Dive Brief:

• French waste management company Suez Environment has purchased a 30% stake in New Jersey-based TerraCycle's European operations, which has been previously valued at approximately $30 million, as reported by the Telegraph.
• This deal will allow Suez to expand recycling options for challenging materials in Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
• TerraCycle is already active in 20 countries and this will give it the opportunity to further develop a presence in the European market.

Dive Insight: Under the proposed Circular Economy Package, which was adopted by the European Commission last year, the goal is to recycle 75% of packaging waste by 2030. As has been seen in countries such as England, recycling contamination remains an issue and expanding options for diverting these common but challenging materials will be an important step toward reaching this goal. Since it started in 2002, TerraCycle has grown to nearly 60 million collectors through a range of programs that cover about 100 hard-to-recycle materials. The company has taken on pens, coffee pods, cigarette butts, adhesive containers and more by finding ways to convert them into new products. Some of these programs are sponsored by companies or municipalities and TerraCycle's "zero waste" mail-in boxes are also available through Staples. The company has been working in the U.K. since 2009, though the new partnership with Suez will open up new access to recycling technology and opportunities. The French giant employs more than 82,000 employees across five continents and reported nearly $16.9 billion in revenues last year. 

A total of 11,846 pounds of litter, or 5.9 tons: That’s the amount of debris collected during Ventura County’s Coastal Cleanup Day last month. This year's campaign highlighted the problem of cigarette-butt litter to raise awareness of the harm it poses to the environment and motivate proper disposal. Since 1989, cigarette butts have been the No. 1 item collected during cleanups. During the three-hour cleanup this year, 19,020 cigarette butts were collected in Ventura County alone; more than 5,000 were from a single beach site. Other top items collected were plastic bags, food wrappers, straws, plastic bottles and bottle caps. What makes cigarette filters an especially egregious form of litter is their persistence and toxicity. Cigarette filters are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate, and they do not biodegrade. They slowly break into smaller and smaller plastic pieces, but they never completely disappear from the environment. Cigarette butts are also loaded with toxic chemicals, including known carcinogens that can leach into the environment. They pose a choking and poisoning hazard to young children and to wildlife that may mistake the filters for food. In 2013, American poison control centers received 5,582 reports of poisoning from ingestion of cigarettes or cigarette butts in children 5 or younger. Butts and other litter found at beaches usually don’t usually originate there. Litter washes in from city streets through creeks and storm drains and eventually ends up on our beaches. The Coastal Commission estimates that 80 percent of marine debris comes from land-based sources. This waste has also drawn the attention of local activist group Surfrider. “The Ventura Surfrider chapter launched their ‘Hold on to Your Butt’ campaign in June this year to reduce or eliminate the environmental impact of cigarette butts through education and activism,” said Juli Marciel, a Surfrider member and the site captain for Ventura Promenade Park. At their regularly hosted cleanups, Surfrider members collect butts, track totals and recycle them through Terracycle, a cigarette butt recycling program. Surfrider uses data to advocate for better enforcement and implementation of littering and smoking laws and extended producer responsibility. More information and ways to get involved can be found at www.ventura.surfrider.org.

We live in a world of packaging. Unless you buy every single food item in bulk, never buy pre-made snacks or meals, and never grab a snack on a whim at a nearby bodega, there’s a very good chance you have a decent amount of packaging in your house. While some things, like cardboard cereal boxes, Tetrapacks, and glass bottles, are a bit easier to sort, there are other items like chip bags, juice pouches, and bar wrappers that don’t seem to belong in any particular recycling bin. With this problem in mind, TerraCycle was born. This innovative recycling program allows consumers to send in material they can’t recycle on their own and allow TerraCycle to take care of it. While TerraCycle has programs that require consumers to purchase special boxes where they can send waste in, the company also partners with different brands and companies to offer free recycling programs. Pretty much what this entails is TerraCycle sending a packing box or envelope to your home, you filling it up with the waste from a particular brand, sending it back for free, and subsequently feeling good about helping bring down the amount of trash that ends up in landfills. Then TerraCycle finds better uses for the material. Pretty good deal for all! Want to participate? Check out these 12 brands that have partnered with TerraCycle to get started. Happy recycling!

Paris-based waste management company Suez is buying 30pc of TerraCycle in a multi-million pound deal that will enable it to recycle items like coffee pods, cigarette butts and biscuit wrappers for the first time. The deal will also allow Suez to expand its services in the UK, France, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden. French waste management company Suez is buying 30pc of specialist recycling business TerraCycle in a deal that will enable it to recycle items such as coffee pods, cigarette butts and biscuit wrappers for the first time. The multi-million pound deal will enable Suez to expand its services in the UK as well as in France, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, by branching out into collecting products that are often overlooked by its rivals.  David Palmer-Jones, the company’s UK chief executive, said the deal enabled Suez to “harness the combined skills of both companies” to “tackle problematic and emerging waste streams in the UK and across Europe.”

French waste management company Suez is buying 30pc of specialist recycling business TerraCycle in a deal that will enable it to recycle items such as coffee pods, cigarette butts and biscuit wrappers for the first time. The multi-million pound deal will enable Suez to expand its services in the UK as well as in France, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

SUEZ is partnering with TerraCycle and acquiring 30% of its activities in Europe to develop innovative collection and recycling programs in Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden. This partnership brings together TerraCycle's collection programs, which focus on community engagement, and SUEZ's expertise in waste recycling and recovery. It will offer individuals, businesses and municipalities new solutions for recycling waste that was previously not recyclable in order to transform it into new secondary resources. TerraCycle is an internationally recognized company that develops selective collection systems for the recycling of more than 100 specific hard-to-recycle waste streams (disposable items, flexible packaging, office supplies, beauty products, oral care, used coffee capsules and cigarette butts) currently not handled by traditional recycling channels. Active in 20 countries, TerraCycle partners with mass market companies, brands and municipalities to implement recycling programs tailored to these post-consumer products and their packaging. Nearly 60 million collectors are already working with TerraCycle, either through:

• collection programs set by voluntary citizens, "sponsored" by companies or municipalities (collectors register on TerraCycle's website and are awarded points that are converted into donations for the organizations of their choice),
• or recycling services paid by companies such as "Zero Waste Boxes."

Through this partnership, SUEZ is expanding its range of services in Europe with innovative voluntary collection methods and additional recycling channels for all its customers, particularly for products that need complex packaging and therefore require very specific collection and sorting solutions. All the waste collected will be reused or recycled into new products thanks to SUEZ's recycling expertise. "We are delighted to embark on this innovative partnership with TerraCycle. Its aim is to recycle more and more waste, even the most complex, by relying on the commitment of everyone – including citizens, municipalities and businesses – wishing to transform waste into new resources for an even more circular and more virtuous economy in Europe," says Jean-Marc Boursier, SUEZ Deputy CEO for the Recycling and Recovery business in Europe. "Our programs are among the most innovative for promoting recycling. The partnership will expand SUEZ’s public-facing recycling opportunities, while speeding up TerraCycle’s development in Europe. With SUEZ's expertise, TerraCycle will offer more customized recycling solutions tailored to various waste streams," explains Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle. SUEZ We are at the dawn of the resource revolution. In a world facing high demographic growth, runaway urbanisation and the shortage of natural resources, securing, optimising and renewing resources is essential to our future. SUEZ (Paris: SEV, Brussels: SEVB) supplies drinking water to 92 million people, delivers waste water treatment services to 65 million, collects waste produced by almost 34 million, recovers 16 million tonnes of waste each year and produces 7 TWh of local and renewable energy. With 82,536 employees, SUEZ, which is present on all five continents, is a key player in the circular economy for sustainable management of resources. SUEZ generated total revenues of €15.1 billion in 2015. TerraCycle Founded in 2001, TerraCycle, Inc., is the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, ranging from used chip bags to coffee capsules to cigarette butts. The waste is collected through free, national, brand-funded recycling programs, as well as various consumer and government-funded models. The collected waste is reused, upcycled or recycled into a variety of affordable, sustainable consumer products and industrial applications. Each year, across 20 countries, TerraCycle collects and repurposes billions of pieces of waste, donating millions of dollars to schools and charities in the process. TerraCycle is the subject of a half-hour comedy, ‘Human Resources,’ on Pivot TV in the United States. Season three will air Fall 2016.

Local musicians are invited to attend a free recycle and restring event at Town Center Music in Suwanee Saturday, October 22 at 12:00 p.m. Sponsored by D’Addario, musicians can bring any old instrument strings for recycling and get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with D’Addario NYXL or Nickel Bronze Acoustic strings. Old strings collected during the event will be recycled through Playback, D’Addario’s free, national recycling program. Playback is the world’s first instrument string recycling program, launched through a partnership between D’Addario and international recycling company TerraCycle. The program is a part of D’Addario’s Players Circle loyalty program, and allows registered users to recycle their used strings in exchange for extra Players Circle points. Musicians attending the recycle and restring events will receive a code at the event, redeemable for extra Players Circle points. Points can be used towards merchandise or donated to the D’Addario Foundation, the company’s nonprofit organization supporting music education in underserved communities. "It's a great feeling to do something you love and do good for others at the same time,” said Town Center Music’s Aaron Brown “Matching our 'Will Restring for Food' event with a string recycling event is a great opportunity to make progress in two areas that are important to Town Center Music: environmental sustainability and lending a hand to those less fortunate. And where else can you turn four cans of food into six guitar strings?" Town Center Music is Gwinnett's premier independent music store providing top-quality instruments, accessories, & lessons to the North Atlanta area. We believe that life is meant to be lived, coffee now, and music is the most important 'useless' thing in the world. We offer instruments and service you can't find anywhere else, carefully curated to give you a musical experience that goes off the beaten path. D’Addario has been consistently committed to the environment, working to reduce their company’s packaging waste and use the most environmentally responsible packaging available on the market. Their partnership with TerraCycle allows them to further reinforce their role as an environmental leader in the music industry. TerraCycle is a global leader in recycling typically non-recyclable waste, working with companies to implement recycling initiatives and finding solutions for materials otherwise destined for landfill. Musicians interested in recycling through Playback can visit http://www.daddario.com/playback.

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.

The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore will be installing three more containers on Wednesday to keep smokers near the Marriott Waterfront from tossing their butts into the water. The installation of the receptacles will take place at 1 p.m. along the west side of the waterfront outside the Marriott in Harbor East. The Partnership said in a release that it already installed 13 more of the containers around Harbor East last week. The nonprofit launched its cigarette recycling program earlier this year, installing 15 of the containers in Harbor East that have collected 55,000 cigarette butts, according to a release. All collected cigarette waste is sent to the international recycling firm TerraCycle, which processes the material into organic and plastic-based products. The filters are later used to create industrial plastic products, the Waterfront Partnership said in a release. Last week, the nonprofit and the Harbor East Marina installed oyster cages on the promenade there to help filter water in the harbor. The Waterfront Partnership is making such efforts as part of its Healthy Harbor Initiative, which aims to make the Baltimore Harbor safe for swimming and fishing by 2020.

Local musicians are invited to attend a free recycle and restring event at The Music Store in St. George Friday at 3 p.m. The event is sponsored by D’Addario & Company, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of musical instrument accessories marketed under several product divisions. Musicians can bring any old instrument strings for recycling and get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with D’Addario NYXL or Nickel Bronze Acoustic strings. Old strings collected during the event will be recycled through “Playback,” D’Addario’s free, national recycling program. Playback is the world’s first instrument string recycling program, launched through a partnership between D’Addario and international recycling company TerraCycle, a global leader in recycling typically non-recyclable waste, working with companies to implement recycling initiatives and finding solutions for materials otherwise destined for landfill. The Playback program is a part of D’Addario’s Players Circle loyalty program and allows registered users to recycle their used strings in exchange for extra Players Circle points. Musicians attending the recycle and restring events will receive a code at the event, redeemable for extra Players Circle points. Points can be used towards merchandise or donated to the D’Addario Foundation, the company’s nonprofit organization supporting music education in underserved communities. D’Addario has been consistently committed to the environment, working to reduce their company’s packaging waste and use the most environmentally responsible packaging available on the market. Their partnership with TerraCycle allows them to further reinforce their role as an environmental leader in the music industry. The Music Store is Utah’s premiere full-service music shop. The Music Store is passionate about providing a world class selection of instruments, accessories and information to fellow music lovers.  Vocal and musical instrument lessons are offered by trained and certified professionals. Musicians interested in recycling through Playback can visit the D’Addario & Companywebsite.