Recycle sauce packets with TerraCycle and Taco Bell®

Who are we?

TerraCycle is an international leader in innovative sustainability solutions, creating and operating first-of-their-kind platforms in recycling, recycled materials, and reuse. Across 21 countries, TerraCycle is on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste and develop practical solutions for today’s complex waste challenges.

How to register as a public drop-off point

  1. Update your TerraCycle profile with information about your drop-off point.
  2. Request to join the Taco Bell® Sauce Packet Free Recycling Program as a drop-off point. 
  3. Allow us to review your request. 
  4. Once approved, your location will be added to the public drop-off point map.
  5. Order attractive metal collection bins and stands for your franchise. TerraCycle has provided special pricing for franchisees. 

For more information, use our form.

How it works: Mail back program

  1. Collect any brand of empty sauce packet.
  2. Drop them off at a participating Taco Bell® or ship them to TerraCycle using the pre-paid shipping label. 
  3. We’ll recycle them into new products!

Other ways your Taco Bell franchise can get involved:

  • Sign up to recycle, either through our mail back program or for the community on the Taco Bell public drop-off locations map. 
  • Contact your TerraCycle representative for our catalog of recycled products and in-store collection bins that can be used to generate PR and connect to the community near your restaurants. 
  • Keep an eye out for our four loyalty promotions each year on the Taco Bell app and let consumers know they can earn Taco Bell Rewards points for recycling during promotional periods.
  • Spread the word in-store by displaying materials like the Accepted Waste poster for the program.
  • For more information, please contact your TerraCycle liaison: Missy Schaaphok, Director of Global Nutrition & Sustainability 

Taco Bell Franchise owner in New Jersey collected sauce packets in Taco Bell restaurants and across local businesses. These packets were then incorporated into picnic tables made from recycled plastic that were donated to the community.

How do we recycle empty sauce packets?

When empty sauce packets are sent to TerraCycle, they go to one of our local TerraCycle Material Recovery Facilities, where we check them in to record shipment information, date, and weight. Then, we sort and clean them so they can be processed into usable forms like pellets, flakes, or powder. 

Once processed, the resulting raw materials are used to create new items! This creates the opportunity to make products like picnic tables, Adirondack chairs, garbage bins, and more—all from the sauce packets you helped recycle!

What happens to the recycled material?

After we recycle the empty sauce packets into raw material, it’s sold to manufacturing companies who 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!


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.

Start recycling with us →