Snack Wrappers Get UpCycled
Feeling guilty about that bag of potato chips or candy bar you just had for lunch? We’re not talking about calories here, but the waste made by non-recyclable packaging regularly generated while snacking.
To start making a dent in this waste stream, Frito-Lay (think Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos and Cheetos) and Mars (Snickers, Winterfresh, Altoids and Pedigree) are teaming up with TerraCycle to create new, “upcycled” products from their wrappers.
Chips N’ Dip
With Frito-Lay, TerraCycle will start a new recycling brigade set to collect used chip bags. These bags will become a host of products, from notebooks and folders to purses and backpacks. TerraCycle is also launching a new building product made from shredding the bags, which should launch in 2010.
Waste wrappers like these will be made into handy products by TerraCycle. Photo: Iconoclast.com
Initially, there will be 1,000 collection sites, and more are expected to be added during the year. The goal of the program is to engage at least 150,000 people and divert more than five million bags from landfills.
TerraCycle provides prepaid shipping containers, and for every chip bag your recycling brigade sends in, a 2-cent donation will be made to a charity.
Frito-Lay is also making efforts to reduce their waste by reducing the amount of plastic in their packaging by 10 percent, eliminating 12 million pounds of materials used to make the snack bags over the past five years.
The company also recently announced that in 2010, SunChips will be introducing a fully compostable bag made from plant-based, renewable material.
Pass the Chocolate… And Pet Food
Post-industrial waste is the name of the game with Mars, where TerraCycle will be upcycling their end-run, misprinted and damaged wrappers into products such as laptop sleeves, cell phone holders and tote bags. Mars, Incorporated’s five business segments – Chocolate, Petcare, Wrigley, Food and Drinks – will all participate in the program.
Mars will also sponsor TerraCycle recycling brigade programs, in which organizations can raise money by collecting used packaging from participating brands and sending it to TerraCycle.
“Our experience with companies similar to Mars shows it’s possible to reduce packaging waste through partnerships such as this by upwards of 3,000 tons a year,” says Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle.
TerraCycle distributes its products across the U.S. and plans to expand into Mexico, Brazil, Canada and the U.K. over the coming year. The company’s products are available in some of the biggest U.S. retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Target and Petco.
Trey Granger
posted on May 8th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I wonder if the wrappers have to be un-torn to send to TerraCycle. I’ve always been bad at opening candy bars or chip bags without getting a tear in the wrapper. Am I the only one who does this?
tim
posted on May 9th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Have you wondered that the number of chip bags/drink pouches/wrappers collected are in the millions and the products made ( and actually sold) are actually in the hundreds. What do you think happens to the other millions of waste material?
I have a feeling they go to the landfill….
Wesley Joseph
posted on May 9th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Trey, you’re not the only one who does that — even if you’re careful, they often end up ripped.
I participate in the cork recycling brigade with Terracycle and must say that they make it easy on you. They offer prepaid shipping labels for UPS. So you print the label, stick it on just about any box (within the size limits) and ship it off to them. Easy!
Tim C
posted on May 11th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
This is not up-cylcling, this is greenwashing. All this will eventually end up in the land fill. How about these companies do some real good by making their bags really upcyclable by not making their chip bags monstrous hybrids when they are first manufactured? This type of environmentalism is not a help and only perpetuates the perception held by most in main stream America that the green movement is a fringe joke. It’s also old school, now defunct environmentalism of reusing preserve jars for art projects, drinking glasses, and flower pots. Natural Capitalism and cradle to cradle concepts are what will make the biggest difference b/c they can be applied to every industry on a massive scale, not this nonsense.
Albe Zakes
posted on May 12th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Albe from TerraCycle here.Thanks to all for your wonderful comment and the Earth911 for being an incredible information source for everything green!
Trey – Send ‘em to us no matter torn or dirty. The most damaged wrappers we shred and then fuse making them a consistent thick material we’ll be using to bring products to market late this year or early 2010
Tim – Good point, that could be a potential problem! But we actually sell several million dollars worth of upcycled wrapper products every year. More like 10 of thousands of units, if not hundreds of thousands of units. However when we do have more material then we can use (which does happen!) we sort it, inventory it and start looking for other applications to use the material.
Tim C. – Thank you for your concern! We need consumers to question everything and you mention two incredible books/concepts. I’ll start at the top, don’t worry when a consumer is done with a TC product, they can return it to use through any of our recycling stations to be reused in a new facet (we add highly worn product into our new shred and fuse system!) In fact, Bill McDonough, the gentleman who coined the term Cradle-to-Cradle, has said publicly that our business model is one of the only true cradle-to-cradle models out there today.
As for corporations using recyclable or reusable packaging, I whole heartedly agree. However, there would need to be consumer demand, government regulation and corporate cooperation like NEVER before seen in modern American Society. More than one can realistically ask of a small start company, right? I too hope that one day the American Consumer decides to demand recyclable and re-usability instead of convenience, price and safety. But a lot will have to change. In the meantime, I know you don’t want the trillions of packages that WILL be produced and consumed this year to all go to landfill. I mean whether us environmentalists like it or not they will be produced, so we might as well find something to do with them, right?
Let us not make the perfect, the enemy of the good. Paul Hawken, the co-author of Natural Capitalism which you also appropriately referenced, also publicly supports TerraCycle and even wrote the forward to our founder and CEO’s new book. We at TerraCycle know we are not some magic solution or the ultimate eco-answer. But we also know we kept over 100 million wrappers out of landfill last years and donated almost 200,000 dollars to school and non-profits. We know, these solutions we offer are not perfect but we know these programs will keep 3,000 tons of candy wrappers and over 5 million chip bags out of landfill.
Thanks to all for your interest and comments and to talk further my email is my ‘first name’ @ terraycle.net
Vanessa
posted on June 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I’m apart of my high school’s environment group; I was wondering if you had any information on the whereabouts of a place near Livingston, MI that would have the bags. I understand that these would not be available at the moment, but when they are it would be nice to have those. And being able to advertise like that would allow for the school awareness to rise.
Thank you.
Organic Green Planet
posted on October 20th, 2009 at 11:32 am
This is such a great idea! It’s about time the major contributors to our landfill problems, teamed up with a company that is trying to change the way we dispose of trash. The products are fashionable and trendy. Love It!! Thanks TerraCycle for moving forward with an innovated way to save our planet.
Kashana Stewart
posted on November 15th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
how much money do you get for recyled frito bags