South Philadelphia based soap company, Hand in Hand has recently announced a new incentive to address the waste crisis in the City of Brotherly Love.

Hand in Hand to partner with TerraCycle to help the city's growing recycling problem

Hand in Hand is used to the philanthropic world: According to the release, the brand is guided by the principles of sanitation, sustainability and philanthropy, and has donated nearly 3 million bars of soap to Haitian and Cambodian children threatened by water-related illnesses. Through partnerships with non-profits in both countries and by creating products that are palm oil-free, cruelty-free, paraben-free and petrochemical-free as well as vegan, Hand in Hand prides itself on environmental and ethical responsibility. The Philly-based company has even worked with Eco-Soap Bank, which diverts leftover hotel soaps from landfills and donates them to schools, hospitals and villages--- just to name another charitable accolade. Now, Hand in Hand has teamed up with TerraCycle to amp up, even more, their existing sustainability initiatives. In partnership with TerraCycle, Hand in Hand will recycle their leftover flexible plastic tubes diverting additional waste from landfills while adding to their sustainability repertoire. The collected plastic waste will be recycled into a variety of new products such as park benches, bike racks, shipping pallets and recycling bins, according to the release.

“Hand in Hand is always looking for ways to sustainably improve our packaging while still remaining economical for our active customers,” said Holly La Porte, Director of Brand Development in in the release. “With our products, we pride ourselves in supply chain transparency, sourcing our ingredients without palm oil or any palm derivatives. We're thrilled to partner with TerraCycle as a next step in our path to long term packaging sustainability.” This new initiative for the company comes after the city incinerated half of its recyclables in 2019 and is set to spend a record amount in 2020 to have recycling hauled. In all, taxpayers will pay up to $9 million this fiscal year for Waste Management to haul their throwaway plastics, glass bottles, and paper — almost double what the city was paying just a few years ago according to inquirer.com. Hand in Hand is looking to help this issue with its partnership with TerraCycle, who according to the release, specializes in collecting and repurposing hard-to-recycle waste through a variety of platforms, including large-scale recycling, which helps manufacturing facilities like Hand in Hand’s recycle large volumes of waste.

“Partnering with socially-aware and environmentally-conscious businesses like Hand in Hand dovetail well with TerraCycle’s philosophy of minimizing the impact of humans while maximizing our ability to do-good,” said Tom Szaky, TerraCycle CEO in the release. The new initiative will be huge for the city's growing waste crisis in 2020.