This year was one of historic significance. The global community had a front-row seat to developments on the world-stage of international politics, the movements of which have implications for this coming year and all those to follow. More connected by technology than ever, the world’s citizens engaged in discussions of pressing issues like human rights and environmental sustainability, speaking to an increased willingness to convert values into action.   At TerraCycle, 2016 notched a decade and a half of dedication to the circular economy, corporate social responsibility and the renewal of the world’s finite resources.  Through free recycling programs, custom recycling solutions and partnerships with some of the world’s largest companies, TerraCycle so far has engaged more than 60 million people to recycle in 23 countries, diverting nearly 4 billion units of difficult-to-recycle waste from landfills and incinerators and raising $15 million for charity.   Milestones this year include the launch of new programs that marked the first time TerraCycle has recycled in their respective categories. Henkel, a leading global manufacturer of industrial adhesives, including the LOCTITE® brand, became the first company to offer a recycling solution for anaerobic adhesive packaging. The main challenge with recycling the polyethylene [PE] plastic bottles and the reason they are not accepted by the conventional waste management infrastructure is due to the residual adhesive. Learning about the adhesives and how they cure allowed us to develop a solution and recycle this category of material for the first time.   The year also saw us finalize a partnership with SUEZ, one of the largest waste management companies in the world. Through the deal, SUEZ can bring TerraCycle’s consumer-facing programs to its customers in France, the UK, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, and we gain access to perhaps the world’s largest sales force dedicated to the circular economy.   Recyclability is among the top purchase drivers for a range of consumer products, and finding new ways to engage consumers and end-users on our programs adds value for current and potential partners. Instrument string manufacturer D’Addario this year launched their Recycle and Restring events, which bring recycling into local music stores across the country, showing communities what sustainability could do for them. Open Farm’s #RecycleWithOpenFarm contest and Tom’s of Maine’s Green Your School Fund (a nationwide school science competition on which I had the pleasure of judging) were social media activations that demonstrated the power of digital eco-activism and its latent ability to bring people together over sustainability and CSR.   Unprecedented sales in our Zero Waste Box division showed that consumers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for sustainable goods and services, include those which solve for waste. Consumers enjoy the convenience and innovation of this turn-key recycling solution, and some companies (like paper shredders and waste management entities) have begun using the platform to expand their portfolio of services, diversifying their offerings and scaling for growth by piggy-backing on their own route logistics.   As it stands, waste is a negative value commodity: people pay to have it taken away. TerraCycle is in the business of solving for waste by not only capturing this refuse, but bringing value to it so that people will pay for products made out of recycled materials. This year called for a massive expansion of our international sales force to answer a growing demand for circular solutions at all levels of consumption, making for our most profitable yet. The challenge in 2017 will be to continue nurturing this market to ease the strain on the Earth’s resources and move us towards a more sustainable, circular global economy. 

Bausch + Lomb, a leading global eye health company, has launched a national recycling program to provide Americans with a responsible option for their otherwise non-recyclable contact lenses and blister packs. By partnering with recycling company TerraCycle to create the Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE recycling program, Bausch + Lomb gives contact lens wearers the ability to recycle used Biotrue® ONEday brand contact lenses and blister packs, as well as lenses and packs from other Bausch + Lomb brands as well as all other contact lens brands. Contact lenses and blister packs are considered non-recyclable through municipal facilities mainly because they are too small to be captured by standard sorting machinery. Through the Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE recycling program, contact lenses and blister packs are now 100% recyclable, providing a nationwide solution to prevent these items from entering the waste stream, at zero cost to the consumer. Once collected, contact lenses and blister packs are separated and cleaned. The metal layers of the blister packs are recycled separately, while the contact lenses and plastic blister pack components are melted into plastic that can be remolded to make recycled products. For every pound of accepted Biotrue® ONEday and other Bausch + Lomb brand packaging sent through this program a $1 donation will be made to Optometry Giving Sight, a global fundraising initiative that targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision. “Bausch + Lomb is continuously striving to become a more environmentally sustainable company in order to preserve not only the well-being of our patients, but also of our environment,” says Guy Guglielmino, vice president of marketing, vision care, Bausch + Lomb. “With the launch of our Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE recycling program, we are asking people to join us to take ONE small step each day to help the environment, so that together we can create a significant positive impact.” The Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE recycling program is open to any interested individual, eye care professional or organization. To learn more about participating in the Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE recycling program, please visit http://www.terracycle.com /bauschrecycles.

Cada año se generan 5,000 millones de toneladas de desechos en el mundo, de los cuales sólo el 20% es reciclable. El 80% restante termina en tiraderos como sucede la mayoría de las veces en México o son quemados y usados como combustibles en el caso de algunos países europeos. Dos dificultades mayores tiene el reciclaje tal y como está concebido ahora: se genera excesiva basura y la que se crea está compuesta por materiales demasiado complejos. Algunos envoltorios de alimentos contienen hasta 20 tipos de plástico diferentes. Así que por muy buena voluntad que tengamos los ciudadanos, la mayoría de lo que se tira no puede utilizarse de nuevo, a pesar de que creamos lo contrario. La iniciativa de un joven canadiense ha dado un giro a esta dinámica en los últimos años. Tom Szaky, alumno en la Universidad de Princeton, TerraCycle, Inc. empezó produciendo fertilizantes orgánicos mediante el embotellado de “excrementos licuados de lombrices” en botellas de refrescos usadas. Desde este comienzo poco prometedor, TerraCycle ha llegado a ser una de las empresas verdes de mayor crecimiento en el mundo. Hoy, TerraCycle es una reconocida compañía internacional de supra reciclaje y reciclaje que recolecta envolturas y productos difíciles de reciclar y los transforma en productos innovadores y económicos. TerraCycle está ampliamente reconocida como líder mundial en la recolección y reutilización de residuos post-consumidor no reciclable. Tom Szaky Este mes TerraCycle México está cumpliendo su 7° aniversario recolectando y reciclando basura alrededor de la república mexicana; dicho lo anterior dejamos un recordatorio de cómo podemos volvernos recolectores dentro del país y no solo contribuir a la mejor de nuestro ambiente también retribuir a otras asociaciones sin fines de lucro.

¿Cómo funciona?

La operación está organizada en programas, cada una de las cuales se centra en un producto en particular difícil de reciclar como envolturas de jabón, bolsas de pan, empaques de galletas, bolsas de botana, productos de cuidado bucal y envolturas de pan dulce. Estos desechos pueden recolectarse en cajas de cualquier tamaño para su recolección. TerraCycle paga todos los gastos de envío, una vez enviados los desechos a la empresa, el recolector suma dinero a una cuenta individual ($0.25 por empaque), que es donado a organizaciones filantrópicas, escuelas y programas comunitarios. La basura recolectada (envolturas, sobres, tubos, etc.) es convertida en carteras, monederos, estuches mochilas o bolsas, que son fabricados por terceros y comercializados por la compañía.

¿Cómo convertirse en un Recolector?

Varios equipos de recolección de residuos se han puesto a trabajar en los diferentes programas que TerraCycle (26,862 personas alrededor de México). La dinámica para comenzar es muy sencilla; se debe ingresar a la página www.terracycle.com.mx y escoger los programas de recolección que van desde bolsas de botana hasta productos de cuidado bucal, una vez realizado este paso se comienza con la recolección, los recolectores podrán ver por medio de la página los puntos que van ganando y de esta forma convertirlos en dinero para la organización de su elección. Una gran ventaja de estos programas es que los recolectores pueden dar de alta cualquier asociación sin fines de lucro, escuela o hasta iglesia de su comunidad para ver de una forma directa los beneficios de su donación. La Cantidad más reciente que se ha logrado donar son $409,936.74 pesos. Algunas de las asociaciones que se han visto beneficiadas son las siguientes:

1. APANICAL (Asociación de Padres de Niños con Cáncer y Leucemia)- Ubicada en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, ha recibido $135,360 pesos.
2. Escuela Secundaria 20 Juan F. Escamilla- Recibió $22,999 pesos, esta escuela se localiza en Monterrey, Nuevo León.
3. Escuela Francisco I. Madero- En Mezquitic, Jalisco recibió $20,029 pesos. 4. Operación Sonrisa-En Zapopan, Jalisco recibió $16,185 pesos.

¿Y tú, te atreves a hacer algo por el medio ambiente?

TerraCycle empezó como una compañía de fertilizantes orgánicos y ha llegado a ser una de las más fuertes en productos ecológicos en el mundo. Tom tuvo el sueño de encontrar una nueva forma de ser responsables con el medio ambiente, beneficiar al planeta, a la gente y a su propio negocio. Las nuevas generaciones tienen mayor conciencia y preocupación por el uso y el futuro de los recursos naturales, sin embargo aún queda mucho camino por recorrer, y se vuelve necesario que la población mexicana ponga de su parte para hacer del planeta un lugar más sustentable. Si nosotros no comenzamos un cambio hoy, ¿quién lo hará?.

Consumers increasingly want to patronize the types of companies that demonstrate an alignment with their personal values. This marketplace shift can be largely attributed to consumers of Millennial age, who are now the nation’s largest living generation and make up a quarter of the entire U.S. population. Shaping the economy with an influential $200 billion in annual buying power, Millennials demand a degree of “like-mindedness” from their preferred manufacturers and major brands, namely around things like corporate social and environmental responsibility. But how is the consumer informed of those values? When it comes to communicating an alignment with personal values, it doesn’t get more personal than social media. Today, two-thirds of Millennials, the most technologically inclined generation in history, currently use social media to engage around CSR issues. For major purpose-driven brands and organizations, social media is an invaluable tool for reaching conscious consumers (including the more than nine-in-10 Millennials reporting a willingness to switch brands to one associated with a cause) with targeted, effective social campaigns. REI, for example, inspired over 6 million consumers to #OptOutside this past Black Friday (up from 1.4 million last year) with its second annual hashtag-driven campaign calling upon consumers to go outside instead of shopping. The company kicked off 2015’s inaugural campaign by closing all of its locations (and going offline) on Black Friday and giving consumers access to REI’s Explore the Outdoors platform — a search tool with BatchGeo-like functionality allowing consumers to find outdoor activities near them. Simple and powerful, this campaign “walks the walk” to reach conscious consumers who will not only buy products from REI, but who align with their social values, growing beyond the brand into sort of a social media movement all its own. At my company, TerraCycle, we too have continually seen the value social media can bring to our partners’, and our own, sustainability and eco-activism efforts. This past spring, TerraCycle and Open Farm celebrated Earth Month with the #RecycleWithOpenFarm social media contest. The contest engaged customers on the recyclability of Open Farm packaging by calling upon pet owners to snap a pic of their pups recycling and entering the photo using the #RecycleWithOpenFarm hashtag on Instagram for a chance to win a three-month supply of Open Farm pet food. The series of entries were so overwhelming, we rolled out a second phase to the contest, #RescueWithOpenFarm. This time, the prize was a donation of pet food to the animal shelter of the winner’s choice, also highlighting the brand’s commitment to animal welfare. This kind of engagement is invaluable for companies seeking to raise awareness to their eco-conscious and cause-driven missions in a competitive marketplace where social responsibility has become the baseline, rather than an aspect that automatically adds value. It is a testament to the power and effectiveness of eco-activism on social media, and that consumers are receptive when their favorite socially responsible brands engage with them in educative, informative ways. Creating transparency and relating purpose to consumers, social media is a powerful tool in its ability to tell a brand’s story in real-time, allowing consumers to have open conversations about the social responsibility records of those brands, and other salient subjects in sustainability.

All Nescafé Dolce Gusto capsules can now be recycled via a partnership with experts TerraCycle.

At EcoMatters you can even drop off your old toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes! Once we have a box full we then send them to Terracycle New Zealand. TerraCycle was founded in the States to recycle or up-cycle traditionally non- recyclable waste.

Once you've collected and cleaned out all of your empty beauty containers, TerraCycle will recycle the packaging for you!

Holiday preparations often bring to mind shopping, wrapping gifts and parties against a backdrop of twinkling lights and whimsical decorations. Understandably, the holidays are also a time that we experience a degree of stress, which may cause us to prioritize convenience over eco-consciousness. Demands on our time and resources put pressure on us year round, so when the Fall and Winter months creep up, thinking about the environment and ways to scale back on potentially wasteful holiday plans can be difficult. With less than a week left before the holiday, keeping it green may seem like a daunting task. But not only can you get it all done without sacrificing your traditions, setting intentions can help you balance out the last-minute holiday frenzy.

Make a list and set a time limit

Whether you are heading out to the supermarket, to the shopping mall or to the local brick-and-mortar shop, the longer you stay in there, the more likely you are to buy things you don’t need. Planning is everything. Writing out a list and crafting up a game plan for your shopping route may seem like a waste when it’s crunch-time. But this exercise in mindfulness will give you clarity, resulting in increased productivity and a better use of that time.

Bring your own bag to the store

Think about the last time you went holiday shopping: remember all the bags you brought home? The thicker, sturdier shopping bags you get from clothing and household appliance retailer can be great for reuse (i.e. toting around all those holiday gifts!), but once they’ve outlived their purpose, this type of plastic often ends up in landfills. Try to bring your own canvas or nylon tote bag to toss your purchases in, and if you do end up collecting a few shopping bags, recycle them.

Try your hand at some DIY projects

In these final hours, getting some time for yourself may seem impossible. Keep your head on straight with some of TerraCycle’s holiday DIYs, which include some pretty decorations and bows that will “Wow” guests and the recipients of your thoughtful gifts. Find more options for homemade holiday gifts in our list here.

Buy gifts for use, not for the “big reveal”

Speaking of gifts, one of the most common qualifiers for not being “done” with holiday preparations is that you have not finished getting your gifts in order for friends, family and other loved ones. While you scurry to cross the last names of your list, consider these findings from a recent review of research on the psychology of giving and receiving gifts: one of the biggest mistakes gift givers make is focusing too much on the moment when the recipient will open the gift, instead of how they will use it in real life.

Keep food and alcohol more eco-friendly

Try to opt for local farms, artisan producers, wineries and breweries when planning meals and fixings, as this supports small business and sustainable practices and scales back on transportation and shipping costs. Try to stay away from convenience foods that come with excess packaging. And this may seem obvious, but the more you cook and prepare your own foods (around the holidays and year-round), the better it is for the environment. Connecting with your food in this way gives you a more accurate idea of what you actually need in regards to entertaining and/or household meal-planning. This cuts down on food waste, which goes beyond wasting money and food that could feed others; food waste in the landfill will release methane, a greenhouse gas, into the air during decomposition. Give the gift of healthy foods for those on your list that love to eat! 

Wrap gifts sustainably

As mentioned in a previous blog, if every American family wrapped just 3 presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. Wrapping gifts with stuff you already have is a challenge of creativity and resourcefulness, and can present some surprising opportunities for recycling and reuse. For example, wrap and tie a scarf that’s part of your gift around a smaller item to make one gift out of two.

Prepare end-of-holiday solutions ahead of time

One of the hardest parts of the holiday is when it’s over: cleaning up, putting away, boxing things and wrapping leftovers. Make plans for each aspect of your holiday celebrations so that you know exactly how to wrap gifts in a sustainable way, instead of going the route of convenience with linear solutions. Unwrapping presents will often result in a flurry of bows, ribbon, wrapping paper, gift bags and tissue paper. Open carefully and save what you can to keep these items for next year. Note that many municipal programs do accept wrapping paper for recycling along with regular paper, with the exception of foil wrapping paper or paper with any metallic pieces or flecks. For things you can no longer use or recycle through your curbside collections, TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Bags boast an assortment of custom waste solutions for the home and office, including the Kitchen Separation Bag, which allows you to recycle things like party supplies, dining disposables (if you happened to use them) and more.

Toys! Toys! Toys! Tis the season for more toys, new toys, old toys and sadly broken toys. Whatever can be done with the old and broken toys? Ideally reuse or recycling the toys. In Otsego County, the Recycling Program bins are for containers, papers, glass jars and bottles, metal cans, aluminum trays and plastic bottles. Hard plastic toys are not recyclable in this program for Otsego County. So what can you do? Here are some creative suggestions: • Toys that are in good condition can be donated to Salvation Army or Goodwill to receive a receipt for a tax-deduction. • Gentle used toys can be donated to local daycares, preschools or churches. • Broken toys can be fixed at home by contacting the manufacture such as Lego and Little Tikes for replacement parts. Or This Old Toy (www.thisoldtoy.com/repair) or Randy’s Toy Shop (www.randystoyshop.com) are examples of places toys can be sent to for repair. • Contact companies such as TerraCycle to send broken and old plastic toys to. They may be able to be used in upcycling projects, like park benches.