In March, Seattle was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the parents of Yooni Kim, a retail worker, were worried about her. They sent her a package of disposable masks, and she began wearing them to work. But that created a new problem for their environmentally conscious daughter: How could she responsibly dispose of the used masks? Soon, she discovered a potential solution: a recycling service, offered by a company called TerraCycle. For $86, TerraCycle would send Kim a small “ZeroWaste” box, roughly the size of a toaster oven, which she could fill with used masks and ship back to the company for recycling.   As Kim debated making the purchase, she wondered what happens to recycled masks, and about the environmental impacts of TerraCycle’s process. She figured it had to beat the alternative: millions of used masks piling up in landfills or being burned in incinerators, depending on the local waste company’s practices. “It is an expensive thing to invest in,” she said. “But I was open to paying for it, because if someone wants to dispose of masks responsibly, why not.” Determining what constitutes responsible disposal, however, is not straightforward. And, experts say, a truly sustainable solution would require rethinking manufacturing systems, long before any masks hit the trash or recycling bin.   TerraCycle was founded as a worm fertilizer company in 2001. Since then, it has pivoted to recycling items other companies won’t accept, such as pens and markers, plastic wrap and single-use coffee capsules. So far this year, it’s collected and processed 74,000 pounds of disposable masks, gowns and gloves, stationing ZeroWaste boxes at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and Subaru dealerships, as well as selling them to individual consumers like Kim.   To recycle the items, workers first sort through the large piles of used personal protective equipment sent to the TerraCycle headquarters in New Jersey to ensure that the dominant material is the non-woven polypropylene used in most disposable masks. (Metal nose strips from N95 masks, for instance, are removed.) Then, the piles are melted down and shredded into a mulch-like material that can be molded into things like railroad ties and shipping pallets. The resulting plastic is structurally sound, but looks uneven and dull, so selling it doesn’t net TerraCycle much money. That’s why the recycling boxes are expensive: The high price tag offsets what would otherwise be a net loss for the company.   The process may not be profitable, but according to TerraCycle, it can help the environment. “By recycling disposable masks, they are kept out of landfills and can be made into new materials and products, reducing the need to extract new materials from the planet,” said Shaye DiPasquale, TerraCycle’s publicist. DiPasquale also noted that bacteria from landfills produce methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.   But according to Jonathan Krones, an industrial ecologist at Boston College, the environmental calculus is more complicated than that. Recycling masks doesn’t necessarily reduce demand for freshly made plastic. “Would plastic lumber or fleece have been made in the first place without the recycled plastic material? I’m not convinced,” he said. And while landfills do produce methane emissions, they’re mostly from decomposing food or paper, Krones said, not bacteria on plastics such as disposable masks. Furthermore, transporting and melting down masks during recycling requires significant energy, unlike simply letting them sit in a landfill.   Ultimately, it’s impossible to definitively determine whether it’s more environmentally friendly to throw away masks or recycle them through services like TerraCycle’s. If the goal is to reduce environmental impacts, we should be asking questions about mask manufacturing, not recycling, said Krones, because most of the environmental costs come from making masks in the first place. “There’s no good option, because the product is inherently garbage,” he said. In other countries, such as Japan and Germany, manufacturers are required to take back some used products and front a portion of the disposal costs. But no such federal rules currently exist in the US.   Still, even if recycling masks isn’t more environmentally beneficial than just tossing them, TerraCycle’s work helps remind consumers and companies that trash doesn’t disappear after it’s thrown out. Simply offering a service that requires consumers to mail in items by type illuminates the fact that not everything is easily recyclable, and that precious time and energy are required to properly sort recyclable pieces.   And, Krones said, TerraCycle’s service has the power to get more people interested in learning about recycling and disposal systems. Kim learned how difficult it can be to properly recycle everyday items, and she has since become more interested in ways to create systemic change. “We’re all doing the best we can, and ultimately, the biggest changes will have to come from corporations reducing waste,” she said. As for purchasing a TerraCycle box, she’s trying to mobilize her neighbors to buy one together, so the high cost will be shared. “If I can find people who want to split a $90 box, then I’m sure we can pack it really tight,” she said.  

Beekman 1802, the Schoharie County-based makers of artisanal goat milk-based products, announced a new partnership with TerraCycle to make all of its product packaging recyclable throughout the United States.   Participants in the program are invited to send in all empty Beekman 1802 product packaging to TerraCycle, where the packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products, such as park benches and picnic tables, according to a media release.   “Now more than ever, consumers don’t want to sacrifice the planet for their personal well-being,” said Tom Szaky, TerraCycle CEO and founder. “Together, Beekman 1802 and TerraCycle will keep as many of these products out of landfills as possible, allowing consumers to keep both themselves and the planet clean.”   Sign up at terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/beekman-1802 and mail in packaging using a prepaid shipping label.   Sarah Eames, staff writer, can be reached at seames@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow her @DS_SarahE on Twitter.

Beekman 1802, the Schoharie County-based makers of artisanal goat milk-based products, announced a new partnership with TerraCycle to make all of its product packaging recyclable throughout the United States. Participants in the program are invited to send in all empty Beekman 1802 product packaging to TerraCycle, where the packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products, such as park benches and picnic tables, according to a media release. “Now more than ever, consumers don’t want to sacrifice the planet for their personal well-being,” said Tom Szaky, TerraCycle CEO and founder. “Together, Beekman 1802 and TerraCycle will keep as many of these products out of landfills as possible, allowing consumers to keep both themselves and the planet clean.” Sign up at terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/beekman-1802 and mail in packaging using a prepaid shipping label.

Beautycyle is here my friends!!! In case you haven’t heard, Nordstrom has launched their Beautycycle initiative! The goal is to help customers create a zero waste beauty routine! Drop off your empty beauty packaging in the Beautycycle bins at any Nordstrom! Their ambition is to recycle 100 tons of empty containers by 2025!! So awesome!! Upping my beauty game for the upcoming holidays with Chanel from Nordstrom!!! Have you tried Chanel’s CC cream? Or healthy glow foundation? Their shimmery liquid eyeshadow is subtle & PERFECT! Nordstrom is my go-to for all things makeup! Charlotte Tilbury & MAC are a couple more brands I love that I get from Nordstrom too! When you’re ready, take advantage of the Beautycylce benefits!! I’m grateful for the opportunities to help make recycling easier! This is a fantastic way to do our part and Nordstrom is making it convenient! Click any photo below to shop! So glad you’re here!! XO!!  

Two more Nordstrom Local service hubs are opening soon in Los Angeles, which happens to be the retailer’s largest-volume metro area. The additions bring the Nordstrom Local count to five in L.A., and furthers the retailer’s evolving market strategy to bring greater conveniences to shoppers. The Nordstrom Local concept is designed to be a convenient service hub in neighborhoods where Nordstrom customers live and work, so trips to actual Nordstrom stores farther away can be avoided. Nordstrom Local provides such services as order pickups, returns, alterations, stylists and gift wrapping. It’s also a piece of the retailer’s overall market strategy to get closer to customers, get them more engaged, and provide faster deliveries and more seamless shopping experiences, channel to channel, such as enabling customers to pick up nordstrom.com, nordstromrack.com and HauteLook.com orders at Nordstrom Rack off-price stores. They’re not mini-versions of Nordstrom stores and there’s no merchandise displayed, aside from a handful of items in the back of the store by a touch-screen for online shopping, or what Nordstrom stylists have gathered to show clients coming in. The first Nordstrom Local opened on Melrose Avenue in L.A. three years ago. Subsequently, Nordstrom Locals opened in the Brentwood and downtown sections of L.A. Coming up in L.A., a 1,193-square-foot Nordstrom Local at 2043 Westcliff Drive in Newport Beach is opening on Nov. 6, and a 1,886-square-foot Nordstrom Local at 451 Manhattan Beach Boulevard in Manhattan Beach is opening in the coming months. There are also two Nordstrom Locals operating in New York City, in the West Village, at 13 Seventh Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets, and on the Upper East Side, at 1273 Third Avenue. Before the pandemic, the company’s executives said the plan was to roll out the local market strategy with Nordstrom Locals to other major markets, including Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and Dallas. The timing of that is unclear. “We don’t have anything to share about opening additional Nordstrom Local locations at this time, however our customers help us guide our journey and this is something we will continue to look at,” a Nordstrom spokeswoman told WWD.

Seattle, WA /PRNewswire/ - With the goal of being closer to customers to better serve them on their terms, leading fashion retailer Nordstrom is opening two additional Nordstrom Local service hubs in Newport Beach and Manhattan Beach. The 1,193 square foot Nordstrom Local Newport Beach (2043 Westcliff Drive) will open Friday, Nov. 6, and the 1,886 square foot Nordstrom Local Manhattan Beach (451 Manhattan Beach Blvd.) will open in the coming months. "Opening Nordstrom Local service hubs in the Los Angeles area is part of the continuation of our market strategy in one of our largest markets to provide customers with greater access to merchandise selection and faster delivery while increasing convenience and connection through our services," said Ken Worzel, chief operating officer at Nordstrom. "Nordstrom Local customers who engage with our services at a Local including curbside pick-up, returns, alterations and styling spend more than two-and-a-half times compared to other customers." At Nordstrom Local Newport Beach and Manhattan Beach customers will have access to the following services:

• Order Pickup: Order it today from Nordstrom.com, NordstromRack.com or HauteLook.com and pick it up in your neighborhood.
• Contactless Curbside Pickup: Place an order online and choose curbside pick-up. When you arrive at your Nordstrom Local, we'll bring your order out and place it in the trunk of your car.
• Fast and Easy Returns: Dropoff your returns from Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Haute Look, Trunk Club and other online retailers- we will take care of the rest.
• Alterations: Get expert alterations on your purchases from Nordstrom, other retailers or items from your own closet. Need it fast? Enjoy same-day hems, sleeve shortening, sizing adjustments, simple repairs, and more. Our alterations experts will make sure you have the perfect fit.
• Styling: Our expert stylists can help with everything from styling tips to helping advise on a complete wardrobe refresh at no cost to you.
• Gift wrapping: Leave the wrapping to us! In addition to complimentary signature silver boxes, Nordstrom Local offers complimentary gift-wrapping for all Nordstrom purchases.
  • Gift-wrapped items can also be picked up in-store or via Curbside Pickup. Plus, our gift wrap is 100% recyclable. Non-Nordstrom purchases can be wrapped for $8 per package.
  • BEAUTYCYCLE: Bring in your empty beauty packaging to be recycled for free with Nordstrom BEAUTYCYCLE.
  • Clothing donation drop-off: In support of Nordstrom's commitment to local communities, bring in your gently used fashion for drop-off at our donation box, which will be distributed to a local non-profit.
  These two newest Nordstrom Local locations mark the fourth and fifth service hubs in the Los Angeles area, which include Melrose, Brentwood and Downtown Los Angeles. There are also Nordstrom Local's in New York City on the Upper East Side and in the West Village. In addition to these new Nordstrom Locals, Nordstrom also expanded its services and fulfillment solutions for customers in Los Angeles to better serve them on their terms, serving as a unique point of differentiation including:
  • Customers can now pick-up Nordstrom.com, NordstromRack.com and HauteLook.com orders at any Nordstrom Rack store.
  • Southern California customers can digitally shop across all the stores in their area and pick-up their purchases at the store of their choosing the next day, giving customers four times greater product selection.
  • • Starting Nov. 5, Nordstrom cardmembers in Southern California are eligible for free two-day home delivery.
    • Later this year, customers will be able to pick up their U.S. NordstromRack.com and HauteLook.com orders at their nearest Nordstrom and Nordstrom Local.
    • Los Angeles is one of Nordstrom's largest markets with 14 full-line stores, 30 Rack stores and soon to be five Locals with the addition of these two new locations.
    About Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. is a leading fashion retailer based in the U.S. Founded in 1901 as a shoe store in Seattle, today Nordstrom operates 355 stores in 40 states, including 100 full-line stores in the United States and Canada; 248 Nordstrom Rack stores; two clearance stores; and five Nordstrom Local service hubs. Additionally, customers are served online through Nordstrom.com, Nordstrom.ca, Nordstromrack.com, HauteLook.com and TrunkClub.com. Nordstrom, Inc.'s common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN.

Footwear brands are introducing creative initiatives to advance the circular economy by recycling worn wares and turning them back into new product instead of clogging up the waste stream.   Thousand Fell, the recyclable footwear brand rethinking sustainable practices, is teaming up with both UPS and TerraCycle to launch an innovative sneaker recycling program.   It marks a two-year-long partnership between Thousand Fell and TerraCycle, which have been working to create at-scale recycling solutions for footwear. The nationwide program offers customers an easy and accessible way to recycle their sneakers through the expansive network of The UPS Store locations and UPS authorized partners, such as Staples.   Customers can now bring their prepaid, labeled packages containing their sneakers to any of these 14,400 locations to be shipped directly back to TerraCycle for recycling, and in exchange, Thousand Fell will issue a credit of $20 toward a future purchase.   Since its launch last year, Thousand Fell tasked itself with getting product back from customers, while responsibly maintaining carbon footprint and cost and breaking down that product so that the materials could be reused in new sneakers. With TerraCycle and UPS as collaborators, Thousand Fell is working toward those goals and empowering customers to join them in building a better, zero-waste future, while affording full visibility and the ability to track their footwear’s life cycle.   Now, with access to support and scale of UPS and TerraCycle, Thousand Fell is doubling down on its mission to never send another sneaker to landfill and securing its foothold as a pioneer in the circular fashion economy.   UPS will run all shipping for Thousand Fell’s sneaker recycling program, lending its resources to build and manage Thousand Fell’s front-end logistics and fulfillment. Thousand Fell is using UPS’s reverse logistics program for recycling returns and freight that they can build and scale together over time, while keeping their carbon footprint as low as possible, an important step toward powering the circular economy.   Thousand Fell has worked with Ware2Go, a UPS company providing on-demand warehousing and fulfillment, to streamline the logistics process with UPS from warehousing and delivery at the beginning of the product/customer path to purchase through returns and recycling at the end of the customer journey.   TerraCycle, a specialist in recycling the unrecyclable, with programs in over 20 countries, will handle the receiving, storage and sustainable recycling of the footwear. TerraCycle and Thousand Fell are also working on a closed loop solution where old sneakers will be reintegrated into the supply chain to make new sneakers.   Thousand Fell will enable customers to create an account and register their sneakers once received. This will allow customers to initiate free recycling when they’re ready, either at one of the in-person drop off locations or by shipping them back directly to TerraCycle. Customers will also be able to see their entire purchase history and track the personal carbon footprint for their sneakers through ThousandFell.com.   Meanwhile, barefoot footwear company Vivobarefoot has introduced what it’s billing as the world’s first global “shoe amnesty.” Processed through its recently announced reconditioning, re-commerce platform, ReVivo, the shoe amnesty program asks new and returning customers to wear their Vivobarefoot footwear in, wear it out, and then to send it back.   In July, Vivobarefoot launched ReVivo as part of its quest to change how footwear is made and consumed. As a recommerce platform that revives, reconditions and resells worn and returned footwear from the brand, ReVivo also recycles any materials not used in the repair process.   These efforts are a bid to keep Vivobarefoot footwear on feet longer and help stop the number of shoes ending up in landfill each year. Now with shoe amnesty, those who return their footwear can get 20 percent off of a new pair of Vivobarefoot shoes or have a donation made on behalf to the LiveBarefoot Foundation, an in-house incubation that pioneers regeneration solutions for environmental and social problems.   “The shoe industry has historically put short-term performance and fashion before foot health and the wellbeing of our planet,” Galahad Clark, founder of Vivobarefoot, said. “Our ambition this year has been for ReVivo to lead the way, offering a model with real-world solutions that the industry can follow. Now with shoe amnesty, we’re opening the door for new customers to participate in a program that benefits the environment in an accessible way. ReVivo and shoe amnesty is just the start. As part of our wider regenerative journey, Vivobarefoot will also be launching 3D footwear, opening up radical transparency in our supply chain and redesigning all of our current footwear to allow us to reduce all suppliers and materials that make our products.”

“Extra” is giving an Amethyst Skincare set to 10 lucky friends. Enter below for your chance to win! Amethyst is just as passionate about being environmentally conscious as it is about protecting the skin from the environment. They have a close partnership with TerraCycle to ensure all bottles are properly recycled, plus they donate a portion of proceeds to 4Ocean to help remove plastic from the world's oceans and replace water with aloe in their formulas when possible. They also aim to be climate neutral by 2022. Each gift set will include the Blue Light Anti-Aging Screen Protector, a serum that reduces more than 70 percent of skin damage from blue light exposure. Enhanced with time-released hyaluronic acid and plant stem cells, this clean, sustainable, vegan, cruelty-free, and high-tech blend provides 24 hours of sustained hydration and molecular-level skin repair. Winners will also receive the Pure Amethyst Face Roller. Designed to soothe and reduce aging to your skin, the amethyst stone has been used for centuries to improve radiance because the stone is naturally cool and helps reduce redness and inflammation. Daily use of the roller increases microcirculation to the skin, releasing and removing the stress hormone cortisol, which ultimately gives a more youthful and glowing skin tone.