“We definitely see an interest from people wanting to recycle beyond what they can do curbside,” says TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky. “Now, new and existing Staples consumers have this resource that allows them to step up their environmental game.”

Zero Waste Boxes are labeled in different ways. There are boxes for different waste categories (coffee capsules, batteries, action figures, for example) or rooms (kitchen waste, bathroom waste). The special B2B box being marketed to offices and manufacturing facilities to encourage employees to recycle commonly used items, such as ear plugs and hair nets.

There is even a ‘premium’ box, in which consumers can collect everything they want to recycle—no separation necessary.

The filled boxes are simply mailed to TerraCycle with the prepaid shipping label. The purchase price of the box includes shipping back to TerraCycle and the processing of the waste. TerraCycle will turn the waste into a plastic that can be recycled into benches, bicycle racks, watering cans and more.

“We are always looking for ways to offer our customers products that enhance their lifestyle,” says Mark Buckley, Vice President of Environmental Affairs. “With so many people paying attention to their environmental impact, they will have an easy way to reduce it through purchasing TerraCycle Zero Waste Boxes from our website.”

Globally, TerraCycle has repurposed more than 2.5 billion pieces of food and beverage waste, office and school supply waste, e-waste and other hard to recycle items such as discarded cigarette filters. These collections have helped raise more than $7 million for US charities and schools through various packaging reclamation programs.
 
As Tom Szaky put it, “We want to eliminate the whole concept of waste and this program brings us one step closer, helping people to understand the value in what they would normally throw in the garbage.”