Henkel announced a new partnership with the organization Waste Free Oceans to gather plastic waste from waterways and turn it into Lovable laundry brand bottles. The German chemical and consumer goods company aims to have enough for at least 1 million bottles.

Adhesives are necessary for a lot of industrial applications, but they tend to create a lot of waste too. That is why Henkel Canada Corporation has partnered with TerraCycle, an innovative company that offers recycling solution for typically non-recyclable material, to create the Adhesive Recycling Program. This program enables customers to recycle adhesive packaging from the Loctite brand – reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfills and incinerators. A simple recycling solution Henkel is the first manufacturer to offer this kind of recycling solution for its anaerobic adhesive packaging. The company aims to help customers meet their sustainability goals as they continue to use powerful and reliable Loctite products. Taking part in this program is easy. A customer buys a durable, postage-paid recycling box to collect used Loctite adhesive containers. When the box fills up, the customer sends it to TerraCycle, which recycles all the contents. Three different sizes are available: small, medium, and large. Henkel recommends placing the adhesive recycling bx in an area where workers apply and/or discard Loctite products. Only anaerobic Loctite packaging should be put into these boxes, with all bottles capped and tightly closed. When the box is full, seal the liner with the zip tie included under the box lid, and seal the top securely with packing tape. Then the box should be placed in the workplace’s designated UPS pickup area. TerraCycle recycles the adhesive packaging into new, innovative products once it received the box. The company sorts the collected waste by material type, treats the packaging cryogenically or thermally to deactivate the adhesive, and then melts the material into sheets that are then shredded and pelletized. These pellets eventually turn into new products. For a look at the Henkel Adhesive Recycling Program, watch the video below: https://youtu.be/p1rzBHRBo_s   Customers need only to contact their local Henkel distributors or Loctite industrial sales representatives to join the program. This program is just one way that Henkel demonstrates its commitment to delivering more value with a lower environmental footprint.

Henkel, a leading manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, including the Loctite® brand, and TerraCycle are building on the success of their pioneering Adhesive Recycling Program. Henkel, in partnership with TerraCycle, was the first company worldwide to offer a recycling solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging, and now they are adding light cure adhesive technologies packaging to the groundbreaking program.

Henkel Corporation, a company that offers LOCTITE threadlocker products to suit the needs of the professional mechanic, is setting forth to reduce the ecologic footprint that the industry’s day-to-day operations place on the environment. Henkel’s sustainability program gives shops the opportunity to recycle used bottles of LOCTITE threadlocker through TerraCycle, a company that makes consumer products from pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and by reusing other waste materials. To participate in the program, shops must purchase a LOCTITE recycling box from their distributor or LOCTITE sales rep and place it on their shop floor. The boxes come with a pre-paid shipping label, so when the box is full, they simply seal the liner and ship it to TerraCycle for recycling. Kenneth Forlenza, Director of Vehicle Repair and Maintenance for North America, explains, “As sustainability goals become more important for industrial and manufacturing companies, many are trying to reduce the amount of waste they generate, and some have adopted ‘zero waste’ programs. Our program with TerraCycle gives customers a simple way to achieve their waste reduction goals by recycling their empty LOCTITE bottles.” There are many reasons that the automotive aftermarket industry should be involved in sustainability initiatives — namely because it can help the industry improve its bottom line. “Reducing energy use, water and waste saves money in the long run. In addition, sustainability is becoming a bigger factor for customers in deciding which companies to do business with,” Forlenza adds. With this initiative, Henkel is reaching beyond the automotive aftermarket; the recycled threadlocker bottles will be repurposed for playgrounds, park benches and other community-centric fixtures. Forlenza explains, “Community involvement is part of Henkel’s commitment to sustainability. We want to contribute to the quality of life in the places where we live and work. Our adhesive recycling program is going to keep LOCTITE bottles out of landfills, but it’s also going to help our communities by providing playground equipment and other needed items.” For more information on the LOCTITE adhesive recycling program, visit www.na.henkel-adhesives.com/recycleloctite.

This year was one of historic significance. The global community had a front-row seat to developments on the world-stage of international politics, the movements of which have implications for this coming year and all those to follow. More connected by technology than ever, the world’s citizens engaged in discussions of pressing issues like human rights and environmental sustainability, speaking to an increased willingness to convert values into action.   At TerraCycle, 2016 notched a decade and a half of dedication to the circular economy, corporate social responsibility and the renewal of the world’s finite resources.  Through free recycling programs, custom recycling solutions and partnerships with some of the world’s largest companies, TerraCycle so far has engaged more than 60 million people to recycle in 23 countries, diverting nearly 4 billion units of difficult-to-recycle waste from landfills and incinerators and raising $15 million for charity.   Milestones this year include the launch of new programs that marked the first time TerraCycle has recycled in their respective categories. Henkel, a leading global manufacturer of industrial adhesives, including the LOCTITE® brand, became the first company to offer a recycling solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging. The main challenge with recycling the polyethylene [PE] plastic bottles and the reason they are not accepted by the conventional waste management infrastructure is due to the residual adhesive. Learning about the adhesives and how they cure allowed us to develop a solution and recycle this category of material for the first time.   The year also saw us finalize a partnership with SUEZ, one of the largest waste management companies in the world. Through the deal, SUEZ can bring TerraCycle’s consumer-facing programs to its customers in France, the UK, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, and we gain access to perhaps the world’s largest sales force dedicated to the circular economy.   Recyclability is among the top purchase drivers for a range of consumer products, and finding new ways to engage consumers and end-users on our programs adds value for current and potential partners. Instrument string manufacturer D’Addario this year launched their Recycle and Restring events, which bring recycling into local music stores across the country, showing communities what sustainability could do for them. Open Farm’s #RecycleWithOpenFarm contest and Tom’s of Maine’s Green Your School Fund (a nationwide school science competition on which I had the pleasure of judging) were social media activations that demonstrated the power of digital eco-activism and its latent ability to bring people together over sustainability and CSR.   Unprecedented sales in our Zero Waste Box division showed that consumers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for sustainable goods and services, include those which solve for waste. Consumers enjoy the convenience and innovation of this turn-key recycling solution, and some companies (like paper shredders and waste management entities) have begun using the platform to expand their portfolio of services, diversifying their offerings and scaling for growth by piggy-backing on their own route logistics.   As it stands, waste is a negative value commodity: people pay to have it taken away. TerraCycle is in the business of solving for waste by not only capturing this refuse, but bringing value to it so that people will pay for products made out of recycled materials. This year called for a massive expansion of our international sales force to answer a growing demand for circular solutions at all levels of consumption, making for our most profitable yet. The challenge in 2017 will be to continue nurturing this market to ease the strain on the Earth’s resources and move us towards a more sustainable, circular global economy. 

In a highly competitive marketplace, one of the most significant challenges that companies and major brands face today is distinguishing themselves as a social agent. Gone are the days where being “environmentally friendly” automatically added value in a largely niche market for socially responsible corporate behavior. Today’s consumer is highly discerning, increasingly concerned with things like supply and production chain sustainability and product recyclability, and highly allergic to ethical claims that are inauthentic, vague or misleading. That consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and services is an understatement. More and more, consumers expect companies to dedicate themselves to making a positive social or environmental impact on society as a baseline, and want to be able to trust them to prioritize ethics on their end. It’s no new idea that consumer brands that have not embraced sustainability and CSR initiatives are at risk on many fronts. But creating the kind of value that grabs the attention of consumers also requires legwork beyond simply “doing good.” Leading industrial adhesive manufacturer Henkel has found a way to work sustainability into their brand DNA, rather than something that they simply “do.” In partnership with my company TerraCycle, Henkel is the first to offer a recycling solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging through the LOCTITE® Anaerobic Adhesive Recycling Program. Also the first time that TerraCycle is recycling this category, Henkel is a pioneer in their use of our sustainability platform in more ways than one. Henkel is our only recycling program sponsor that has created their own branded Zero Waste Box, a custom recycling solution from TerraCycle that allows consumers to recycle hundreds of waste streams through category specific boxes. Participants in the program can now purchase a postage-paid recycling box branded with Henkel’s copy, colors and logo that they fill with empty LOCTITE adhesive containers to send to TerraCycle for processing. Offering a custom, branded recycling solution adds value for current and potential customers by communicating that solving for its difficult-to-recycle anaerobic adhesive containers is part of who they are. In a currently inefficient global waste management infrastructure, companies like Henkel see the massive ROI potential for putting forth the resources to make their previously unrecyclable product and packaging waste nationally recyclable. By setting their own bar on sustainability and keeping it high, companies add value by pioneering environmental stewardship. Leveraging environmentally sound and socially responsible processes in the marketplace is in direct relation to how brands communicate to their consumer and differentiate offerings from those of brand competitors. USDA Certified Organic, Fair Trade Certified and Non-GMO Project Verified certifications, for example, are recognizable (often on-pack) demonstrations of a brand’s commitment to meeting necessary production and labeling requirements, indicating to consumers a certain promise of quality and incentivizing more brands to meet and exceed those standards.

In a highly competitive marketplace, one of the most significant challenges that companies and major brands face today is distinguishing themselves as a social agent. Gone are the days where being “environmentally friendly” automatically added value in a largely niche market for socially responsible corporate behavior. Today’s consumer is highly discerning, increasingly concerned with things like supply and production chain sustainability and product recyclability, and highly allergic to ethical claims that are inauthentic, vague or misleading.   That consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and services is an understatement. More and more, consumers expect companies to dedicate themselves to making a positive social or environmental impact on society as a baseline, and want to be able to trust them to prioritize ethics on their end. It’s no new idea that consumer brands that have not embraced sustainability and CSR initiatives are at risk on many fronts. But creating the kind of value that grabs the attention of consumers also requires legwork beyond simply “doing good.”   Leading industrial adhesive manufacturer Henkel has found a way to work sustainability into their brand DNA, rather than something that they simply “do.” In partnership with my company TerraCycle, Henkel is the first to offer a recycling solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging through the LOCTITE® Anaerobic Adhesive Recycling Program. Also the first time that TerraCycle is recycling this category, Henkel is a pioneer in their use of our sustainability platform in more ways than one.   Henkel is our only recycling program sponsor that has created their own branded Zero Waste Box, a custom recycling solution from TerraCycle that allows consumers to recycle hundreds of waste streams through category specific boxes. Participants in the program can now purchase a postage-paid recycling box branded with Henkel’s copy, colors and logo that they fill with empty LOCTITE adhesive containers to send to TerraCycle for processing.   Offering a custom, branded recycling solution adds value for current and potential customers by communicating that solving for its difficult-to-recycle anaerobic adhesive containers is part of who they are. In a currently inefficient global waste management infrastructure, companies like Henkel see the massive ROI potential for putting forth the resources to make their previously unrecyclable product and packaging waste nationally recyclable. By setting their own bar on sustainability and keeping it high, companies add value by pioneering environmental stewardship.   Leveraging environmentally sound and socially responsible processes in the marketplace is in direct relation to how brands communicate to their consumer and differentiate offerings from those of brand competitors. USDA Certified Organic, Fair Trade Certified and Non-GMO Project Verified certifications, for example, are recognizable (often on-pack) demonstrations of a brand’s commitment to meeting necessary production and labeling requirements, indicating to consumers a certain promise of quality and incentivizing more brands to meet and exceed those standards.   Ultimately, when companies attempt to integrate sustainable enterprise into their branding strategy, transparency is essential. Establishing environmental initiatives is complex, but in order to inspire brand loyalty and trust, those green endeavors must authentically benefit the environment. Branding existing and emerging sustainability solutions is one method for communicating company accountability in a highly visible, valuable way for consumers, scaling for relevance and resilience in a changing marketplace.

It is estimated that industrial activities currently generate nearly 7.6 billion tons of solid waste in the U.S. each year, amounting to 3,000% of the total municipal waste generated by Americans annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Though industrial outputs contribute a significant amount to the country’s overall refuse, they continue to largely avoid the current municipal recycling stream and are instead destined for linear disposal methods such as landfilling or incineration. The truth is that most of the waste we generate is not considered recyclable by the public system, and in today’s inefficient waste management infrastructure, there is little economic incentive to capture industrial waste materials for recycling. The cost of collecting, processing and separating these items exceeds their value in the market for recycled commodities. And while non-linear technologies for industrial and hazardous waste management do exist, most companies dealing with industrial materials do not offer regenerative waste solutions for their products and packaging. At TerraCycle, we strongly believe that nothing is beyond recycling and work with companies, manufacturers and other organizations that are seeking to take greater responsibility for their packaging’s part in the waste economy. Regardless of the fact that comprehensive systems are not in place to effectively address the growing industrial material waste stream, one such manufacturer has taken it upon themselves to put forth the resources to solve for it, allowing us to apply cyclical solutions to a new product category. An innovative new recycling program sponsored by Henkel, a leading global manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, including the Loctite brand, is the first to offer a solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging. Through theLoctite Anaerobic Adhesive Recycling Program, Henkel customers can purchase a postage-paid recycling box that they fill with empty anaerobic Loctite adhesive containers and send to TerraCycle for processing. TerraCycle will thermally treat the containers and turn them into new plastic products, such as park benches, chairs, watering cans and even paving stones. This is the first time that TerraCycle has recycled in the industrial category, which is quite significant for us. But Henkel taking responsibility for its anaerobic adhesive packaging, a previously “unrecyclable” material, has great implications for the packaging world. Packaging experts constantly seek new tools to help meet sustainability goals, as consumer brands that have not embraced sustainability and CSR initiatives are at risk on many fronts. The reason that some businesses have not been able to integrate more environmentally sound packaging practices is a matter of mitigating costs and reducing uncertainty; reallocating the resources necessary to improve the sustainability of their packaging practices may not make sense to them economically. Henkel’s name in the packaging arena will undoubtedly help this initiative have massive impact and influence the way businesses view sustainability and how they can make it work for them. The global industry leader undertaking such an extensive recycling initiative is impressive, and proves that large corporations can turn a profit while being stewards for the environment. It is not that recycling anaerobic adhesive packaging without its challenges; the main reason the containers are not accepted by the conventional waste management infrastructure is due to the residual adhesive. Putting forth the resources to solve for its packaging, Henkel allowed us at TerraCycle to learn about the adhesives and how they cure so that we could develop a solution and recycle this category of material for the first time. TerraCycle is exploring other potential applications of this technology with otherdifficult-to-recycle materials, and is working closely with Henkel to expand the list of different adhesive technologies (and their packaging) that can be recycled. When you consider the number of products that use adhesives, the size of this recycling challenge—and opportunity—is immense, and touches every industry. “Sustainability in packaging can be a profit-making strategy” was deemed a provocative statement made at the inaugural Sustainability Conference sponsored byPackaging Digest in 2007. Nearly a decade later, it is clear that sustainability in packaging is an essential aspect that more and more businesses strive towards. When companies like Henkel step up to pioneer packaging solutions for their previously non-recyclable materials, the global product economy gains the tools it can use to bring it closer to success in sustainability.