TERRACYCLE NEWS

ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

U. will participate in program with Gillette, TerraCycle to encourage recycling of razors on campus

Include USA TerraCycle Hit Gillette University Pilot
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Rutgers recently joined the Gillette University Razor Recycling program, which encourages students to recycle their used razor products for a chance to win prizes throughout the year in the program’s sweepstakes. The program, which is run by Gillette, works in partnership with TerraCycle, a recycling company that works toward eliminating waste. The partnership has created the world’s first national razor recycling program, which works to help recycle approximately 2 billion razors that are thrown away each year, according to the program’s website. “Razors are an often overlooked waste stream because of their inability to be recycled through traditional methods, like your town’s curbside recycling program,” said Mary Ellen Dowd, a communications associate at TerraCycle. “Programs like this one give the consumer the opportunity to divert their razors from landfill while turning them into new, recycled products.” Dowd said the program will work with universities by allowing students to register with their college emails, which will allow them to enter the sweepstakes for prizes. The students who enter the program can then find their local public drop-off location where they can dispose of their used disposable razors, replaceable-blade cartridge units and associated packaging at any participating location near their campus. “Once collected, the razors and their associated plastic packaging are cleaned and sorted by material composition to be later broken down and remolded into new recycled products,” Dowd said. She said that through the sweepstakes, the program has offered various prizes for college students to win, including tickets to NFL games at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts and other various Gillette products. Dowd said the idea for the partnership between Gillette and TerraCycle to collaborate with universities came from their hope to engage college students in razor recycling. The participation of Rutgers students and other university students across the country is vital for the success of this purpose, she said. She said the recycling programs run by TerraCycle are grassroots, community-based efforts, and all students at the University are encouraged to participate in the recycling program for the opportunity to divert a waste stream from landfills, which are already overcrowded. Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, said the organization’s mission is to "eliminate the idea of waste" and provide solutions to help encourage people to recycle items that do not seem to be traditionally recyclable curbside. “Through our partnership with Gillette, we are working to inspire Rutgers students to rethink what is waste as well as help foster awareness that solutions do exist for items that may seem otherwise unrecyclable,” Szaky said.
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Is your morning coffee worth polluting our environment for?

TerraCycle Include Canada (English) ZWB Loop Tim Hortons

Though Canada has committed to a plan of zero plastic waste by 2030, we need immediate action, Kaeley Cole writes.

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Globally, less than 10 per cent of the world’s plastics are recycled; the rest ends up in landfills, incinerators or as litter. Why should you care? Plastic pollution harms the ecosystems we rely on to keep our planet healthy. According to a report released by the World Economic Forum in 2016, plastics will outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050. Toxic chemicals from plastics end up in our water and cause behavioural and physiological changes in fish. These chemicals also climb the food chain and eventually impact humans directly. In fact, studies have found tiny plastic particles in human blood and embryos. This is extremely concerning because it means plastics can move around inside our bodies, accumulate in our organs, effect babies’ developing immune systems and cause long-term damage. Though Canada has committed to a plan of zero plastic waste by 2030, we need immediate action. One way we can act now is by making takeout practices greener, much like New York City has done. In 2020, New York cafés and restaurants implemented a 25 cent charge for disposable cups, encouraging people to bring reusable mugs. Additionally, their takeout materials are compostable. We need incentives like this in Canada.
Globally, 2.5 billion single-use coffee cups are discarded annually. Most takeout chains have fully plastic lids and cold cups, while hot cups are typically paper with an inner plastic lining. Cups lined with plastic are difficult and expensive to reprocess since the materials need to be separated. As a result, many municipalities don’t recycle these and they end up in the landfill resulting in unnecessary garbage. Lids and cold cups are usually recyclable, but they need to be end up at the right facility. This means making sure residents are properly sorting their waste. Unfortunately, the City of Hamilton doesn’t have public recycling bins, so when people are out and about waste that could be recycled ends up in garbage bins.
The solution? First of all, municipalities should provide clearly marked trash and recycling bins in public spaces. Second, we need to curb our use of single-use cups. This doesn’t mean you need to give up your morning coffee run, but you should do it more sustainably. I conducted a little experiment this week. I got my morning coffee from Starbucks and Tim Hortons at McMaster University. I brought in my own reusable cup to avoid the single-use waste. I was told, because of sanitary reasons and COVID-19, my cup couldn’t be used.
What shocked me is that Starbucks’ website states that as of Aug. 24, 2021, personal reusable cups were reintroduced in stores across Canada. So what’s going on? Either there’s a discrepancy between Starbucks’ policies and operations at individual locations’ or perhaps McMaster Facility Services has imposed a set of rules vendors need to comply with that differs from those at Starbucks’ HQ. Either way I urge students — and Hamiltonians more broadly — to fight for the reintroduction of reusable cups at cafés throughout Hamilton. Tim Hortons brought back the reusable cup option on April 6. It also has innovative plans in the works, like creating recyclable and compostable cups, using artificial intelligence to educate consumers on recycling and composting, as well as piloting TerraCycle’s zero-waste platform Loop. On Nov. 1, 2021, Loop was set in motion at five Burlington locations. Customers can opt to get their orders in returnable containers for a $3 deposit per item, to be refunded when the products are returned. This is a great way to cut down on single-use plastics. I urge folks to participate in this program — let’s make it a success!   Even with Canada following through on its promises toward zero plastic waste, the issue at hand will not just disappear. Plastics travel long distances by wind and water, making plastic pollution a global issue. Though it is important to start at a community level, we can’t forget to advocate for global change.
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Mont-de-Marsan : à la pharmacie Terral, une boîte attend les masques usagés

TerraCycle Include France ZWB ZWB PPE
La pharmacie Terral, à Mont-de-Marsan, collecte depuis un peu plus d’un an les masques chirurgicaux jetables du personnel et des patients. « Avant la pandémie, nous avions commencé à travailler sur une démarche écoresponsable en définissant certaines orientations. Lorsque le Covid est arrivé, nous nous sommes préoccupés du recyclage des masques », raconte Stéphane Terral. Le pharmacien titulaire fait alors appel à TerraCycle.
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5 NJ Burger King stores first in world to offer reusable packaging

Include USA Loop Burger King
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Five Burger King outlets in northern New Jersey offer customers the chance to purchase their food and drinks in reusable containers through a first-of-its-kind partnership with Loop, a reusable packaging program by Trenton-based TerraCycle in partnership with a coalition of manufacturers and retailers. After finishing their meals, customers can return the reusable container to the Loop Return Point at the store to be cleaned and reused. Customers will be charged a $2 deposit upon purchase on each item, and will receive a refund once their package is returned. Participating Burger Kings include 1088 Broadway, Bayonne; 118 Central Ave., Clark; 1022 East Route 18, East Brunswick; 751 Harrison Ave.; Harrison; and 1822 Springfield Ave., Maplewood. Loop SVP Marketing and Platforms Heather Crawford said consumer buy-in to the pilot program, which launched in January and will go on for at least six months, has been high. “Consumer response in the early days has been really strong. We’ve heard from consumers that they prefer the design and functionality of the reusable containers to the disposable ones,” Crawford said. The Burger King partnership is part of a larger macro-series of launches in the next few months, including upcoming programs with Walgreens and other big box retailers. Loop recently launched in 25 Fred Meyer stores, a Kroger grocery banner, in Portland, Ore.; and before that launched internationally in France and the U.K., among others. While Loop isn’t calculating the environmental impact of the five North Jersey stores, it’s working with Burger King on projections of what the program would look like at scale. Predictions are based on the consumer response so far. “One of the educational barriers we need to get passed is what does it mean to borrow a cup instead of bring your own reusable … Educating consumers has been an educational task for the marketing team and the teams crafting the marketing,” Crawford said. Consumers in states with bottle deposits — five or 10 cents on glass and plastic bottles — are more familiar with the concept than those without bottle deposits, Loop has found. “Loop is the next siege in the evolution of how we manage the water crisis. One of the ways is the product never becomes waste at all – it instead can be reused,” Crawford said.
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Babybel launches comprehensive packaging recycling program

TerraCycle Include USA Babybel
For example, the cellophane, netting and labels will be transformed into plastic pellets that will be used to make other reusable plastic objects.
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Part of the Bel Brands USA family, Babybel has announced a national recycling program for all packaging in the US with international recycling leader, TerraCycle. “Across our entire business at Bel, we are working to reduce the impact our products and processes have on the environment. And while we work to provide 100% recyclable or compostable packaging, we’re thrilled to offer consumers a way to recycle our current Babybel packaging in partnership with TerraCycle,” says Melanie Nemoy, Babybel brand director. U.S. consumers can participate in the Babybel Recycling Program in three simple steps:
  • Sign up on the TerraCycle program page at
  • Save the nets, labels, metal fasteners, cellophane, wax and/or pouches from Babybel products and put them in a box.
  • When you’re ready to send in a package, print out a prepaid shipping label available on the website, place it on the well-sealed box and mail it to TerraCycle free of charge. To transport waste in the most efficient and environmentally friendly way possible, consumers are encouraged to ship their packages only when they are full.
For any shipment of packaging meeting TerraCycle program guidelines, consumers earn points that can be redeemed for a donation to a non-profit organization of their choice. Once collected, the packaging will be cleaned, melted and remolded to make new recycled products. For example, the cellophane, netting and labels are transformed into plastic pellets that will be used to make other reusable plastic objects, such as garden tools or park benches. Metal fasteners are separated from the labels and melted down to make gaskets, nuts or bolts. “With this recycling program, Bel Brands USA is offering a powerful, sustainable option to responsibly dispose of Babybel packaging,” says Tom Szaky, TerraCycle founder and CEO. “Consumers can now enjoy their favorite bite-sized snacks and easily reduce waste all while being rewarded for minimizing their environmental impact.” The Babybel Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization. For more information on TerraCycle’s recycling programs, visit www.terracycle.com.
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What Do Beauty and Baby Food Have In Common? They Produce a Ton of Waste

TerraCycle Include USA Cerebelly
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On average, every American produces 1,609 pounds of garbage every year--and on the global level, we produce 2.12 billion tons of waste every year. You read that right. And when it comes to plastic, 91% of plastic waste hasn't been recycled.

On a daily basis, many of us try to do right by the environment. We recycle. We plant trees. We minimize water usage. We carpool. But when it comes to waste, the current efforts just don't balance out the monstrous mountain of trash that is created yearly. Sustainability is - a lot of times - easier said than done. But some brands are taking on the urgent challenge, solving problems, setting standards, and making meaningful sustainable decisions that are much easier for the rest of us.

Take Palette by pak. This beauty start-up is leading the sustainable beauty packaging revolution and is on a mission to make beauty reusable. Not an easy feat when you consider all the disposable plastic tubes, pumps, droppers, containers, and bottles that are used in just one day in the average person's beauty and personal care routine. Disrupting a billion-dollar disposable beauty industry, Palette is using innovation, form, function, and design to provide refillable, washable, and reusable beauty products to stop disposable beauty in its tracks.

How big is the problem? About 120 billion units (yes billion) of disposable beauty and personal care products are produced every year. If you need a visual of how big this actually is, it's enough to fill the entire Pacific Ocean each year. Considering that recent statistics reveal that as much as 95% of this packaging is not actually getting recycled, it doesn't take long for alarm bells to start going off.

Tackling disposable beauty one category at a time, Palette is first addressing a very important subset of the greater single-use and disposable beauty packaging problem--travel size and minis.

Most people don't know that tiny plastics like single-use travel size and minis do not get recycled at all due to their small size and go straight into our landfills, our waterways, and oceans. This is why California and New York have banned travel-sized products in hotels beginning in 2023 and 2025 respectively.

Another industry that is big on single-use items and is being shaken up? The baby food industry. It is projected to reach $96.3 billion by 2027 and currently lacks the same regulations and requirements as its baby formula counterparts.

What that means: Pretty much anything goes when it comes to how the food our little ones eat is packaged and processed, which not only means more waste, it can also lead to issues in brain development due to chemicals seeping into sauces and purees.

Brands like Cerebelly are keeping nutrition a top priority by making vegetables the first ingredient and reducing sugar. The food they offer is non-GMO, 100% plant-derived, dairy-free, gluten-free--and they're setting standards where none previously existed.

It is the first and only baby food brand to provide the 16 essential nutrients that are critical to brain development, which in itself is a big enough development; but they are also the first children's food brand to receive the Clean Label Project's Purity Award, which is given to products that are tested for over 400 contaminants and heavy metals.

While transparency and science are big wins, they're also leading the way in working with customers to reduce consumer waste. Through a partnership with international recycling leader, TerraCycle, which specializes in providing recycling solutions for typically unrecyclable waste, Cerebelly has achieved a major milestone of 100,000 baby food pouches recycled and, as of Earth Day 2022, Cerebelly's waste collection is expected to reach 110,000 pouches recycled.

Terracycle is hoping to help other baby food brands, too. Gerber currently has a recycling program with Terracycle to mail-in packaging that otherwise can't be recycled in local municipal programs. With prepaid shipping labels, you can send in your packaging for reprocessing. It's a start.

Thanks to companies like Terracycle, more than 200 trillion people around the world are now recycling, and they're aiming to eventually be able to "recycle everything"--a lofty goal worth pursuing.

Recycling reduces the needed amount of raw materials to be processed, therefore, reducing air and water pollution. It also positively affects climate change by saving energy and thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

It's vital for businesses to contribute to the sustainability of our planet. And while a lot of us try our best via sustainable habits, we want--and should--try to do more, and support brands that are not just solving problems, but setting the standards for us to follow in the future. As a mom of littles and a woman who likes a bold lip now and then, I'm keeping my eye on ways to reduce my waste.

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