According to the Ocean Conservancy, over half of the plastic that ends up in our oceans come from five countries:  China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, a result of rapidly growing economies and consumer demand that have not yet been met with sustainable waste-management systems. In recognition of this growing epidemic, international recycling leader TerraCycle created The TerraCycle Global Foundation. With financial support from The PepsiCo Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm, the TerraCycle Global Foundation is a dedicated public charity on a mission to dramatically reduce the volume of marine debris and plastic waste found in the world’s waterways. “Tackling plastic waste is vital for both environmental protection and economic development in communities across the world,” said Jon Banner, EVP Global Communications and president, The PepsiCo Foundation. “At PepsiCo, we take very seriously our commitment to building a world where plastic need never become waste. We are proud to be the angel investor to create the TerraCycle Global Foundation, helping to catalyze funding others and enable the recovery of tons of plastic waste from our waters.” The TerraCycle Global Foundation’s work is actively underway in Thailand, where the TerraCycle Thai Foundation, a locally registered independent non-profit, is collaborating with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR). The Foundation has installed river plastic capture traps which are designed to increase the amount of debris and marine plastics that are collected from Thai waterways, thereby intercepting it before it reaches and pollutes the ocean. The devices are part of the DMCR’s project to integrate action and participation into marine debris management. Through its relationships with regional waste management companies, as well as TerraCycle Inc.’s larger network of research and development, and logistical and processing partners, the Foundation will sustainably recycle not only the waste collected through its own collection devices and efforts, but also the waste collected by all the other organizations participating in the Thai government’s marine debris management program. The end goal is to use recycled waste to create materials that can be incorporated in various applications — from primary packaging for major global brands to applications such as road or construction materials.

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that health concerns are currently driving consumer behaviors and purchases in today’s marketplace. Research conducted by Paris-based Ipsos in July showed that 85% of consumers are concerned about the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the Washington, D.C.-based International Food Information Council, that same percentage of consumers (85%) reported that they’ve changed the way they eat or prepare food in the wake of the pandemic. While the novel coronavirus is a major, and arguably overriding, worry, that doesn’t mean that people aren’t making decisions based on other timely situations, from social issues to environmental concerns.

With the restaurant industry currently being reinvented with to-go-first experiences in mind, there’s cause to worry that the shift will add even more single-use cups, straws, and boxes to our already bulging landfills. So it makes for a small silver lining that McDonald’s today announced a partnership with Terracycle’s zero-waste platform Loop to pilot a reusable cup model. The program will first be trialed at select McDonald’s in the UK in 2021. For a small deposit, customers will get a reusable Loop cup for their hot beverages. The deposit can be redeemed by returning the cup to any participating McDonald’s location, according to today’s press release. Loop will retrieve the used cups, wash them, and return them to the cycle. As to whether this reusable cup program will make its way to the States, a McDonald’s spokesperson said, “The feedback collected through these packaging trials will help inform which options are scaled up or adopted in other countries around the world.”

Kroger’s Simple Truth is the first store brand to develop a recycling program with TerraCycle, a company that for several years has been helping retailers and consumer goods brands recycle products that aren’t traditionally recyclable. The Simple Truth Recycling Program centers on its flexible packaging that’s not accepted in the curbside bin, including produce bags, bread bags and plastic overwrap found on items like tissue boxes and bottled water.

A sustentabilidade é um tema cada vez mais urgente e sua relevância tem crescido exponencialmente nos últimos tempos. Recentemente o contexto da pandemia evidenciou a necessidade de voltarmos nossos olhares para aspectos socioambientais. Se por um lado o meio ambiente se recupera da ação humana durante essa pausa forçada, famílias inteiras que já viviam em situação de vulnerabilidade viram suas rendas diminuirem. É o caso de catadores e agentes de reciclagem que passaram a travar uma verdadeira batalha por sua sobrevivência com a queda na arrecadação de materiais, sobretudo após o fechamento das cooperativas em todo o país. Nesse contexto, movimentos formados por consumidores, empresas e organizações da sociedade civil que buscam soluções socioambientais efetivas ganham força e visibilidade, uma vez que está clara a necessidade de implementar ações voltadas à redução do impacto ambiental e de incentivo e suporte dos profissionais que atualmente trabalham com reciclagem. O consumo consciente e a busca por soluções ambientalmente adequadas de produtos e embalagens de uso cotidiano finalmente se tornaram assuntos de interesse comum.

A Nestlé lançou em2019 o RE., uma iniciativa da empresa que atua em duas principais frentes de sustentabilidade. A primeira diretriz é a educação, promovendo a conscientização em relação ao descarte do lixo com os consumidores por meio da comunicação nas embalagens dos produtos Nestlé e através do desenvolvimento de uma plataforma digital para a divulgação de conteúdos que abordam questões ambientais como economia circular, desperdício, energia limpa, entre outros. A segunda diretriz do RE. é a parceria com catadores e cooperativas para aumentar a reciclagem dos produtos e embalagens da marca e alcançar a meta de ter até até 2025, 100% das embalagens recicláveis ou reutilizáveis.

If you visit a McDonald’s in the U.K. early next year, you might notice a new option if you get a hot drink like coffee or hot chocolate: Instead of a typical disposable cup, you’ll have the choice to walk away with a reusable plastic cup and lid that you can later put in a special bin to be collected and sterilized for another customer. “Reuse is a really interesting, important tool in a suite of tools that we will need, and we’re exploring as we look to keep waste out of nature,” says Jenny McColloch, vice president of global sustainability at McDonald’s Corporation. The company is the first in the food service industry to partner with Loop, a company that also pioneered a new system of reusable packaging for mainstream consumer products like shampoo and ice cream from major brands. The pilot will test how Loop’s system could work in the context of fast food.

A Natura e a The Body Shop lançaram um programa de logística reversa em suas lojas. A cada cinco embalagens vazias das marcas, os clientes recebem um novo produto. As lojas da Natura receberão ainda produtos de qualquer uma das quatro marcas do grupo Natura &Co: Avon, Natura, The Body Shop e Aesop. A iniciativa é uma parceria com a TerraCycle, empresa especializada em soluções de reciclagem. Para ganhar o brinde, não contam embalagens de amostras e frascos em miniatura.

A sustentabilidade é um tema cada vez mais urgente e sua relevância tem crescido exponencialmente nos últimos tempos. Recentemente o contexto da pandemia evidenciou a necessidade de voltarmos nossos olhares para aspectos socioambientais. Se por um lado o meio ambiente se recupera da ação humana durante essa pausa forçada, famílias inteiras que já viviam em situação de vulnerabilidade viram suas rendas diminuirem.