Financing tends to be on the top of the list of hurdles for sustainable companies looking to scale. A business does not survive on a mission alone, and in order to generate profits and revenue, it needs capital to operate. But for sustainable enterprises setting out to meet the triple bottle line (“Planet, People, Profit”) while minimizing impacts, attracting and raising funding can be a particularly challenging task.

"Why does waste even exist?" That’s the question at the heart of TerraCycle’s own existence. Since 2001, the company has been taking hard-to-recycle waste and turning it into raw material for use in new products. It operates in over 20 countries and engages over 60 million people.

"Why does waste even exist?" That's the question at the heart of TerraCycle's own existence. Since 2001, the company has been taking hard-to-recycle waste and turning it into raw material for use in new products. 

今年夏天，海飞丝将与法国零售商家乐福合作，推出黑色瓶装的洗发水。该创新洗发水瓶身由美国废物回收公司 TerraCycle和法国公用事业公司 Suez 联合生产。制作这种洗发水瓶的部分原材料来自由志愿者和公益组织在海滩上人工收集的塑料垃圾。宝洁公司计划到 2018年年底，护发品牌使用再生塑料瓶的比例将达到 90%以上，包括潘婷（Pantene）和海飞丝。该项目每年将回收使用 2600吨再生塑料，其重量相当于八架满载的波音747超大型喷气式飞机。

TerraCycle uses its colossal collection capabilities to funnel hard-to-recycle materials to recycling facilities, but the company hasn’t focused strongly on the e-scrap stream. That may change in coming years.    

Envision Plastics has launched a bottle made completely from materials at risk of becoming marine debris. The reclaimer says its first 100 percent OceanBound plastic container is being used by Primal Group’s Vita brand of personal care products. “Envision is proud of the work we are doing by collecting and recycling OceanBound Plastic, but we are excited that it was able to displace 100 percent of the virgin resin in the bottle and colorant,” Dan Ferus, general manager of Envision Plastics, stated in a press release.

Mention “ocean debris” and you’ll find that most people react negatively, seeing it as a major problem, and rightfully so, yet more often than not placing the blame squarely on plastics and, by association, the entire plastics industry. But then there are those who not only seek to find solutions to problems, but find it, including forward-thinking companies like brand owner Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati) and recycling specialists TerraCycle (Trenton, NJ) that have successfully turned ocean-, lake- and other water-borne plastic bottles and other discarded plastics into new bottles.

Like any consumer-driven Holiday in the west, Valentine’s Day has become an excessive and wasteful celebration. While trying to express our love for friends, family and partners, we litter the planet with non-recyclable candy wrappers, take away containers carrying the dinner we couldn’t finish and stock the shelves of our landfills by purchasing unnecessary cheap trinkets that will inevitably fall apart.

TerraCycle US Inc., a leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, announced it has acquired Lisle, Ill.-based Air Cycle Corporation, a leader in universal waste recycling that provides solutions for mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs, battery, ballast and electronic waste disposal.