Discover our recycling process
Recycle the unrecyclable with TerraCycle
TerraCycle is different from your local curbside recycler. We develop recycling solutions for items your local recycling service typically won't accept.
What makes something locally recyclable depends on whether your local recycling company can make a profit recycling it. If the cost of collecting and processing the waste is lower than the value of the resulting raw material, it will likely be locally recyclable. If the costs are higher, then it likely won’t be.
The good news is that most trash can be technically recycled.
Our in-house scientists determine the right processes to recycle hard-to-recycle products and packages into materials that manufacturers use to make new products. TerraCycle can recycle the unrecyclable because we work with brands, retailers, and other stakeholders who fund the recycling process.
Learn more about how TerraCycle is working to eliminate the idea of waste.
Research & development
Our process starts with our R&D and Recycling Operations department—in-house scientists and material application specialists who analyze the products and packages to develop the right way to process and recycle the materials into something new.
Regulatory review
TerraCycle completes an extensive assessment of the materials we are planning to receive and recycle.
Regulatory: We review local, regional, and national regulations to confirm how each item in the accepted waste list can be safely collected, shipped, and/or stored in each market.
Technical recyclability: We assess the material composition to determine how the material needs to be sorted, processed, and converted into usable raw material for recycled product manufacturing.
Practical recyclability: We layer on real-world factors (like contamination levels or vendor/equipment limitations) to confirm that we have a viable supply chain to recycle.
Receipt & check-in
We receive all waste at our TerraCycle Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). When a waste shipment arrives at one of our MRFs, we scan it to record the shipment information, including the date, weight, and material it contains. Shipments are manually inspected to sort out non-compliant waste. Compliant waste is aggregated so it can be efficiently sent to our processing partners. Over 95% of the waste we collect globally is processed in the region where it’s been collected, and 98.3% of all materials received are recycled, which accounts for all compliant waste.
We strictly control the movement of materials through each part of the recycling process to maintain a recycling chain of custody. This allows us to track and confirm where materials were sent and why. Learn more about our tracking and third-party accreditation.
Sortation & aggregation
We sort materials based on their characteristics and composition, using a wide variety of sorting technologies in order to route material downstream for proper processing and handling. Depending on the product and material type, this can include, but is not limited to:
Manual sortation: Trained workers separate and categorize materials.
Size separation: Waste is fed into a machine with multiple screens of different sizes.
Sink/float separation: Items of different densities will either sink or float in water, ready to be extracted.
Optical separation: Waste passes under an infrared sensor, which records the light waves that bounce off each item and determines their composition. Items are then sorted with compressed air.
Air density separation: Fans create a column of air in which low-density items are blown out, and high-density items fall.
Magnetic separation: Magnets separate “ferrous” metals, like steel, from other materials.
Incineration, or any other form of converting waste to energy, is not recycling and is avoided. We only use waste-to-energy for the small percentage of material that we receive that is non-compliant (such as materials that the program is not intended to collect) or materials legally required to be processed in this manner (e.g., medical waste), and we make every effort to recycle non-compliant materials that could be accepted in other programs.
Processing
Metals are shredded and smelted into metal sheeting, ingots, or bar stock. Glass is crushed and melted to be used in new glass bottles (if clear) or brick, cement, or concrete applications. Rubber is reduced into a powdered state for flooring applications. Organics are composted or used in industrial and commercial fertilizers. Click here to learn more about how we recycle the unrecyclable.
Plastics are the largest category of material we collect through our programs are sorted by type, then melted and reformatted into pellets, flakes, or a powder format that manufacturers use to make new products. Click here to see our process in action and to learn more about recycling beauty waste.
What happens to the recycled material?
After we recycle the waste into raw materials, it’s sold to manufacturing companies that produce the end product and complete the recycling journey. These end products may include outdoor furniture and decking, plastic shipping pallets, watering cans, storage containers and bins, tubes for construction applications, flooring tiles, playground surface covers, athletic fields, and more!
Examples vary by region.
Take a closer look
Curious how it all comes together? Take a behind-the-scenes tour of one of our facilities to see how we turn hard-to-recycle items into something new. From check-in to processing, it’s all part of our mission to eliminate the idea of waste.