There are three elements that make up any object: its composition, form, and purpose.
Take a water bottle. Its composition is plastic, its form is a molded bottle, and its purpose is to hold a cold beverage.
Once a bottle has fulfilled its purpose, it’s often thrown out (or, even worse, littered). This is bad for our planet as the valuable aspects of that item have been wasted.
According to the Waste Hierarchy, a model that demonstrates the preferred order of options for managing waste, disposal should be the last resort. Unfortunately, it’s the main way our society deals with waste today. TerraCycle is working to change that.
Reuse: Values composition, form, and purpose
To enable reuse, we launched Loop, the world’s first global reuse platform.
Upcycling: Values composition and form
We create upcycled products and art to show the possibilities of waste.
TerraCycle’s models seek to value as much of an object as possible (which is also better for the planet).
Recycling: Values the composition
Our recycling models have been found to be 45 percent better for the Earth than traditional waste disposal.
Energy recovery (waste to energy): Values the energy
Waste-to-energy only values the embodied energy in the material, which is usually nominal. At TerraCycle, we never use incineration as an end-of-life solution for anything that we guarantee will be recycled.
Littering/Disposal Values nothing
Disposal doesn’t value any element of an object. That’s why we work to provide options for recycling, upcycling, and reuse. We also combat litter through the TerraCycle Global Foundation.
Prevention is at the top of the Waste Hierarchy. The best way to deal with waste? Buy less.
After we recycle the trash we collect into raw materials, manufacturing companies produce the end product and complete the recycling journey by making products like these.
We've partnered with brands and retailers to collect trash and turn it into products that benefit communities, like playgrounds and gardens.
We turn recycled content into a wide range of consumer goods, from items on the shelves at Walmart to TerraCycle Made, our own line of products.
We help brands create circular products by recycling items back into themselves or into similar applications.
TerraCycle launched Loop, a global platform for reuse, which enables manufacturers to produce their products in reusable prefilled packages and sell them at major retailers.
Learn more about reuse at TerraCycle