Home for the Holidays Recycling Programs

Preparing for the holidays includes family meals, seasonal candles, and cleaning up around the house. So before the season of giving arrives, why not recycle your empty home product packaging with TerraCycle’s free home recycling programs to keep trash out of landfills? 

Did you know that household trash like cleaning products, food storage containers, and hand soap dispensers can be recycled into things like plastic shipping pallets, agricultural film, decking, industrial drainpipes, playgrounds—and even our collection of TerraCycle Made products available in the United States?

Let’s learn more about the recycling process and how old home products take on new shapes and sizes: 

Our research & development team is made up of in-house scientists and material application specialists to analyze materials and determine the best way to recycle home products into something new.

What happens to your home products once they arrive at one of TerraCycle’s Material Recovery Facilities (MRF)? The recycling process includes how to break down the waste, separate it into its building blocks, and then recycle those materials for new applications.  

1. First, we receive and check-in your empty home product packaging. 

When a shipment from a collector arrives at one of our MRFs, we scan it to record the shipment information, date, weight, and material it contains.

2. Then, we sort your home products and separate them by material to be broken down into their building blocks. 

All materials are size-reduced through shredding. 

• Plastics are cleaned in temperature-regulated water baths with agitation and surfactants to remove residual carbon or other contaminants. They are separated into different plastic types through sink-float, air and optical sortation, and other methods.
• Glass is removed by density through vibratory screening and used in aggregate-based products such as construction blocks and tiles.
• Metals are removed through magnetized and electrostatic sortation.  

3. Finally, materials are recycled for new applications. 

Clean, sorted, and broken down materials are mixed with the same materials to make recycled blends. Manufacturers use these raw materials to create new products.

Clean the home for family meals and gatherings as the holiday season approaches this year and share the good news for the planet with your family and friends on recycling your waste with TerraCycle. Get started now with many TerraCycle free home product recycling programs—which accept small appliances, cooking tools, cleaning products, and more!