For many countries, recycling performance remains poor. Last year, household recycling rates in England fell for the first time – but since 2012, there has been little progress, with rates hovering around the 44% mark.
Most of Europe and the US aren’t faring much better. In 2014, the average recycling rate across the European Economic Area was 33%. Meanwhile, in the US only about a third of waste was recycled between 2010 and 2014, according to the latest data.
“There are different reasons why recycling rates are not really increasing in a good way,” says TerraCycle’s general manager Laure Cucuron. “I think most people feel a bit disconnected from the benefits of recycling.”
Research suggests British consumers are still confused about what household waste they can recycle, especially when it comes to packaging such as coffee cups and plastic film.
An absence of social pressure could also be a contributory factor. For example, one US study found that less than one in three Americans felt recycling was strongly encouraged within their local community, while a fifth said most people in their community didn’t encourage it.
Since 2001, TerraCycle has been working hard to change this. The company is built around the vision of its founder, Tom Szaky, who maintains that almost anything can be recycled – it’s just about finding a solution. TerraCycle targets materials for which no collection systems exist, or which are typically hard to recycle, and repurposes them – through reuse or upcycling, if possible – into new products such as shoes, backpacks and toys.
Most of its schemes, which run across 24 countries, are funded by brands such as Right Guard, Febreze and Tassimo, who are keen to demonstrate product stewardship for the consumer goods they sell. By voluntarily engaging in what’s known as extended producer responsibility (EPR), these brands can effect change on a large scale, says Cucuron.
“These brands interact with so many consumers, they are part of our daily lives,” she says. “They can act as a good transmitter for positive messaging and create better awareness around recycling.”
Community-oriented EPR schemes can be particularly powerful. In 2016 AkzoNobel’s paint reuse scheme with Community RePaint redistributed more than 332,000 litres of paint to individuals, families and communities in need, providing jobs and training opportunities. Earlier this year, a baby clothing redistribution campaign by Mothercare and environmental charity Hubbub enabled parents to give 200,000 high-quality items to families that needed them most.
“Our experience indicates that people are more likely to engage with recycling campaigns if there is social benefit, particularly if that benefit is local and tangible,” says Trewin Restorick, CEO of Hubbub.
He believes that demonstrating how recycling can deliver social value will directly increase recycling rates. “This can be achieved if people see that the recycled products are benefiting the local community or if funding generated from recycling is reinvested locally,” he adds.
Cucuron agrees, and points to TerraCycle’s work with chemical and consumer goods company Henkel as a case in point. Three of Henkel’s brands – Right Guard, Loctite (adhesives) and Fa (personal care products) – are working with TerraCycle to repurpose used packaging in enterprising ways, while engaging hearts and minds in the process.
In the UK, over 2,500 used Right Guard deodorant and anti-perspirant aerosol cans have been collected and transformed into an outdoor gym in London’s Queen Elizabeth Park, the 2012 Olympics site.
“The Right Guard programme is a concrete example to showcase what we can do with waste in terms of making it into something useful for the community,” says Cucuron. “The gym encourages social interaction between people, which is very positive.”
The gym claims to be the first in the UK made from recycled materials, but from the start the project was about more than just recycling, says Henkel’s UK beauty care marketing manager, Antonia Kerschbaumer: “We wanted the gym to provide a legacy for a deserving local community; it encourages activity and fitness, and can be accessed for free by everyone.”
According to Henkel’s head of sustainability management, Uwe Bergmann, teaming up with TerraCycle offered Right Guard the opportunity to do something with aerosol packaging that wouldn’t have been possible via standard recycling routes.
“The project was a good way to engage consumers. By collecting cans, they had the opportunity to increase their understanding of the life cycle of the products they use – backed up by a a strong social purpose with a specific benefit for the community,” he says.
In Austria, Fa has partnered with TerraCycle and a national pharmacy chain to collect 8,000 empty shampoo and bodywash plastic containers, which have been recycled and used to make a slide for a children’s playground, donated to and installed at an Austrian SOS Children’s Village.
In the US, Loctite red adhesive bottles are returned by businesses to TerraCycle where they are thermally treated and turned into park benches, watering cans and paving stones.
Historically, it has been difficult to recycle adhesive packaging, due to the residue that remains stuck to the inside of the bottles – but TerraCycle and Loctite worked together to develop a solution that involves cryogenically or thermally treating the bottle and residue to deactivate the adhesive. Bergmann says Loctite is the first adhesives brand to offer this type of recycling solution and is looking to extend this to other product categories, such as super glue.
Although the Loctite project is less consumer-facing, it still offers a strong platform for employee engagement on recycling, says Cucuron. She adds that these types of schemes are about showing people they can make a difference with very quick, simple gestures.
“It’s a way to make the world of recycling more interesting and appealing for people. Currently that world is quite dark,” she says. “The location of the bin is probably a space where you spend the least amount of time … it’s about changing that perception.”
