TERRACYCLE NEWS
ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®
Posts with term Include USA X
Wait, I Can Recycle My Pet Food Packaging?
While cans of pet food can usually be recycled, bags are a little trickier. Their hefty material falls somewhere between plastic and metal, leading many pet parents to do the confused shuffle between the trash and recycling bins every time they have an empty one. Unfortunately, these bags belong in the trashcan more often than not. Since most of them are made from a few layers of material (usually some combination of aluminum and plastic), they tend to be too expensive for local recyclers to process.
“Each layer of a multilayer package would have to be separated and recycled individually for maximum recovery. For curbside recycling programs, this is often inefficient and costly,” explains Mary Ellen Dowd, a communications associate at TerraCycle, an innovative waste management company.
TerraCycle has a mission to “eliminate the idea of waste” by creating recycling solutions for previously unrecyclable items; your pooch’s favorite dry food included. By partnering with global leaders, businesses, communities, and individuals, they’ve overcome the financial barriers and managed to give over 527,000 pounds of pet food packaging a second life as park benches, picnic tables, playgrounds, and more.
Here are a few ways to join their programs:
1. Brand-supported recycling
Depending on the type of pet food you buy, you may actually be able to ship your empties to TerraCycle for free. The company has partnered with the following brands on send-in programs. Simply sign up on the brand’s page and you’ll be able to place your clean-and-dried containers in either any box you have laying around or a pre-paid bag that they send to you. Both options come with pre-paid shipping labels. Once you send your packaging back to Terracycle, they’ll be able to break it down to be reused.
-
Royal Canin (dog and cat food)
-
A Pup Above (dog food)
-
“I And Love And You” (dog and cat food)
-
Karma (dog food)
-
Nulo® Challenger™ (dog food)
-
Open Farm® (dog and cat food)
-
Tailored (dog food)
-
Weruva (dog and cat food)
2. Drop-off
Dog and cat food companies Earthborn Holistic and Wellness® have synched up with TerraCycle to establish public dropoff points for their packaging. Look at the map on these brand pages to find a drop-off near you. (It’ll likely be a pet food or supply store.)
3. Zero-waste box
If you don’t buy from companies with an established relationship with TerraCycle, you can still send in your empties to be recycled — you’ll just have to pay for it. Once you buy a Pet Food Packaging Zero Waste Box, you can fill it with any clean pet food bag, box, or container you want to recycle. Though these boxes aren’t cheap (the smallest size is $110), you can share the cost with friends, neighbors, or co-workers.
“A great thing with zero-waste boxes is that it doesn’t have to be just an individual collecting,” Dowd notes. Your pet-friendly apartment building, office, or school could all go in on a box together, for example. Once your box is full, bring it to a UPS shipping location and pat yourself on the back for helping your community avoid tons of trash.
When it comes to pet food packaging, “wishcycling” — or throwing it in the recycling bin and hoping for the best — usually isn’t the answer. Instead, look into programs like TerraCycle that take the guesswork out of it and ensure your pet’s dinnertime stays a low-waste affair.
Pilot program aims to turn old sauce packets into new recycled products
ASU joins recycling sweepstakes with Gillette
Students can win prizes
Taco Bell New Partnership Drive New Electricity
Burger King restaurants in NJ charging deposit for containers you return Read More: Burger King restaurants in NJ offer reusable containers | https://nj1015.com/burger-king-restaurants-in-nj-charging-deposit-for-containers-you-return/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
TRENTON - Five North Jersey Burger King restaurants have teamed up with the global reuse platform, Loop, to limit the amount of packaging waste generated each year across the nation.
The Loop Return Point at the Burger King in Clark (Photo Credit: Dan Zarrow)
What area Burger King locations are participating in the program?
Bayonne, 1088 Broadway
Clark, 118 Central Avenue
East Brunswick, 1022 Route 18
Harrison, 751 Harrison Ave.
Maplewood, 1833 Springfield Ave.
The Loop Return Point outside the Burger King in Clark (Photo Credit: Dan Zarrow)
How does it work?
It's easy! Customers at these five New Jersey locations can purchase menu items such as sandwiches, soft drinks, and coffee and have them served in durable, reusable packaging. When finished, customers return the reusable container to the Loop Return Point at the Burger King to be cleaned and reused.
The Loop Return Point outside the Burger King in Clark (Photo Credit: Dan Zarrow)
Customers will be charged a small deposit upon purchase. But the refund is given after the package is returned.
Read More: Burger King restaurants in NJ offer reusable containers | https://nj1015.com/burger-
COVID-19 medical waste is putting a strain on removal systems. Here are the companies trying to solve the problem.
- Disposing of COVID-19 medical waste puts an increasing strain on our waste and recycling systems.
- One problem arises when people try to recycle masks, which cannot be recycled traditionally.
- Private companies like Plaxtil have begun to offer recycling solutions that reuse the mask material.
The problem of PPE ending up in traditional recycling bins
Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability at Republic Services, a business and residential waste disposal and recycling company that works in 47 states, said more cloth and disposable masks, gloves, and at-home COVID-19 test kits are ending up in trash and recycling streams these days, though he doesn't have data on exactly how much. "We went from seeing almost none of that type of material to seeing it show up in some of our recycling streams," he said. "When you think about what's in the garbage can, we don't sort through that. But clearly, there's an increase in that type of material." Overall residential waste generation is about 3% to 4% higher than pre-pandemic levels, with commercial waste close to pre-2020 rates, Keller said. Residential trash had increased by about 25% and commercial had decreased by 35% in the early days of the pandemic. Republic Services doesn't recycle masks, gloves, or COVID-19 tests, but Keller said any cardboard packaging that comes with these items is likely recyclable. PPE can contaminate other recyclables, he added. Recycling machinery is calibrated to process specific items like glass, paper, cardboard, and plastics and isn't equipped to handle interloping items, like masks. Kauffman said these contaminants — like other non-recyclable items that inadvertently end up in recycling bins — can clog up or damage machines, which can be costly for municipalities' recycling programs. There's also a fear that PPE that's been exposed to COVID-19 could infect frontline waste management workers who may not be properly protected to handle hazardous waste, Kauffman added.Some companies are offering solutions to PPE waste
Even though mask mandates are being lifted across the country, they're still required in some situations, like flying or using public transportation, and people still choose to wear them in other situations. So PPE waste will continue to increase. Several private companies are offering solutions for recycling these items. French company Plaxtil recycles masks and other fabrics by transforming them into a plastic-like material that can be molded into many different objects. British firm ReFactory launched Reclai10 Ways To Reduce Your Single-Use Plastic Consumption
Plastic is simultaneously saving and smothering us. Here’s how the trail running community can help.
What’s the problem with plastic?
As a material with limited biodegradability, unless it is intercepted from waterways by devices such as Mr. Trash Wheel in Maryland, plastic simply breaks down into consecutively smaller and smaller pieces. There have been discoveries of certain bacteria that digest plastic, but the scale and complexity of the problem remains: Plastic is everywhere and quietly accumulating. While the core components of plastic are biochemically inert, the larger risk is that chemical additives are released into the environment. As revealed in a 2020 study, these additions may pose serious risks to human health, such as chronic inflammation and endocrine system disruption. Additionally, plastic pieces can also carry pathogens on their surfaces. The study of plastics as related to public health is a rapidly developing field of research with urgent questions that need answers. Out in the wild, abandoned plastic packaging, such as the aluminized PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) film that most energy gel packets are made of, slowly breaks down into small pieces known as microplastics. Aside from gel packets, microplastics come from a variety of sources, including shoe soles. A study in Germany found that the seventh highest source of microplastics in the environment was from the abrasion of shoe soles. Left to disintegrate even further, microplastics form nano-sized plastics, usually too small to be seen with the human eye. These tiny particles are the most insidious and make their way into our soils and waterways, where they are ingested by a range of organisms and begin their journey up the food chain towards apex predators and humans. An additional complication is the release of greenhouse gasses from plastic production. 98% of single-use plastic is made from fossil fuels. Research shows that in the United States, “the plastics industry is responsible for at least 232 million tons of CO2e gas emissions per year.” 116 average-sized coal-fired power plants release the same amount of CO2 in one year. Not only is plastic a pernicious force behind the scenes, but it is also indirectly contributing to climate change. RELATED: Your Guide To Sustainable Gear Usage Recently, the Minderoo Foundation, an Australian non-governmental organization, published a report that traced plastic production to a few major oil-producing companies, the three largest being ExxonMobil, Dow, and Sinopec. With no “producer pays” principle in action, the true economic and environmental costs of plastic production are still unknown. Just as runners often ask questions about the ethical and environmental footprint of running shoe production, Minderoo recommends that consumers start asking for less investment in virgin plastic production and instead demand that more plastic stays in circulation, and that all industries utilize higher amounts of recycled plastic content in their production lines. As the level of global plastic production booms, so does the amount of plastic disposal. According to figures from the United Nations, “7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced from 1950-2017 became waste, ending up in landfills or being dumped.” In the US, data published by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that in 2018 out of 35.7 million tons of plastic that was produced, 27 million tons went to landfill and 3 million tons were recycled. Sure, landfills are one solution for locking away waste, but they are not limitless. The problem is being addressed at higher governmental levels. Two bills have been introduced to Congress to address plastic pollution and recycling. On a global scale, there has been a call to create a circular economy for plastics, initiated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the UN Environment Programme. The fifth meeting of the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, created an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee that will begin drafting a globally binding agreement to end plastic pollution. With 175 countries attending, the signs of addressing plastic production and reduction around the world are promising.Reducing Single-Use On An Industry Level
Seeing plastic as a resource, not a waste, could affect real change, just as trail runners might see a steep hill as a training opportunity rather than an obstacle. So far, a number of companies who produce many everyday products (L’Oreal, Nestlé, PepsiCo,The Coca-Cola Company, and Unilever, for example) have started to make some encouraging changes to the composition of their packaging. Industrial changes like that can kickstart a global movement toward less single-use plastic. Reducing our dependence on neatly packaged products is part of the solution, but it’s often easier said than done. One remedy is to recycle with programs like Terracycle’s Performance Nutrition Recycling program, in which athletes can mail in packaging from products such as energy chews and gels, hydration, recovery, and energy drink mix stick packs and packets. After collecting packaging, runners need to clean, wash, and dry the empty packets before boxing up their waste in any reused cardboard shipping box, downloading a free shipping label, and sending it to TerraCycle for processing. After the waste is processed and recycled into raw material, it is then sold to manufacturing companies who produce the final product and complete the journey of recycling. Products may include outdoor furniture and decking, plastic shipping pallets, watering cans, storage containers and bins, tubes for construction applications, flooring tiles, playground surface covers and athletic fields, and more. The carbon footprint of the recycling process is certainly not zero, but it does provide a starting point for giving plastic a longer life, as opposed to it going straight into the trash. RELATED: 5 Ways To Reduce Your Impact On The Trail The work of the One Step Closer Packaging Collaborative is taking a different approach. They seek to reduce the amount of single-use plastic packaging created in the first place, rather than recycling what already exists. One Step Closer aims to meet standards for food safety while lowering the footprint of new packaging by creating compostable options. The challenge presented here is that facilities capable of composting that type of packaging are less common than conventional composting facilities. Large-scale composting also releases methane gas, a highly potent greenhouse gas. Some running events are testing single-use plastic alternatives, such as the adoption of seaweed pouches to distribute drinks at aid stations at the 2019 London Marathon. Notpla creates biodegradable, lightweight packaging from seaweed that can be composted, disposed of with food waste or even, in some cases, eaten. At the shoe level, Adidas have partnered with Parley for the Oceans to produce a number of products, including trail shoes that are in part composed of yarn made from plastic waste collected from the ocean. Allbirds have launched a trail running shoe with numerous plastic-free components and more renewable materials including a natural rubber outsole and an insole constructed from castor bean oil. To address the issue of micro-sized, polluting materials reaching the ground from the tread of shoes. Solum has engineered a solution that deposits nutrients into the soil directly from the shoe’s outsole. While still in the early stages of development, it is a promising sign of innovation addressing the predicament.Reducing Single-Use At Home
As Katherine Martinko writes, “We need to totally rethink how we buy our food and carry it around.” Readers of Born to Run might recall the infamous, homemade Pinole snack that fuelled the Tarahumara trail runners, indigenous to the Copper Canyon in Mexico. Making your own fuel for trail adventures is a great option to cut back on plastic packaging but something that does require time, energy, and resources, which are all factors to consider. To avoid plastic, beeswax wraps are an option for enveloping food. Silicone packaging is also an available alternative, but whether it is actually non-plastic is highly debated due to its composition. Pure maple syrup, when purchased in a glass bottle, is one plastic-free fueling option worth exploring, as discussed by South Dakota-based runner and coach Kyle Kranz. Nancy Clark has a recipe for a maple syrup sports drink in her Sports Nutrition Guidebook. UK ultrarunner Damian Hall successfully completed his FKT run of the Pennine Way without creating any plastic waste. As outlined in his book, In It for the Long Run, Damian ate lots of banana sandwiches, homemade vegan brownies, salty trail mix, and energy bars wrapped in compostable material.Here are ten ways trail runners can reduce plastic reliance:
- Buy bulk goods.
- Look for packaging that contains recycled content.
- Switch to beeswax wrappers for homemade energy bars.
- Check How2Recycle for information about where to recycle different types of packaging.
- Support brands making an effort to reduce plastic packaging.
- Check to see if your cosmetics contain microplastic beads using this app.
- Make your own trail mix and take a reusable bag on long runs to carry snacks.
- Use grocery bags made from natural fabrics.
- Go plogging and tag Take 3 For The Trail if you use social media.
- Organize a trail clean up event.