Does TerraCycle Really Recycle Everything?
Does TerraCycle Really Recycle Everything?
If you read this blog regularly, you know that when there are no other options for recycling an item through the usual municipal waste channels or via drop-off locations, there is often one last option, and that is TerraCycle. You can send them many types of packaging and materials that are usually not recyclable elsewhere. But now there is a lawsuit that is asking the question, does TerraCycle really recycle all the products they receive?
Terracycle and its manufacturing partners (Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Gerber, L’Oreal and more) just recently settled this lawsuit, read on for details on the outcome.
How does TerraCycle work?
TerraCycle offers a variety of waste boxes and pouches that individuals, businesses, schools and organizations can order for collecting hard-to-recycle items like drink pouches, pens and markers, contact lenses, cosmetics bottles and so on. Some of these boxes are free if sponsored by a company that is willing to pay for the service. Other boxes have to be purchased, and they aren’t cheap.
Recycling most of these materials is costly, especially if they are composed of multiple materials like plastic lined with metal, or sometimes there is paper, metal and several types of plastic all used on one package. So if the manufacturer isn’t paying for it, you will have to.
Even the programs that are sponsored by a company like Bic have limitations on the total number of participants allowed. And once that limit is reached, you have to go on a waiting list or purchase one of the costly non-sponsored TerraCycle boxes.
What was this Terracycle lawsuit about?
If you have used or considered using TerraCycle’s services, you have probably wondered to yourself, “How do I know that TerraCycle is really recycling this stuff?” Without working there yourself and seeing what happens to the materials they collect, it’s hard to know.
However, under California law and the FTC Green Guides, companies are required to maintain records proving the validity of any environmental claims they make. So an organization called The Last Beach Cleanup filed a lawsuit asking TerraCycle and their partner companies to provide proof showing where the materials go and how they are recycled. They alleged that TerraCycle is simply helping companies “greenwash” their products by making it appear that they are doing something to offer recycling options to people, but not actually recycling the products and/or making the availability of those recycling services too scarce to be reasonably available to most people.
Outcome of the TerraCycle lawsuit
The lawsuit was set to go to court in December, however the parties settled out of court and agreed to the following:
- Participating companies will notify consumers when there is a limitation on how much product can be recycled, for instance by including the phrase, “limited availability” on the recycling label.
- Participating companies will no longer use the phrase “100% recyclable” on their labeling.
- Beginning next year, TerraCycle will use a third party company to audit their waste recovery and recycling, with the first report being due by 2023.
For more details on this lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal summarized the outcome of this case.
So should you use TerraCycle?
The mission of TerraCycle is essentially a good one – to recycle much more of our current waste stream and divert packaging from landfills and incineration. And it seems like we will be able to have some more assurance in future that materials sent to them are in fact being recycled. But recycling mail-in programs are inherently inefficient. The emissions created by shipping those boxes back and forth might outweigh the benefit of recycling the items, especially if your box has to travel a long distance. Smaller boxes and pouches will also be less efficient than one large one.
My biggest concern is if use services like these to make ourselves feel like recycling is the be-all-end-all answer and we don’t need to do any further waste reduction. For example, you could get a TerraCycle box to recycle those plastic Keurig coffee pods, but a much better solution would be to either use reusable/refillable pods or just brew coffee the old-fashioned way.
OMG, why is recycling so difficult???
I’m sorry, did I yell that? It’s just extremely frustrating. The whole concept of taking each different item to a different location for recycling is already so frickin’ complicated. I have my curbside recyclables, then I also have boxes and bins in the basement to collect #5 plastic tubs, batteries, beer can holders, miscellaneous metals, cosmetics tubes, plastic bags and more. These are the kinds of things that make me grumpy, especially if I can’t even be sure that the items are actually being recycled.
Recycling has been sold to the public as a solution to our waste problems, when it really isn’t, at least when it comes to plastic. Check out this summary of the documentary The Story of Plastic for a better understanding of why plastic recycling in particular is so screwed up.
Better Solutions
Manufacturers should be figuring out ways to make products from materials that are easily recyclable curbside rather than forcing the consumer to try to figure out how to recycle them and where to take them.
Even better, corporations need to find ways to package their products in materials made from plastic alternatives and reusable packaging, because plastics simply aren’t sustainable in any form. Corporations need to be held responsible for dealing with the waste that they create. More states enacting bottle bills would also be an important step. And we as consumers need to look for products made from recycled materials and seek ways to reduce our use of disposables.
Many more recycling articles can be found on the Recycling Page.
[This article originally posted on Oct. 2, 2021, updated Nov. 21, 2021.]
Hi,
Thanks for this article. I use a TerraCycle box in the UK, it is expensive but I just can’t bear to throw away any plastic.
Now, I’m concerned about TerraCycle green washing. I really hope this isn’t the case and they are recycling as they promise.
And, you’re right, why is it SO difficult to recycle….
Hi Susan, I also hope that the lawsuit is wrong and that TerraCycle is on the level. I am reserving judgement until there is more information. This is the problem with all the various drop-off and mailback programs though. It’s really difficult to know for certain what actually happens to the materials.
So what your saying in your latest article is Terracycle are going to be held accountable concerning where and how the plastic is being recycled? I agree with you, it’s the corporations that need to be held responsible for the plastic waste they create, not us.
That’s my understanding, is that they will be audited by an independent organization to show what is being done with the materials they collect, and they will be required to show that they are actually recycling the items.
This is a wonderful article (despite the grumpy topic)! Keep up the great work, friend!
Thanks Maureen!
I do a lot of collecting for Terracycle in the UK, but I collect from friends and neighbours and then post to official registered TC collectors, who then post on to TC. I often worry if the shipping outweighs the recycling benefit but I try to send to my most nearby collectors, Of course there are different people collecting for different programmes, so I’m usually sending to 4 or 5 different people / organisations all the time. Sometimes it turns out that the collectors are no longer actually taking waste any more, but because they still remain listed on the TC website maps as local collectors they keep receiving stuff, and who knows what happens to it. All we can do is try our best! Anything to stop all this waste going into the ground – why IS it so hard?!
I’ve noticed that TerraCycle seems to have a large presence in the UK. I am curious where you ship your materials? I guess I assumed that all the boxes go to the TerraCycle headquarters, but do yours go somewhere more local? If you have to ship overseas, I think the energy expenditure would definitely outweigh the benefits. Even local shipments have issues. Last Beach Cleanup does an analysis of the environmental impacts of mail back programs and it’s not positive, but I am not well versed enough in how to do life cycle analysis calculations to know how accurate it is: https://www.lastbeachcleanup.org/_files/ugd/dba7d7_f186aca8c80642f885125557f427ecde.pdf
Amen! Do not buy the coffee pods in the first place. It’s the old analogy about rescuing the kittens floating down the river versus spending your energy going up the river to stop the person who’s throwing the kittens into the river in the first place. Why is recycling so difficult? Because every, single, SOLITARY morsel of food we consume these days is encased in plastic. Every little bite! And we have learned to worship at the altar of convenience. Until we (meaning every BODY, or at least most, enough to make a difference) look at it all and say “No! This STINKS! We’re wrecking the place and I’m no longer going to participate. I’m changing how I do my little daily affairs,” we’ll have what we have. The current state of things causes a lot of sadness, at least in me it does.
Coffee pods are ridiculous. How lazy have we gotten that making coffee the regular way is “too much work”? The ones for tea are even more ridiculous. You can’t throw a tea bag into some hot water……really?