We’re often asked why Zero Waste Boxes cost money while the national programs are generally free to consumers. First, it's important to highlight that no recycling is free. Someone is paying somewhere along the line. Your municipal recycling is paid by your taxes (or directly by you) and mitigated by any revenue the recyclers can … Continue reading Why do we charge for Zero Waste Boxes when other programs are free?
Why do we recycle when it’s better to reduce and reuse?
In an ideal world, TerraCycle would not exist. Our recycling solutions are a response to the world’s challenge with waste that has been growing since the 1950s, and we know that we can’t recycle our way out of it. Letting go of our love of disposability, learning to see garbage as a resource, and purchasing … Continue reading Why do we recycle when it’s better to reduce and reuse?
What happens to the recycling once it has been processed?
You may already know that you can #RecycleEverything with TerraCycle: collect, ship, and then we recycle. That’s not the whole story, though. Our Materials Solutions team plays an important part too. Here’s how: Recycling infrastructure is expensive, and because we consistently invent new ways to recycle and we recycle such a wide variety of materials, … Continue reading What happens to the recycling once it has been processed?
How can TerraCycle recycle the unrecyclable?
What does “recycling” actually mean? The Ellen Macarthur Foundation defines material recycling as “reprocessing, by means of a manufacturing process, of a used packaging material into a product, a component incorporated into a product, or a secondary (recycled) raw material; excluding energy recovery and the use of the product as a fuel.” However, what makes … Continue reading How can TerraCycle recycle the unrecyclable?
Is the mail-back recycling process really better than landfills or incineration?
In our last post, we showed why recycling is better than landfills. But sometimes people still ask us about the environmental effects of our whole process, including the environmental impact of getting the items back to us to recycle. Our engineers regularly conduct a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of our process that is then third-party … Continue reading Is the mail-back recycling process really better than landfills or incineration?
Does recycling really help the environment?
You’ve probably heard about the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle, listed in the order we should try to follow them. While recycling is last on the list, it’s still a better option than tossing our waste into the trash, as it avoids our waste ending up in our landfills. There are three big problems … Continue reading Does recycling really help the environment?