Carl Sandberg Elementary Students Turn Trash Into Money

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) - A group of enterprising students are turning trash into money using recycling to make tens of thousands of dollars.

In this era of tightening school budgets, the elementary school students are buying school computers with their garbage earnings.

The principal at Carl Sandberg Elementary admits to being addicted to garbage and apparently her students are too.

"This is pretty much all we focus on. It's just amazing how much we get," a student said.

In every classroom there is garbage.

"We have it because we bring it in because we get two cents for this," the student said.

In every classroom there are individual computers for students.

"We got them from the money we used from recycling here at Sandberg," another student said.

Students collect garbage all year. There's an army of collectors in each class, but the garbage guru is the principal, who contracts with companies around the country.

"We bundle the wrappers and we send it to New Jersey and the money comes back to us," she said.

Last year the garbage brought in $20,000.
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