Sustainability is a buzzword that seemingly every corporation is promoting nowadays.   Green initiatives and waste reduction plans can be found on nearly every corporate website, but how many companies are really making a difference in their communities?   Johnson Automotive is taking its latest environmental cause seriously and inviting the community to take part in it, even if they aren’t Johnson customers.   The initiative is a partnership with TerraCycle, a recycling company that eliminates barriers to safely return hard-to-recycle waste. This means everything from plastic packaging to one-use coffee capsules can be collected and recycled without having to worry about it being accidentally sent to a landfill.   “It’s pretty cool – anyone can buy a TerraCycle box,” explained Katelyn Paul, marketing communications manager with Johnson Automotive. “You can buy them and have them for your house. When it’s filled up, the shipping is already prepaid, you just have to mail it back. The TerraCycle box is for things that are hard or impossible to remove from the waste stream on your own.”   TerraCycle’s home-use boxes range anywhere from $81 to $199, depending on the size and how much your household plans to recycle. You just select which type of waste you’re looking to dispose of and order the correct box. Options include one-use coffee capsules, general kitchen waste, art supplies, disposable gloves and more. There are a variety of different sizes available, so everyone can find a box that fits their lifestyle.   Don’t think you make enough waste to justify a box at your home? That’s where corporate partners like Johnson come in.   “We have our big boxes, and you can bring the things that go in them,” Paul said. “We’re having people bring bags of K-cup pods from nearby offices. They’re bringing them in to our store. A lot of people are saving disposable cups, straws, soda and coffee cans, and bringing them in – we also have a snack wrappers and bag box. I haven’t run into a situation where somebody brings something we can’t take.”   The boxes are all labeled, but separation is still an important part of ensuring the TerraCycle process is a success. When you’re conditioned to just toss a wrapper in the trash, it can be a hard habit to break. Johnson ensures that all of its employees are trained on properly sorting so that they can answer any questions customers might have and they make use of the boxes themselves.   “It’s an awareness thing,” Paul said. “We do a really good job making sure someone’s been trained on the boxes. We wouldn’t want someone to throw their chip bag into the trash can when its right next to a TerraCycle box. We are one of the largest Subaru dealer in North Carolina, so we have a lot of people visiting our dealership. That means a lot of coffee and snack-related waste.”   The word has spread; not only are employees and customers taking advantage of the TerraCycle boxes, community members who have no interest or desire to buy a car have been dropping off their recyclables.   “I have people call, and they come and bring [recyclables] in, and fill our boxes,” Paul said. “You don’t need to want to buy a car, we won’t sell you. Just bring us your recycling.”   The outreach has worked, with Johnson returning thousands of units of recyclable material as of April 2019. The TerraCycle boxes have become such a draw, the dealership has given some of its boxes to Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, creating another easy drop-off point.   The TerraCycle partnership started as a part of the Johnson Subaru’s “Subaru Loves the Earth” initiative, which has now placed the zero waste boxes in Subaru dealerships around the country. The partnership, which began in 2018, has proven incredibly popular, and Johnson Subaru is committed to continuing it.   “When we initially discussed TerraCycle, it was born out of Subaru corporate’s zero waste initiative. TerraCycle is a boots-on-the-ground example of how the brand itself is really committed to that. We love being able to share and tell people about it,” Paul added.