When ordering a meal from Taco Bell, it’s pretty common to grab a handful of sauce packets for the road. Half you’ll use for now to smother on top of your Crunchwrap Supreme or Doritos Locos Tacos. The other half you’ll probably save for later to pull out of the junk drawer when you’ve made a bowl of rice to add some flavor. Normally, you throw out the little sleeve of plastic when you’re done using it. But Taco Bell wants you to do something else—send them back to be recycled. You may be thinking how on earth will those little packets of mild, hot, and diablo sauce being recycled make any kind of difference? Well, 8 billion end up in landfills every year. Taco Bell is partnering with TerraCycle, a company known for recycling hard-to-recycle items, to create a program where customers collect the sauce packets to eventually ship back. Here’s how it works. Go onto Taco Bell’s website, and create an account for the Sauce Packet Recycling Pilot Program. Start collecting the packets in a box and once full, print the label provided by TerraCycle for free shipping and send it off! “Recycling just got saucy,” as the company’s website so perfectly puts it. From there, the recycling company will clean them and melt them down to form into a plastic to be used for numerous other items. Who knew you could help out the planet so much when ordering 12 tacos and a cheesy quesadilla?

So don't throw them away.   When ordering a meal from Taco Bell, it’s pretty common to grab a handful of sauce packets for the road. Half you’ll use for now to smother on top of your Crunchwrap Supreme or Doritos Locos Tacos. The other half you’ll probably save for later to pull out of the junk drawer when you’ve made a bowl of rice to add some flavor. Normally, you throw out the little sleeve of plastic when you’re done using it. But Taco Bell wants you to do something else—send them back to be recycled. You may be thinking how on earth will those little packets of mild, hot, and diablo sauce being recycled make any kind of difference? Well, 8 billion end up in landfills every year. Taco Bell is partnering with TerraCycle, a company known for recycling hard-to-recycle items, to create a program where customers collect the sauce packets to eventually ship back. Here’s how it works. Go onto Taco Bell’s website, and create an account for the Sauce Packet Recycling Pilot Program. Start collecting the packets in a box and once full, print the label provided by TerraCycle for free shipping and send it off! “Recycling just got saucy,” as the company’s website so perfectly puts it. From there, the recycling company will clean them and melt them down to form into a plastic to be used for numerous other items. Who knew you could help out the planet so much when ordering 12 tacos and a cheesy quesadilla?

Of course, there are still some items which end up in your regular bin – and therefore in landfill. But thanks to TerraCycle, which partners with individual collectors and companies to collect and recycle almost any sort of waste, and other schemes, it is getting easier to give old items a new lease of life and take your recycling to the next level. Here are seven ideas for starters.

Brits alone create almost half a tonne of rubbish each year – but there are easy ways to join the stars and save our planet Lots of plastics are labelled as “not yet recyclable”. Truth is, most things can be recycled, just not in your local council pick-up. Soft plastic such as grocery bags, bread bags and crisp packets can be dropped off at larger Tesco stores, while Boots are encouraging people to bring in their beauty and dental products for recycling. Check out TerraCycle, a scheme set up to recycle those “non-recyclables”, such as cheese packets, Pringles tubes and razors.

TRENTON, NJ -- As the United States turns a corner with the pandemic, workers are being asked to abandon their quarantine bubbles and return to the workplaces they left well over a year ago. However, many are returning to very different office environments as companies trash now unnecessary office equipment in response to either economic-related personnel cuts or employees’ widespread adoption of remote or hybrid schedules, as 44 percent of total U.S. workers are, according to Statista. Just as TerraCycle provided innovative recycling solutions for the surplus of otherwise unrecyclable personal protective equipment (PPE) produced during the pandemic, the international recycling leader is back again with convenient solutions to address this new influx of unwanted office supplies. TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Boxes provide a convenient recycling solution for nearly every conceivable piece of office waste which are generally not recyclable through most towns’ conventional recycling facilities. When placed in high-traffic areas like breakrooms or kitchens, Zero Waste Boxes provide psychic income to eco-minded employees and deliver an environmentally-friendly alternative to landfilling in the form of recycling — all while discouraging clutter throughout any newly renovated office. To recycle common forms of unwanted office supplies, TerraCycle offers the following Zero Waste Boxes:

Office Supplies Zero Waste Box – to recycle tape dispensers, desk organizers, card and document filers, binders, calendars, labels, staplers, hole punchers, dividers, paper cutters, correction supplies, pens/pencils/markers, fasteners, paper clips, staples, binder clips and sticker and label sheet backing. Not a solution for e-waste like electronic staplers and label making machines. Office Separation Zero Waste Box – to recycle art supplies, books and magazines, eye wear, cleaning accessories, fabrics and clothing, interior home furnishings, media storage, office supplies, paper packaging, pet products (non-food), plastic packaging, plastic cards and shipping materials. Media Storage Zero Waste Box – To recycle any object or device capable of storing data (ie. audio, video) in analog or digital format including records, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, CDs and DVDs, Blu Ray discs, floppy disks, memory sticks and external hard drives. E-Waste Zero Waste Box – To recycle any household or office e-waste including home phones, cell phones, computer cables and accessories, keyboards, VCR/DVD players, hand-held computers, digital music players, pagers, radios, cameras, video recorders, TVs, laptops, desktop computers and monitors, printers and scanners, digital cameras, copiers, typewriters, fax machines, stereos, tuners and turntables and receivers and speakers. When full, the boxes can be returned to TerraCycle for processing and the collected waste will be cleaned, melted and remolded to make new products.

TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams, created the Zero Waste Box program to provide solutions for difficult-to-recycle waste that cannot be recycled through TerraCycle’s brand-sponsored, national recycling programs or via standard municipal recycling. “No matter if you’re implementing a hybrid schedule or if you’re planning to return to the office in full-force this fall, our workplaces will likely begin to look a lot different compared to how we left them,” says Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle. “TerraCycle’s goal is to make this transition as easy and as environmentally-friendly as possible by giving your business the power to divert waste from landfills through our turn-key Zero Waste recycling solutions.” TerraCycle works with major manufacturers and retailers to recycle products and packaging that would normally be thrown away. To learn more about TerraCycle and its innovative recycling solutions, visit www.terracycle.com.

Beauty brands and retailers are partnering with recycling programs and banning single-use products as consumers become more conscious of sustainability. Beauty brands are looking to shift away from traditional packaging toward biodegradable, plastic-free and refillable options as consumer demand for sustainability grows more intense. Increasingly turning to biodegradable, plastic-free or refillable options for products, brands are pivoting toward limiting their waste. Retailer Credo Beauty upped the ante last year by banning all single-use products, including sample packettes and sheet masks. Nordstrom has partnered with TerraCycle to recycle empty beauty products, while Ulta Beauty has partnered with TerraCycle subsidiary Loop as a part of its conscious beauty program. Brands like Burt's Bees, Ren Clean Skincare and The Body Shop have also partnered with Loop. Experts say consumers are responding increasingly to alternate ways of receiving - and storing - beauty products. Credo credited the pandemic for the shift in attitude. "There has been a total behavioral reset from a customer standpoint, and they really want to know information, and they want to be empowered with information," said Annie Jackson, cofounder and chief executive officer of Credo Beauty. "If we were having a conversation with a customer that you can just throw [packaging] in your blue bin, she would be, like, 'Why are you bugging me?' Today, she really wants to know, and she feels empowered by that information." When the retailer first banned single-use products, which include single-use sampling materials and products such as makeup remover wipes, peel pads and sheet masks, Jackson said collaboration with brands was imperative. "Whenever we do something like that, we have calls with about 80 percent of our brand community, and we come together and share resources," she said. As a result, Credo cofounded Pact, a nonprofit beauty recycling program with fellow industry stakeholders like Hudson's Bay, Mob Beauty and Element Packaging. The program educates consumers on which pieces of their packaging can be recycled, and how. One of Mob Beauty's cofounders, Victor Casale, said reception has been strong. "On Earth Day, we launched our membership program. We have been approached by every major retailer in the beauty space in North America, and we have been approached by about 100 brands," Casale said. When Casale cofounded Mob Beauty, all of the products were designed around their refillable palettes, made of PCR plastic. "If you're trying to change your packaging or change course, it's easier to start a brand than to restage one. It's really expensive for young, indie brands," said Alisha Gallagher, cofounder of Mob Beauty. "We have a commitment that if we don't have a sustainable packaging solution, we won't launch the product." Gallagher posited that refillable packaging was more sustainable in the economical sense, too. "When you're buying into the refill system, you're actually getting better value long-term for the product you're purchasing," she said. "At least half of the cost of a single-use disposable product is the packaging that you throw away, and then repurchase. Getting that out of our system allows us to put in the expensive, PCR materials that allow the product to be of value, and sell if not for the same, then less than the competitor." Even brands whose bread and butter comes from single-use products are clueing into consumers' changing needs. The clinical skin care brand 111Skin, which was founded by plastic surgeon Yannis Alexandrides, earlier this year launched its first multiuse mask lines to accompany its cult-favorite sheet mask assortment in a move away from the single-use format. The line, which includes six products that range in price from $135 to $150, is reflective of turning tides with more sophisticated beauty consumers. "When we first started 10 years ago, sustainability was not on the forefront, it was more about the quality of the product," said Eva Alexandridis, CEO of 111Skin. "Our clients are very in-tune with what is sustainable," Alexandridis continued. "We keep trying to innovate with our paper packaging. There are clients out there that would not want to use single-use products, and others are OK if it is biodegradable and done in a sustainable fashion. All of our biocellulose masks are biodegradable and fully recyclable, and we want to give choices to our clients."

Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition's environmental efforts include collecting and recycling toxic cigarette butts to reduce pollution in city streets and, ultimately, in Belfast Bay. BELFAST — Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition continues to bring in the butts in its efforts to rid city streets of the world’s most littered item. According to TerraCycle, its partner in the process, BBWC collected 2.15 pounds of cigarette butts in August alone, “which by our calculations amounts to 2,150 butts,” a company spokesperson said. BBWC has teamed up with TerraCycle, a leader in repurposing complex waste streams, to recycle the toxic litter. The butts come primarily from the 14 “Butt Butler” receptacles BBWC has placed throughout the city of Belfast, making it easy for community members to divert cigarette waste from the community’s streets and ecosystems. This latest shipment to Terracycle is in addition to the 95,400 cigarette butts collected in May, together with other refuse, during the annual Keeping Belfast Maine Beautiful cleanup event. BBWC packed and mailed several boxes of the collected butts to TerraCycle the next day. After being shipped to TerraCycle, which is based in New Jersey, the waste collected through the BBWC “Butt Busters” program is processed into plastic pellets for use in a variety of recycled products, including shipping pallets, ashtrays and park benches. The remaining tobacco is composted. “Cigarette butts surround the street drains which carry them directly into the bay, poisoning all living things there,” said Debbie Murphy, a Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition representative. “Also, the unsightliness of the streets with this litter is disgusting.” Cigarette filters are made of a plastic that absorbs nicotine, heavy metals and various chemicals that are the products of smoking tobacco and the additives in a cigarette. Around the world, people litter more than 4.5 trillion cigarette butts every year. Depending on conditions, it can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years for a cigarette filter to decompose. Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition is trying to make a dent in the number of cigarette butts left behind across the local ecosystems with its participation in TerraCycle’s cigarette recycling program. BBWC is dedicated to conservation and stewardship of the natural and public resources of the Belfast Bay watershed through its involvement in various informational programs that advocate for protection of the environment. TerraCycle has collected hundreds of millions of cigarette butts globally. Additionally, through its various recycling programs, it has engaged over 202 million people across 20 countries to collect and recycle billions of pieces of waste that were otherwise non-recyclable, all while raising over $44 million dollars for charities.