The company’s current programs in the nation focus on plastic bottles, dental products, and hair care product packaging. In addition to funding recycling initiatives, TerraCycle encourages people to deposit used items for “upcycling” — transforming waste materials into new products — in return for credit that can be converted into charitable cash donations. The repurposed materials themselves have a social impact, too: One TerraCycle program pledged to donate desks and chairs made from recycled plastic packaging to a Beijing school for homeless youth and children of migrant workers.