NEW YORK – Footwear brand Thousand Fell has partnered with recycling innovator TerraCycle and package delivery firm UPS to develop a closed-loop shoe recycling programme which encourages consumers to return their trainers in return for store credit. Through this initiative, members of the general public will be able to take pre-paid and packaged used Thousand Fell footwear to one of 14,400 partnering UPS or partner locations that will be distributed back to TerraCycle for product recycling. “Now, with access to the unprecedented support and scale of UPS and TerraCycle, Thousand Fell is doubling down on their mission to never send another sneaker to landfill and securing their foothold as a pioneer in the circular fashion economy,” the US brand says.

Last year, an Impossible Whopper — next year, reusable packaging? Burger King has been leading the charge on food service sustainability and is now taking a step into the circular economy. The fast food chain announced earlier this month that it will begin offering reusable packaging, starting next year. A trial will begin at select restaurants in New York, Portland and Tokyo for sandwiches and drinks. Making this move possible is Burger King’s partnership with TerraCycle’s Loop initiative, which facilitates corporate transitions to reusable packaging. The trial is part of Burger King’s goal to source all packaging from renewable, recyclable or certified sources by 2025. And this step forward couldn’t have come at a better time, as many restaurants have resorted to single-use options during the coronavirus pandemic.

Some of the talk at last week’s Smart Kitchen Summit revolved around two newish concepts that are especially compelling when it comes to thinking about restaurants: in-house delivery and disrupting third-party delivery. Together, the two could substantially shift the the off-premises meal journey of the future. Technically, in-house delivery — also called “native delivery” or “direct delivery” — is a decades old practice championed by Domino’s, Jimmy John’s, and other restaurants that have always used their own staff to ferry orders to customers’ doorsteps. But ever since customer demand for delivery went through the roof and then some, most restaurants have found it more economically feasible to offload delivery operations to third-party services like DoorDash and Uber Eats. As we cover ad nauseam around here, third-party delivery comes with its own lengthy catalog of grievances, and many restaurants don’t actually make money from those orders. On top of that, they lose control of customer relationships and oftentimes their own branding.

Burger King is the world's second-largest hamburger chain, but they're aiming to beat top dog McDonald's in the area of sustainable packaging. The monarchy-themed fast-fooderie has decreed that reusable packaging shall be rolled out in the royal cities of New York, Portland and Tokyo.

I'm not sure if customers will go for this. The idea is that you order a meal and specify you want the reusable packaging, which you're then charged a deposit for. When you return it, the deposit is refunded. The packaging is then washed, though it's not clear where or how; the press release just states that this part of the process is handled by partner TerraCycle's "circular packaging service, Loop."

I admire the effort--but I'm not sure they've thought the UX through. For example, let's say I order BK takeout and ask for the reusable packaging. Later that week I return to BK with the packaging, and I order a new meal through the drive-thru window, and ask for the reusable packaging again. Do I say "but don't charge me for it, because I'm bringing back reusable packaging from last time" and they take my word for it while I'm still at the intercom?

Before COVID-19, face masks were used only by medical professionals, however when COVID-19 became a pandemic, many were required to use face masks during daily life.   Face masks are worn worldwide and many places have made wearing a mask mandatory in public places. Some face masks are single-use, meaning it will only be worn for one day, and after it must be thrown away to practice good hygiene. As the pandemic continued, people saw that face masks are a priority and began to look for face masks that are recyclable or washable.   “I am a big fan of recycling products, this is because we need to help the earth to maintain more and more alive, ‘’ said Sofia Sorondo, freshman. “I love to use a disposable face mask, and [it] helps me feel much better.”   Terracycle is a social enterprise that is eliminating the idea of waste. TerraCycle turns ocean plastic into new products and teaches the community to recycle.   “When I was in school I learned about TerraCycle because they [taught] us the basic information we need to know about [recycling],” said Giorgia Pigiato, junior.   Now people are seeing that face masks will be in our life for a long time, that’s why many clothing companies and supermarkets are selling more recyclable and washable ones.   “For me, it is so much better using a disposable mask,” said Lula Prada, freshman. “I can wear it many times and if it is dirty, I can just wash it and that’s it.”

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 U.S.   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.  

AeroFlexx today announced a partnership with TerraCycle® as part of its sustainability commitment. This new partnership is an extension of AeroFlexx’s sustainable liquids packaging offering that begins with source reduction, using 50% to 70% less plastic than traditional rigid bottles. AeroFlexx packaging solutions also deliver significant e-commerce benefits and are ISTA 6 Amazon approved. AeroFlexx packaging creates a more environmentally friendly supply chain as it ships flat prior to filling, with less weight and less transportation required, creating a significantly lower carbon footprint. The AeroFlexx partnership with TerraCycle®, the world's leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams, further demonstrates AeroFlexx’s commitment to sustainability, offering brands and customers easy-to-use, recycle-ready solutions, so that AeroFlexx Paks do not end up in landfills. Through TerraCycle®’s recycling program, any AeroFlexx Pak can be recycled by requesting a free mail-back envelope online.  AeroFlexx, a portfolio company of Innventure, revolutionized liquid packaging by combining the best attributes of flexibles and rigids to create a disruptive new-to-the-world packaging form. “Our commitment to a circular economy is to create an ecosystem where no AeroFlexx Pak ends up in the environment,” says Andrew Meyer, CEO of AeroFlexx. “AeroFlexx has been recognized for its ability to reduce the amount of plastic through source reduction and we’re excited to continue to deliver against our sustainability promise by making it easy for customers to recycle their AeroFlexx packaging through TerraCycle®.”

Nordstrom announced it has found two new locations for Nordstrom Local hubs in the Los Angeles area. The retailer said that these service hubs will allow it to better serve its customers in ways that add convenience to their experience. A Nordstrom Local at Newport Beach will open on November 6, and one at Manhattan Beach will follow in the coming months. Each location will take up more than 1,100 feet of retail space. The company currently operates five of these Local service hubs - two in New York City and three in Los Angeles. Intended as a place to provide shoppers added convenience rather than a standalone store, Nordstrom Local offers options for online order pickup and returns, express clothing alterations and other services. The two new Los Angeles locations will both also offer contactless curbside pickup, styling, gift wrapping, Beautycycle package recycling and clothing donation drop-off. "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," the company's chief operating officer, Ken Worzel, said in a press release. "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."

TerraCycle is a company built on the goal of "eliminating the idea of waste" by making that which is non-recyclable, recyclable. From coffee pods and pet food bags, to cigarette butts and PPE, TerraCycle collects and recycles a wide range of waste types.

Personal care products brand Gillette, known for its razors, set out to become a more sustainable company one decade again. And over the past 10 years, it has reduced its energy consumption by 392,851 gigajoules and its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent. The company has also reached zero-manufacturing-waste-to-landfill status across all of the plants in its global network. On Monday, Gillette announced its 2030 goals to uplevel its sustainability ambitions. Building on the 26 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions — and using a 2009-2010 baseline — Gillette plans to boost that number to a 50 percent reduction by 2030.