A new recycling initiative in partnership with TerraCycle, select Taco Bell® locations, alongside several community spaces all located throughout Mercer County, including Trenton’s 590 S Broad Street Taco Bell location, are helping to divert used hot sauce packets away from landfills. “This recycling initiative empowers local Taco Bell® locations and community spaces to promote sustainable initiatives in their own towns while encouraging residents to take an active role in helping to preserve the environment,” said Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle. “Our aim is to provide an opportunity for entire communities like Trenton to collect waste and be part of the solution to keep these packets out of landfills and the environment.” With 8.2 billion Taco Bell hot sauce packets used each year in the U.S., this pilot program aims to give packets a spicier new life as a new recycled product. “Through this recycling initiative, we seek to empower local communities to take action to keep empty sauce packets out of landfills and the environment, ensuring the waste is given a second life. At the end of the program, the collected sauce packet material will be recycled into picnic tables to be donated to local parks throughout Mercer County,” said Zachary Dominitz, TerraCycle’s Senior Vice President of Account Management. This program will be available through Earth Day (April 22, 2022), and consumers are encouraged to bring all brands and types of empty, used sauce packets to participating drop-off sites for recycling. Once collected, the waste will be sent to TerraCycle, where it will be cleaned and melted into hard plastic and remolded into new recycled products. To get classmates, friends, family members, and neighbors involved in the program, participants are encouraged to share online how they are recycling with #RecycleYourSauce. “By partnering with TerraCycle, we have found a unique way to extend the life cycle of Taco Bell’s hot sauce packets and increase recycling in our restaurants. We’re aiming to improve recycling rates through education and engagement, so this partnership is giving our fans the knowledge and access to recycle the hot sauce packets they love,” said Missy Schaaphok, Taco Bell’s Director of Global Nutrition & Sustainability. To search for the nearest participating location in Mercer County to recycle sauce packets, visit https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/pages/taco-bell-pilot-locations.