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ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

Five Sustainable Products I Use Every Day

Include USA Include Canada (English) Tom's of Maine

Written By Campbell Fauber for Our Sustainable Future

Drawn by Eleni Beaumont, OSF Co-Founder

Sustainability is something we should all strive for, whether it be at home, school, or the grocery store. Even though being 100% sustainable isn’t always possible, still taking part, even in small ways, is so worth it! So put away perfection and do what you can to educate yourself on the various ways you can make a positive difference in your community and on the planet. Here is a list of my favorite sustainable products that I use every day with links to check them out!

Plaine Products Hand Soap, Body Wash, and Hand Lotion

Plaine Products is my go-to sustainable hygiene brand. Not only is their packaging made from 100% recycled material, but their products are also vegan, biodegradable, all-natural, and cruelty-free. The products I mentioned above come in a metal bottle (instead of single-use plastic) and can even be sent back to the company for reuse later on. I highly recommend checking out Plaine Products!

Hydro Flask

Okay, I’ll admit it. I am a little basic because I own a Hydro Flask. But seriously, these water bottles are amazing, and not just because they keep your water cold! Hydro Flasks are metal bottles that are perfect for people who love cold, refreshing water. They are also a great alternative to single-use plastic bottles, which are downright awful for the environment. Keeping your water cold and helping the planet? It’s a win-win for me!

Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste & Mouthwash

Every morning and every evening I use my Tom’s of Maine toothpaste and mouthwash to keep my chompers squeaky clean. I made the switch in mid-2021 because I didn’t like all the artificial ingredients in my typical toothpaste and mouthwash. When I made the switch, I was ecstatic! I learned that their toothpaste tubes are recyclable and that Tom’s is partnered with TerraCycle to help everyday consumers like you and me recycle personal care packaging that isn’t traditionally accepted through curbside recycling. Every Tom’s of Maine oral hygiene product is made with all-natural ingredients and free from artificial colors and dyes.

Food52 Reusable Food Storage Containers

If I’m being honest, my reusable Food52 food storage containers always come in handy. They’re perfect for storing different types of food, whether it’s popcorn, pancakes, or soup. Sustainability-wise, they are perfect for people who want to ditch single-use storage containers or ones that are made from plastic; the ones I own are reusable as well as dishwasher, microwave, and freezer safe. I highly recommend checking out the Food52 website to explore all of your options!

Dropp’s Laundry Pods

I saved the best product for last: Dropp’s Laundry Pods! I use them whenever I do laundry and, wow, are they incredible. The ingredients used in their laundry pods are ethically sourced, clean, and safe both for you and the environment. Their packaging is also eco-friendly; it’s made out of cardboard, the paper tape they use on their packaging is compostable, and their shipping labels are recyclable and compostable. Another perk is that their laundry pods come in many different scents and sizes; there are also different pods for people with sensitive skin and for those who work out and sweat a lot. From one Dropp’s lover to hopefully another (yes, you), their laundry pods are perfect for people who wants to incorporate sustainability into their daily lives!

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Una empresa convierte en materia prima residuos irreciclables

TerraCycle Include Spain Mars Nestle Unilever BIC P&G Procter & Gamble Procter and Gamble PespsiCo
Botellas, latas, papel o cristal tienen unos cauces de reciclaje firmemente establecidos que garantizan (en teoría) su reaprovechamiento. Pero no sucede lo mismo con una larga lista de enseres y objetos cotidianos cuyo reciclaje es sumamente difícil por sus características. Terracycle tiene instalados 369 puntos de recogida en todo el país para que los ciudadanos depositen sus productos para reciclar, si bien está previsto ampliar su presencia en España, según ha explicado la empresa.
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県民、行政、企業が連携し、山口県の海岸に漂着した海洋プラスチックごみを店舗の買い物かごに

Include Japan 山口県、ニッスイ、丸久
山口県、丸久（以下「丸久」）、日本水産（以下「ニッスイ」）、並びにテラサイクルジャパン（以下「テラサイクル」）は、県内の海岸に漂着した海洋プラスチックごみを回収し、これを一部に使用した買い物かごを県内の丸久3店舗で12月11日から導入した。
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さんきたアモーレ広場・通称「パイ山」に、カラフルな『仕掛けごみ箱』が設置されてる。2月21日まで。ぽい捨てゼロを目指す実証実験

P&G Include Japan
このごみ箱は、景観向上のために「ぽい捨てゼロ」の街を目指す「実証実験」で設置されたもの。 神戸市が、生活用品などのメーカー「P&Gジャパン合同会社」・リサイクル事業を展開する「テラサイクルジャパン合同会社」・兵庫県立大学講師・参加学生とともに行っている試みです。 「ごみを捨てる」という行動に、変化を与えるような「仕掛け」や「デザイン」がごみ箱やその周辺に施されています。 市民が環境問題について関心を持つことがねらいのひとつなんだとか。
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TerraCycle: A second life

Include USA Include Canada (English) Loop TerraCycle Made TerraCycle Home
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  Tom Szaky started TerraCycle to reaffirm his belief that Nothing is Waste and to give waste a second life through recycling  By Bismita Rabha   In the recent decades, there has been a considerable change in the youth’s mindset towards private businesses. More start-up companies have mushroomed, driving the economy, creating employment, and producing waste. When combined with the pre-existing corporations that used more conventional ways of production, the waste ending up in landfills has reached unimaginable levels in the 21st century. With more emphasis on climate action by people, a wave of change is on its way.   Determined to take environmental responsibility seriously, Tom Szaky started TerraCycle - a recycle solution for every kind of waste, even the ones with a “nonrecyclable” label. Redefining the concept of waste and encouraging waste to be given a second life through recycling.   Princeton University dining hall: The birthplace of an idea In spite of dealing in millions presently, TerraCycle started out as a vermicomposting model. Tom reminisces about the time when he conceptualised the business. “I got the idea for TerraCycle as a college freshman at Princeton University in 2001. The original business model was vermicomposting (converting food waste into worm poop), packaging it in used soda bottles and selling the resulting fertiliser. I sourced the food waste from the Princeton dining hall’s leftovers and in order to find a larger supply of packaging, I recruited the help of local students to collect used soda bottles - essentially creating a precursor to our current free recycling programs which student organisations and community groups use as a fundraising activity.”   TerraCycle no longer produces fertiliser, but has pioneered recycling solutions for some of the world’s toughest garbage problems, proving that everything is technically ‘recyclable’ and developing solutions for nearly every waste stream you can think of, including drink pouches, used toothbrushes, cigarette butts and even dirty diapers! In short, TerraCycle takes waste that is not recyclable through conventional methods (i.e. your municipality’s curbside recycling program) and turns it into raw material that is then used to make new products.   No trade-offs  With more than 10 years’ worth of hard-work and innovation, TerraCycle is now operational in 21 countries which includes the UK, Brazil, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, China, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia. However, reaching this milestone has not been a smooth road. “Despite being on the verge of bankruptcy only one year into starting the business, I turned down a million-dollar grand prize from the Carrot Capital Business Plan,” says Tom, as the investors were keen on reducing the company’s focus on the sustainable actions and suggested firing the staff that helped him build the enterprise. After turning down the winnings, adversity sparked innovation and TerraCycle’s breakthrough came in 2004 when The Home Depot and Walmart started selling their little-known “wormpoop” fertiliser in re-used soda bottles.   TerraCycle has always strived to “eliminate the idea of waste,” and for all these years of operation, they have been supporting this mission by offering consumers and the (CPG) viable solutions, many of which were previously unavailable, to recycle packaging waste.   To date, over 200 million people worldwide have collected nearly 7.8 billion pieces of pre- and postconsumer waste and over US$ 44 million has been donated to schools and nonprofits.   “TerraCycle’s ultimate measure of success is not just greater access to recycling, it is the universal adaptation of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” adage we were taught as children,” shares Tom.   TerraCycle acknowledges the challenge of waste not being handled properly and recycling units not being enough. Moreover, they consider recycling a “band-aid to the global waste crisis.” There is no “silver bullet” to realise the vision of “eliminating the idea of waste.” It is a process that requires generous contribution from everyone.   Reducing consumption, investing in reusable packaging technology, and when materials can no longer be reused, recycling them is the solution. TerraCycle’s vision of success synthesises these approaches in pursuit of a truly “circular” economy in which resources are reused continually rather than being disposed of after a single use.   Looping in  TerraCycle is reaching newer dimensions with its work. Tom informs, “As we move forward as a brand, we will continue to implement new programs that build towards this idea of a circular economy. The launch of Loop in-store, the first-ever circular shopping system, enables consumers to shop for their favourite products in reusable, not disposable packaging.” It is a sustainable, zero-waste version of shopping for your daily needs like food, personal care, household goods and other supplies.   In the Loop store, you can return all their durable packaging once you have finished the product, and Loop will clean, refill and reuse all of it. A number of brands like Coca Cola, Heinz, Dr. Will’s and more are partnering with Loop to make eco-conscious consumption simpler. Other than that, emerging business units include TerraCycle Home, which offers food waste collection and composting services as well as recycling services for items not accepted in local recycling programs; TerraCycle Made, that makes products out of materials the company recycled, will also create more opportunities for the consumer to lead more sustainable lives. »  
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A new way of recycling coffee bean packaging

Include USA Include Canada (English) Ethical Bean
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A recycling project by Ethical Beans and TerraCycle mends the gap in the recycling industry one step at a time

Coffee is not just a drink, it’s a culture, a community, a lifestyle. And like any lifestyle, you can buy swag. Certain key items you can acquire to help prove to others you aren’t a poser. The entry-level includes single-use take-out coffee cups, a small drip coffee machine, a French press or a stovetop Italian espresso maker. You can upgrade to a reusable cup, a nice espresso machine at home, and the barista at your local coffee place knowing your name and/or order. And finally, you can call yourself a full-on coffee snob if you buy your own beans. The highest level of coffee swag — walking home with an aesthetically pleasing bag of coffee beans that cost you between $20 to $30. In Montreal, there are many different coffee beans you can buy, from Cantook to Café Rico, with distinct flavour profiles. But no matter where you get your beans from, the bags go into the trash and onto the landfill. NO MORE! There is now another solution to help make your morning routine more green. Ethical Bean, a coffee company established in Vancouver, has partnered with TerraCycle, a global recycling solution conglomerate, to create a new recycling project key to helping the coffee consumer grow greener. If you haven’t heard of TerraCycle yet, let me have the honour of introducing you. The company’s mission statement is to “eliminate the idea of waste.” It recycles materials in products and reshapes them for reuse. For example, melting down a bunch of plastic single-use packaging to make a new park bench. Together, they have created a new recycling program that allows consumers of a hot cup a’ joe to participate. All you have to do is sign up for free, fill up any cardboard box lying around with coffee bean bags (perhaps a past Amazon order?), print the free shipping label and off the pretty coffee packaging goes to become something new! In a city like Montreal, where one in every five people you see is a coffee snob, how will the community engage with this type of program? Will the endless array of coffee shops start recycling their packaging too? Léa Normandin, an employee at Café Le Loup Bleu, one of Montreal’s “third-wave” coffee locals, is a self-appointed coffee snob. Her qualifications include spending over $20 on coffee beans. She describes a coffee snob as someone who enjoys their coffee, for whom it isn’t just a drink you have in the morning, it’s the best part of your morning. She said, “Overall, someone who considers coffee as more than just their morning pick-me-up… like myself.” Normandin sees first hand the kind of waste coffee shops and coffee consumers can create, like “coffee packaging, single-use plastic or cardboard cups when you go out to get coffee, […] not to mention all the waste we create when choosing what goes into our coffee, such as sugar packets, cream [containers], straws, etc.” Excited at the prospect of new recycling possibilities, Normandin will eagerly take part in the new recycling initiative. The only thing left to do is get the city on board!
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How TerraCycle is partnering with DTC brands on recycling programs

Include USA Include Canada (English) Kroger Teva Carter's LILYSILK Parade
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Waste recycling company TerraCycle is becoming a popular solution among DTC brands. TerraCycle, founded in 2001, works with large corporations on recycling mostly plastic waste. Its partners include L’Oréal, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and most recently Kroger. Last year, Kroger expanded its recycling program — in which customers could drop off plastic Kroger packaging — to thousands of its private labels products.
In the past month, TerraCycle announced partnerships with two direct-to-consumer startups — underwear brand Parade and sleepwear company Lilysilk. Zachary Dominitz, senior vp of brand partnerships at TerraCycle, said that startups want to work with companies like TerraCycle because they are “resource-challenged,” yet “understand the importance” of reducing waste and recycling. These types of partnerships are an increasingly big part of these DTC brands’ overall sustainability goals, which executives say feed into their branding and marketing efforts. TerraCycle collects and then breaks down waste material, and repurposes the material into everything from home insulation to furniture and bedding. The company makes money by charging companies to operate their consumer-facing recycling programs. In 2020, TerraCycle U.S. reported $25 million in net sales, down 9% from 2019 due to pandemic-related slowdowns. (TerraCycle hasn’t reported 2021 figures yet). The company currently operates in over 20 countries, and has several product collection hubs across the country for quicker customer shipping. TerraCycle has dabbled in upcycling fashion items in the past. In April 2021, the company partnered with footwear brand Teva on recycling customers’ used TevaForever sandals. That month, the company also kicked off a kidswear recycling program with Carter’s, called Kidcycle. But this year, TerraCycle is pushing further into apparel and textile by striking deals with DTC brands.

Why DTC brands are outsourcing recycling

Last week, DTC underwear brand Parade launched Second Life by Parade with TerraCycle. The program allows consumers to recycle any brand of underwear through the program. It’s available via prepaid mailing package, and customers can also drop off their used items at Parade’s New York City store. In exchange, customers receive a 20% off discount on their next Parade purchase. This incentive is similar to H&M’s product drop-off program. “We knew a lot of customers were interested in recycling their old products,” Kerry Steib, vp of brand and impact at Parade said. “But you can’t resell or thrift underwear.” That’s when Parade sought out TerraCycle, Steib said. For a young startup like Parade, the program allows for seamless reverse logistics that make it straightforward for customers to participate, she explained. To create a textile-focused recycling program, Parade worked with TerraCycle on material analysis, as this is both companies’ first national underwear recycling initiative. Fashion and apparel is a new foray for TerraCycle, which required more planning ahead of the program’s launch. Dominitz told Modern Retail that oftentimes in the apparel industry, a lot of material isn’t truly recycled, and so TerraCycle’s R&D team has to assess whether it can be broken down in a sanitary way. Normally, a lot of brands TerraCycle works with have plastic products. However, apparel brands like Parade require specific machinery techniques to completely shred the material. This partnership is one part of Parade’s overall sustainability roadmap, in which the company aims to become climate positive by 2025. This year, Parade joined the Science Based Targets Initiative, an organization with over 1,000 companies setting climate action plans. In 2020, Parade launched its first carbon-neutral underwear, the Universal. This past fall, the company debuted its SuperSoft sleep collection, which it said is made from 95% less water than traditional sleepwear. Parade is continuously looking at other ways to develop products that are easier to upcycle. “The challenge is in creating better recyclable products at the same price point,” Steib said. In early January, DTC sleepwear and bedding brand Lilysilk also launched a recycling program with TerraCycle. The Lilysilk X TerraCycle Recycling Program allows customers to send silk and cashmere products to be recycled. Eligible items include bedding, sleepwear and women’s and men’s apparel. The program is only taking used Lilysilk products for now, but the company is considering expanding it to other brands. Wendy Zhang, marketing lead at Lilysilk, told Modern Retail that the brand realized it needed a partner to go about such a program. “Sustainability is not a one-man show, and it’s hard for one brand to take on,” Zhang said. It’s why the company sought out professional help to break down and recycle the material efficiently. “It doesn’t make a direct impact on our revenue, but we see it as an investment in what the brand stands for,” Zhang said. She added that founder David Wang decided to sign on for a three-year contract instead of testing TerraCycle for one year. Like Parade, product recycling is one part of Lilysilk’s sustainability goals, said Zhang. Lilysilk also tries to reduce waste during production by, for example, using t-shirt cut-offs to make silk accessories. To promote the TerraCycle program, Zhang said Lilysilk is working with its network of influencers. Lilysilk also plans to eventually install TerraCyle drop-off booths at offices and apartment complexes.

TerraCycle’s growing presence

TerraCycle’s Dominitz said the company has seen “an increased interest in our recycling solutions from every segment in the commercial chain.” This is due to the increased awareness around consumer product waste and the impact it has on the environment, Dominitz explained. Jenny Gyllander, founder of product reviews site Thingtesting, previously told Modern Retail that recycling and reselling used products are “positive first steps,” for brands to take to contribute less waste. “[Brands] should be responsible for the products that they put out into the world and think about the full life cycles of where they end up,” she said. But TerraCycle’s solutions also highlight the obstacles surrounding recycling — as evident by a now-settled recent lawsuit against TerraCycle over alleged opaque practices.   As TerraCycle grows, its pitch to both larger and smaller brands is that developing a cohesive recycling program helps companies achieve multiple goals. “This translates to more waste collected and recycled, a bigger positive impact and a better story for your [companies’] stakeholders,” Dominitz said.
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