Innovation

Inventing new ways to recycle the unrecyclable

What makes something municipally recyclable typically depends on whether your local recycling company can make a profit recycling it. (They compare the costs of collecting and processing the waste to the value of what the recycled material can be sold for.) TerraCycle can recycle “unrecyclables” like juice pouches, cigarette butts, and beauty products because we’ve developed innovative models in which brands, retailers, and other stakeholders fund the cost of recycling. Learn how to recycle the unrecyclable with us.

Creating proprietary recycling processes

Our in-house scientists and material application specialists make up our research and development (R&D) team. They analyze materials and determine how to recycle them by creating processes for breaking down trash and recycling those materials for use in new applications.

We’ve created processes for recycling hundreds of hard-to-recycle waste streams! See our recycling processes in action.

We can recycle virtually anything

Introducing new ways to recycle

We’ve created first-of-their-kind platforms to help put recycling the hard-to-recycle within reach.
Curbside

Curbside

We now offer curbside pickup, in partnership with leading waste management companies, of the hard-to-recycle items your local recycling service doesn’t accept. Recycle plastic packaging, coffee capsules, shoes, Styrofoam™, and more from your doorstep.

Learn about TerraCycle Zero Waste Bag
TerraCycle public drop-off points

TerraCycle public drop-off points

TerraCyclers all around the globe have started drop-off locations where people can drop off their trash to be recycled through TerraCycle.

Find a public drop-off point
InPost drop-off (UK)

InPost drop-off (UK)

In the UK, TerraCyclers can drop off their full Zero Waste Bags at one of InPost’s 5,000+ lockers that are open 24/7.

Learn about Zero Waste Bag UK
Mail-in (free)

Mail-in (free)

We partner with brands so you can mail in their product or packaging for recycling—completely free.

Browse free recycling programs
Mail-in (paid)

Mail-in (paid)

You can recycle almost any type of trash, from coffee capsules to complex beauty waste, with our Zero Waste Boxes. The price reflects production, shipping, and the actual cost of recycling the box and its contents. Our shipping meets carbon-neutral standards, and Zero Waste Boxes are made using Sustainable Forestry Initiative-certified paper.

Shop Zero Waste Boxes

In-store drop-off

Many brands have partnered with us to offer recycling at store locations. Click on the titles below to see examples.




Walmart and Sam’s Club (USA)

The world’s first Community Recycling Hub!

Carrefour (France)

Accepts 6 hard-to-recycle waste streams. The first Community Recycling Hub in Europe!

The Warehouse Group (New Zealand)

Accepts 10 hard-to-recycle waste streams.

Recycling for remote locations

TerraCycle is sometimes the only option for recycling in remote locations. We have TerraCyclers all around the world, from Tabatinga city in the Amazonas state of Brazil to Flinders Island off the coast of Tasmania.

Developing recycling technology

Making new products from trash

Making new products from trash

We also help companies make their products and packaging from trash. We develop and manage custom supply chains that help companies create direct closed-loop products (e.g., a shampoo sachet recycled into a new sachet), indirect closed-loop products (like sponges recycled into store shelves), and even storied materials—new products made from ocean plastic, or waste from the top of Mt. Everest. We also make our own line of products from trash recycled with our TerraCyclers: TerraCycle Made.

Shop TerraCycle Made


Learn more about what we do with waste.
Learn more
Leading the reuse movement

Leading the reuse movement

Today, 85% of all single-use packaging ends up in landfills, incinerated, or littered. How do we maintain the convenience and affordability of single-use without the waste?

Meet

Loop

Loop is a global platform that makes reuse convenient and accessible. Together with brands, retailers, and manufacturers, Loop enables reusable and returnable versions of conventional single-use products.

Learn more about reuse

Finding health insights in waste

TerraCycle Discovery

TerraCycle Discovery

TerraCycle’s new Discovery division provides health and wellness insights through waste, leveraging the key insight that certain waste streams carry diagnosable materials, like allergen and mold/mildew particulate on an air filter, or blood on a feminine hygiene product.
tiniest Biome™

tiniest Biome™

In 2023, we launched tiniest Biome, a service that provides a snapshot of a baby’s health using samples from just one dirty diaper. Using a test kit, parents can learn about their baby’s tummy microbiome, get personalized recipes and activities, and support healthy development.


Learn about all we recycle—from makeup products to toys to wetsuits—and how it comes to life.
Learn about recycling with us