Terms of Use

Free & Paid Recycling Programs

TerraCycle (“TC”) seeks to operate its Free and Paid recycling programs (“Programs”) in an ecologically friendly and rational manner. To that end, specific Programs may have minimum shipping requirements (a certain minimum number of items must be shipped or the shipment will not be eligible for credit) which are specified on that Program’s FAQ (“FAQs”), which are incorporated in these Terms and Conditions by reference. Further, TC will close Free Program locations if no shipment has been received from that Program location during a six month period. This is done to eliminate dormant Programs and allow that Program “slot” to be utilized by another group. TerraCycle Programs are intended exclusively for used, post-consumer packaging. Post-industrial, factory off-spec, write-off, mis-printed, or other pre-consumer waste is not accepted through these Program platforms. Any shipments of such post-industrial waste will be returned to the point of origin and will incur a non-compliance charge.

Points Program

Many Free Programs accrue points (“Points”) for each unit of waste collected (over a minimum amount). Points may be applied in one of two ways : a) they may be applied to one of the charitable programs chosen by TC for specific actions (by way of example only, a fixed number of points may be redeemed to plant trees by the Arbor Day Foundation) by our partner organizations (see, www.terracycle.com/redeem for descriptions of these programs); or b) the points may be redeemed for cash amounts that will be sent to the Charity or School designated by the Brigade Leader. Points will expire and the account holding them will be closed if there is no activity in the Brigade account for a one year period. Activity in a Brigade account means downloading a shipping label, shipping a package of appropriate post-consumer material to TC or an election entered onto TC’s web site to either designate Points for a specific program or redemption of Points into cash to be sent to a designated charity or school. Points that expire in this manner will not be available for designation to charities or for redemption. In addition, all checks expire one year after issue and no replacement requests for lost checks will be honored after one year of the issuance date of the original check.

Program Participation

Persons who tamper with or abuse any aspect of this Program or otherwise attempt to undermine the legitimate operation of the Program by hacking, deception or sending materials not accepted through the Program, as solely determined by TerraCycle, will be held responsible for any costs accrued from their participation. Any shipments accrued through use of robotic, automatic, macro, programmed or like methods of participation will be returned to the point of origin and will incur a non-compliance charge.

TYPES OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT:

TC collects information about our stakeholders and visitors to our web sites so that we can provide an experience that is responsive to our stakeholder’s and visitors’ needs. Information may be collected as part of: (i) fulfilling orders or information requests, (ii) purchasing products, (iii) registering for Brigade membership, (iv) submitting a job application, or (v) responding to communications from us (e.g., surveys, promotional offers, or reservation confirmations). The types of personally identifiable information that we collect may include your name, home, work and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers, credit card information, date of birth, gender, and lifestyle information such product preferences, and other relevant information. TC may also collect non-personally identifiable information about you, such as your use of our web sites, communication preferences, green purchasing preferences and habits, and responses to promotional offers and surveys.

PURPOSE FOR COLLECTION, PROCESSING, AND DISCLOSURE:

Collection & Use

The primary purposes for collecting your personally identifiable information (PII) are as follows:

  • providing services such as processing a transaction (e.g., fulfilling a request for information, or completing a product order)
  • marketing and communications with you in relation to the products and services offered by TC, our strategic marketing partners, and other trusted third parties
  • performing market research via surveys to better serve your needs, improve the effectiveness of our web sites, your experience with us and our various types of communications, advertising campaigns, and/or promotional activities

You will always be offered the choice not to submit your PII or to decide what communications you want to receive from us. However, doing so may cause certain transactions to become affected. For example, not providing a name or email will prevent the processing of certain requests; not providing an address may limit the programs or offers we can make available to you that are geographically focused.

Processing and Disclosure

In most cases, the information you provide is added to our database. In the course of processing your information, some PII may become known to TC's affiliates, and/or third party service providers for the purposes outlined within this Privacy Statement. As a general practice, TC does not sell, rent, or give physical possession of your PII to unaffiliated third parties outside the TC system except for certain trusted third parties and partners. Situations in which TC may disclose your information to others include:

  • in situations where sharing or disclosing your information is required in order to offer you products or services you desire
  • when companies or services providers that perform business activities on behalf of TC require such information (e.g., credit card processing, customer support services, market research administration or database management services)
  • to comply with legal or regulatory requirements or obligations in accordance with applicable law or court order
  • in order to provide information that will enable us to make our services and those of our trusted partners more effective.

If information is shared as mentioned above, we seek to limit the scope of information that is furnished to the amount necessary for the performance of the specific function. Unless otherwise precluded by legal process, we require third parties to protect your PII and abide by applicable privacy laws and regulations.

CONSENT

On occasion, as part of our commitment to keep you informed, we may mail, e-mail, telephone, or contact you by other means to notify you of new TC products and services, or upcoming TC special offers, events, enhancements, or other relevant information that may be of interest to you. You may also receive mailings or other communications from carefully selected third parties. We always offer you the option to decline any or all of these communications by contacting TC directly.

We would like to keep all of our friends and stakeholders informed and equally able to take advantage of the benefits offered by TC and its strategic marketing partners. In some cases your permission will be implied from the nature of the service requested or transaction undertaken. Your permission will be deemed given for communications from us that are necessary to fulfill transactions and services that you request.

DATA TRANSFERS ACROSS INTERNATIONAL BORDERS:

As a global company, we endeavor to provide you with the same outstanding service in many countries in the world. To achieve this goal, we have established a global network of offices, data centers, trusted marketing partners, service providers, customer contact centers, and trained associates around the globe. The nature of our business and our operations may require us to transfer your information, including PII, to other group companies, properties, centers of operations, data centers, or service providers that may be located in countries outside of your own. Although the data protection and other laws of these various countries may not be as comprehensive as those in your own country, TC will take appropriate steps to ensure that your PII is protected and handled as described in this Privacy Statement.

ACCESS TO PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION:

To ensure that your personally identifiable information (PII) is accurate and up to date, we encourage you to regularly review and update your information as appropriate (e.g., in the event your home or e-mail address changes, or you wish to add an additional method for us to communicate with you). Please note that in an effort to confirm the accuracy of your PII, you may be asked to provide proof of identity (or other authentication materials) together with a completed access request form. Access to PII cannot be provided by telephone.

If, upon review, you wish to deactivate your program profile, or update your PII, we will endeavor to do so in a timely manner. Occasionally, information that you request to be removed will be retained in certain files for a period of time in order to properly resolve disputes or to troubleshoot problems. In addition, some types of information may be stored indefinitely on "back up" systems or within log files due to technical constraints, or financial or legal requirements. Therefore, you should not always expect that all of your PII will be immediately or completely removed from our databases in response to your request.

SECURITY SAFEGUARDS:

TC recognizes the importance of information security, and is constantly reviewing and enhancing our technical, physical, and logical security rules and procedures. All TC owned web sites and servers have security measures in place to help protect your PII against loss, misuse, and alteration to the extent within our control. Although "guaranteed security" does not exist either on or off the Internet, we safeguard your information using both procedural and technical safeguards, including password controls, "firewalls" and the use of encryption where that is deemed appropriate.

ON-LINE TECHNOLOGIES:

As do most interactive websites, TC may use cookies, invisible pixels, and web beacons to obtain information about you while visiting our web sites. A cookie is a very small text file that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. It assigns the computer with a unique identifier, which in turn, becomes your identification card whenever you return to a TC web site.

Cookies are designed to save you time because they help us to provide you with a customized experience without you having to remind us of your preferences each time you return to our web pages. TC cookies are not designed to damage your files, nor can they read information from other files on your computer hard drive. Cookies can also help us provide you with a personalized on-line experience in the following ways:

  • they remember your user name and password for future visits so log-in is easier and faster
  • they ensure you are provided with the appropriate frames and content
  • they ensure you obtain all requested information
  • they help us deliver communications that are relevant and responsive to your interests and location

TC cookies are limited to our web sites only, and are not designed to follow you when traveling on the Internet after leaving TC owned web sites. We track the usage of our web sites in order to better meet your needs and to help make it easier for you to find information in the future. Please note that in addition to TC cookies, various third parties may also place cookies on your computer's hard drive. TC is not responsible for the presence or absence of third party cookies, or for the technological capabilities or practices employed by third parties in connection with third party cookies.

If you would prefer not to have the benefits of cookies, your Internet browser can be adjusted to treat cookies in different ways. Depending upon the type of browser you are using, you may be able to configure your browser so that: (i) you are prompted to accept or reject cookies on an individual basis or (ii) you may be able to prevent your browser from accepting any cookies at all. You should refer to the supplier or manufacturer of your web browser for specific details about cookie security. However, you should also understand that rejecting cookies might affect your ability to perform certain transactions on our web sites and our ability to recognize your browser from one visit to the next.

TC may also use invisible pixels, sometimes called web beacons, to count how many people visit certain web pages. Information collected from invisible pixels is used and reported in the aggregate and does not contain PII. TC may use this information to improve marketing programs and content.

LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES:

In order to further your web experience and TerraCycle’ s business , TC provides links to selected other web sites. TC is not responsible or liable for any content presented by or contained on any independent web site, including, but not limited to, any advertising claims or marketing practices. Please note that while TC will protect your information on TC owned and operated web sites, we cannot control and will not be responsible for the privacy policies of third party web sites, including web sites owned or controlled by independent franchisees, third party owners of hotel, resort, interval ownership, or residence properties that may use the name of a TC brand, or web sites not controlled or authorized by TC. Third party web sites that are accessed through links on our web sites have separate privacy and data collection practices, and security measures. We have no responsibility or liability for the practices, policies and security measures implemented by third parties on their web sites. We encourage you to contact them to ask questions about their privacy practices, policies and security measures before disclosing any PII. We recommend that you review the privacy statements and policies of linked web sites to understand how those web sites collect, use and store information.

MINORS:

TC does not seek to obtain nor does it wish to receive PII directly from minors; for this reason, when requesting PII, we seek to determine a respondent’s age. We cannot always determine the age of persons who access and use our web sites. If a minor (as defined by applicable law) provides us with his/her data without parental or guardian consent, we encourage the parent or guardian to contact us to have this information removed and to unsubscribe the minor from future TC marketing communications.

Additional Terms and Conditions applicable to the shipment of Medical and Lab Garments and Gloves

TerraCycle does not accept any item contaminated or potentially contaminated with biohazardous material. By agreeing to these Additional Terms & Conditions in Respect of Apparel Shipments, you hereby agree to ship only such apparel as conforms with the following provisions Any apparel shipped in contravention of these Terms may be rejected and subject to additional shipping and handling charges. In addition, your ability to make future shipments could be affected.

All apparel must be reviewed during de-gowning to ensure compliance, safety and proper disposal.

Step 1: Identifying Biological Contamination

  • Apparel that has the presence or the reasonably anticipated presence of blood or other potentially infectious materials (see, e.g., 29 CFR 1910.1030 (b)) is considered contaminated and may not be shipped to TerraCycle.
  • Apparel with liquid or semi-liquid blood or other potentially infectious materials; contaminated items that would release blood or other potentially infectious materials in a liquid or semi-liquid state if compressed; items that are caked with dried blood or other potentially infectious materials and are capable of releasing these materials during handling; pathological and microbiological wastes containing blood or other potentially infectious materials (see, e.g., 29 CFR 1910.1030 (b)) may not be shipped to TerraCycle.

Step 2: Identifying other contaminants

  • You may not ship garments with excessive amounts of other contaminants, which may include but are not limited to chemicals, potent compounds, flammable, acidic, poisonous, toxic or other hazardous materials.
  • Some garments with acceptable amounts of such hazardous materials may be shipped to TerraCycle (see, e.g., 49 CFR 172.101: hazardous materials special provisions and quantity limitations).
  • To identify the acceptable quantity for potential contaminants, refer to the MSDS sheet for each material (transportation section and/or hazard classification).
  • Refer to 49 CFR 172.101 (hazardous materials special provisions and quantity limitations)
  • For assistance in identifying quantity limitations or hazard classifications please contact TerraCycle.

Step 3: Identifying Acceptable Apparel

  • Apparel that does not have the presence of blood or other potentially infectious materials
  • Apparel that has not come in contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials
  • Apparels used in chemical labs (in accordance with limited quantity exemptions as defined in FR 49)
  • Garments used in manufacturing

EHS Coordinator: For more information on acceptable apparel and CFR regulations, contact us here.