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.

A Semana Lixo Zero, que tem programação até 1º novembro, em Porto Alegre e 13 cidades do RS, apresentou, na última quinta-feira, um painel transmitido pelo YouTube, mostrando o que é logística reversa, qual a importância e quais são os quatro projetos de lei tramitando atualmente na Câmara de Porto Alegre. A logística reversa é o procedimento que permite o consumidor retornar à empresa um produto após seu consumo, de forma que o fabricante possibilite um descarte correto.

Itens como canetas, lápis, marcadores e lapiseiras são utilizados diariamente por uma grande quantidade de pessoas, mas você já refletiu sobre o que acontece com esses materiais depois que são jogados no lixo? Pensando nisso, há oito anos a Faber-Castell, em parceria com a TerraCycle, empresa especializada em soluções ambientais, lançou um Programa Nacional de Reciclagem para instrumentos de escrita, possibilitando que esses resíduos tenham uma nova vida por meio da reciclagem.

Um programa de logística reversa criado em parceria com o TerraCycle permitiu que a Faber-Castell conseguisse coletar 2 milhões de instrumentos de escrita para reciclagem. A empresa alcançou a marca nesta semana, mesmo em meio à pandemia, em uma ação que reúne mais de 5 mil pontos de coleta, reduzindo de maneira significativa o impacto do setor de papelaria, que produz milhares de produtos todos os anos, principalmente na volta às aulas

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.