my kids’ favourite part of homeschooling!) Thanks.

    Reply
  224. 224

    Gianna says

    My favorite project was sewing beads and sequins onto a pair of converse shoes for a class project we actually got to choose ourselves 🙂

    Reply
  225. 225

    tanya says

    I don’t have a favorite, but my kids love any chance to paint or work with clay!

    twincere[at]hotmail.com

    Reply
  230. 230

    Veronica Garrett says

    My favorite art project is doll making. I am making an early American doll for my granddaughter.

    Reply
  231. 231

    Suanne Giddings says

    I used to love to glue all different kinds of pasta to cans and then spray paint them gold. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this giveaway!

    Reply
  233. 233

    Heather C says

    My fave art project usually involves some sort of sparkle. I like glitter projects and Christmas ornaments that have sequins. Fun!

    Reply
  238. 238

    Christina says

    My favorite project was cutting out pieces of colored paper into made up “flowers” and gluing them onto a background, at school, and one could be sent in to be on television. I noticed that all the kids were using smaller, horizontal pieces of paper, so I chose a larger piece of paper and did it horizontally! My flower was chosen to send in to TV!
    The teacher placed us all around a TV set to watch the show, and mine didn’t come up and didn’t come up and I thought it wouldn’t, and then at the very end the teacher put it up on the easel all by itself (!) while talking about the end of the show and it stayed on during the ending credits (as if it were the best one)! I was SO happy, and later in life did a LOT of gluing since I started showing collages professionally!

    Reply
  242. 242

    Green Talk says

    Congrads to Debbie, Jay, Sara, Mrs. Mommy, and Carolyn! Let me know how you like your backpacks of glue.

    For the rest, thanks for entering. All of your comments were great. More giveaways so stay tune and recycle those Elmer glue sticks and bottles. Anna

    Reply
  243. 243

    Kim Stephens says

    I am a Camp Fire leader and I work with all ages of children all year long… My favorite thing is watching that child finally finish what they where makeing and look at it like WOW I did it all by my self..

    thanks KIM

    Reply
  244. 244

    Tumbler Compost Bin Plans says

    Hmm… My favorite project of all time would have to be making paper meche collagas! I really got into them when I was a kid, they would end up being like a magazine with 30 pages in them. I wish I still had some of my old craft projects from back then. Good post, I have a friend that I am going to pass this along to thats going to love this! Looking forward to your upcoming posts.

    Reply
  246. 246

    jane says

    My favorite project I ever did with Elmer’s glue was making a birdhouse in 2nd grade and hanging it on a tree by the school afterwards.

    Reply

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