TerraCycle (U.S.) This Trenton company runs recycling programs for major corporations, turning seemingly unrecyclable goods—Brita filters, cigarette butts, Sharpie pens—into finished products or salable plastics. The $18.8 million business operates in 20 countries and boasts clients like L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, and Colgate.

The pen is a marvellous invention, but when it has done its job it still ends up in the garbage. One more non-recyclable item journeys to the landfill. In the US, 1.6 billion meet that fate each year. Recycling pens poses big problems. Even though a good portion of a pen is plastic, it is usually several different kinds of plastic, usually contaminated with a bit of metal or an ink core or some other materials.

Personal care and beauty products account for one-third of all landfill waste, spurring Garnier to up the ante of its sustainability program and partner with TerraCycle, Inc. to collect millions of pieces of packaging waste from the L’Oreal owned brand of hair care, skin care, and cosmetic lines.