TerraCycle curbside recycling for hard-to-recycle trash

Become a Zero Waste Bag reseller - click here

Recycle what you couldn't before—right from your doorstep!

With Zero Waste Bags, you can recycle 20+ hard-to-recycle waste streams not typically recycled by your local recycling service. Keep coffee capsules, Styrofoam®, all types of plastic packaging, and so much more out of landfills and incinerators.

How it works

Order

Select the Zero Waste Bag that accepts the waste that you wish to recycle.

Collect

Fill your Zero Waste Bag with the items for recycling and seal it when full.

Pickup

Place the full Zero Waste Bags at your doorstep to be collected by your service.

Recycle

The Zero Waste Bags are returned to TerraCycle and the bag and contents are recycled.

See Zero Waste Bags in Action

How can I purchase Zero Waste Bags?

TerraCycle works with innovative businesses, like compost pickup companies across the US to offer Zero Waste Bags. Purchase them directly from a participating local reseller. Full bags are picked up from your doorstep and returned to TerraCycle for recycling. Are you interested in offering Zero Waste Bags to your customers? - click here.

Color-coded map of the United States in varying shades of green.

Find Zero Waste Bags near me

Search by zip code to find a business that offers Zero Waste Bags in your area.

Want to speed up the process? Tell your local pickup business, like your compost company to partner with us!
In the meantime, you can #RecycleEverything with our mail-in solution, Zero Waste Box™.

Various hard-to-recycle items like cosmetics, food wrappers, and plastic packaging scattered around purple Zero Waste Bags, illustrating TerraCycle's recycling solutions.

TerraCycle is different from your local recycling service

We develop recycling solutions for waste streams that are not typically locally recyclable.

What makes something locally recyclable depends on whether your local recycling company can make a profit recycling it. If the cost of collecting and processing the waste is lower than the value of the resulting raw material, it will likely be locally recyclable. If the costs are higher, then it likely won’t be.

The good news is that most trash can technically be recycled, and TerraCycle has solutions for you!

TerraCycle can recycle the hard-to-recycle because we work with brands, retailers, and other stakeholders who fund the recycling process.

Learn more

How we recycle hard-to-recycle waste streams

We've created first-of-their-kind recycling solutions for hundreds of types of hard-to-recycle trash, from snack wrappers to coffee capsules to beauty products and so much more.

Flexible plastic packaging

Flexible plastics are fused together to create larger, heavier pieces through various densification processes. The densified materials are then mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Beauty waste

Materials are shredded and washed. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. Glass is removed and used in aggregate-based products. Plastics are sorted by material type and then mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Coffee capsules

Capsules are opened and coffee grounds and capsules are sorted by density. The coffee grounds are composted, and the remaining materials are cleaned. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. The clean plastics are sorted by material and mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Toys

All materials are size-reduced through shredding. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. Plastics are cleaned, sorted, and mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends. Sorted papers are pulped and used for secondary corrugated and paper manufacturing applications.

Cigarette butts

The butts are shredded, compounded, and densified. The densified materials are then mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Clothing & other textiles

Textiles are separated by fabric type, shredded, and recycled into raw material. Natural fiber textiles like cotton are turned into "shoddy," or insulation. Fully synthetic fiber textiles are mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends. Textiles that are made of mixed fibers are used as filler for products such as mattresses, pet bedding, and sports equipment. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing.

Food & drink pouches

Materials are shredded or densified and, if necessary, cleaned to remove residual product or other contaminants. Clean plastics are mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Water filters

Materials are size reduced, and the carbon filter media is sorted. Carbon is then reused as a colorant, for example. Shredded plastics are cleaned to remove residual carbon or other contaminants. Clean, sorted plastics are then mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Office supplies & writing instruments

PPE (personal protective equipment)

If necessary, waste is first quarantined. Then, all materials are shredded. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. Plastics are cleaned, sorted, and mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Oral care packaging

All materials are shredded. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. Plastics are cleaned, sorted, and mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends. Sorted papers are pulped and used for secondary corrugated and paper manufacturing applications.

Pet food packaging

Materials are shredded or densified and, if necessary, cleaned to remove residual product or other contaminants. Clean, sorted plastics are mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Home care products & packaging

All materials are shredded. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. Clean, sorted plastics are mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends. Sorted papers are pulped and used for secondary corrugated and paper manufacturing applications.

Plastic bottle caps

Materials are shredded and then cleaned to remove residual product or other contaminants. Clean plastics are sorted by material type and then mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Styrofoam™

Materials are heated to remove inert gases. Then they are shredded and cleaned to remove residual product or other contaminants. The material is mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Corks

The synthetic corks are size-reduced and mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Eyewear

Materials are shredded. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. Plastics are sorted by material type and then mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Wires & cords

All materials are shredded. Metals are sorted, smelted, and formed for use in secondary metals manufacturing. Clean, sorted plastics are mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Ink & toner cartridges

When possible, cartridges are cleaned and refilled. Otherwise, they’re recycled. When recycled, the cartridges are shredded and cleaned. Clean, sorted plastics are mixed with other plastics to make recycled plastic blends.

Offer Zero Waste Bags to your customers

Compost companies—and any other business that offers in-home or pickup services—, make your business more profitable and even greener. By becoming a Zero Waste Bag reseller, you can help your customers recycle hard-to-recycle waste streams that they can't recycle curbside and increase your earning potential at the same time.

It’s an easy add-on to your regular pickups, and we’ll provide everything you need to get started, including templated marketing assets to promote your new service to your customers. Do more for the planet and your bottom line with Zero Waste Bags.

TerraCycle Zero Waste Bag reseller success stories

CompostNow

CompostNow was founded in 2011 in Raleigh, North Carolina, to reduce food waste and create nutrient-rich compost for their community. They started working with Zero Waste Bag to offer their environmentally-conscious customers another way to reduce waste. Seeing this success in Asheville, CompostNow has expanded the offering into its Charleston market.

Blue Earth Compost

Blue Earth Compost is a family-owned small business in Hartford, Connecticut. Their mission is to change the way that people think about waste, making them a perfect Zero Waste Bag reseller. Blue Earth Compost’s community quickly showed interest in recycling the hard-to-recycle through Zero Waste Bag. The company placed three orders within four months to keep up with demand.

TerraCycle

TerraCycle launched a subscription service for Zero Waste Bag, offering doorstep pickup for over 20 hard-to-recycle waste streams. Over one year, the program saw a 76% returning customer rate, with an average order value of over $100 and a 49% sell-through rate. On average, each household diverted approximately 70 pounds of hard-to-recycle materials from landfills.

Dirt Wain

Dirt Wain started out with a homemade bike cart and a dream of making their community in Indiana cleaner and healthier. Today they serve more than 10 municipalities. “Our customers are overjoyed to have the ability to recycle items that our municipal service can’t,” says Brett Bloom, founder of Dirt Wain. “Partnering with Zero Waste Bag amplifies our existing pickup routes. It takes an existing resource we have built and layers on its power to do good work.”