What is Terracycle?

Exciting news, waste-haters and recycle warriors: our Terracycle recycling trolleys (aka Radical Human-Powered Planet-Saving Resource Recovery Devices) are coming back!

As we emerge from the pandemic lockdown, the Woodend Library and Neighbourhood House are slowly re-opening to the public. This means that you will be able to start dropping off your recycling again. Lancefield Neighbourhood House is also opening up a Terracycle collection point outside the House, and we hope to have a Terracycle Trolley operating in Kyneton in the next few months.

Side Note: if you have 3 months’ worth of mouldy coffee pods, please contact us and we will arrange a special collection. Nobody wants smelly pods dumped next to the trolley, thanks!

But what IS Terracycle, anyway? We thought it was about time that we explained why the Waste Action Group signed up to be part of this scheme.

Essentially, Terracycle is a recycler, collecting waste and selling it on to buyers in the international marketplace. Recycling is a form of commodity trading. What makes Terracycle different are a few key points:

1.     Their mission is to eliminate the idea of waste. Terracycle’s vision is a world where manufacturing is circular - stuff is made out of materials that can be used, and then remade back into stuff that can be used again. Terracycle takes hard-to-recycle materials, gathers them on a massive scale thanks to community collection programs and finds or creates a market for them to be reused.

2.     Terracycle partners with corporations that pay to recycle their otherwise non-recyclable goods. So Colgate pays for the dental recycling scheme, even though all brands of toothpaste and toothbrushes are accepted through this scheme. In this way, corporations are being given an opportunity to understand the true cost of producing single-use items, and are invited to be part of the solution. Other companies partner with Terracycle to purchase the recycled material and turn it into useful items.

3.     Terracycle takes recycling to a grassroots level through its Community Collection Hubs, where people’s recycling habits become part of the community conversation. We know when we properly sort our household waste we create better environmental outcomes by reducing landfill, generating higher quality recycling and reducing contamination, and now with FOGO we can also reduce our methane emissions. Terracycle takes sorting to the next level, which in turn helps people reduce their waste even further. Plus, it gives us a sense of connection and purpose as we make these improvements collectively.

4.     In 2021, Terracycle is introducing Loop: the longed-for Holy Grail of circular systems. Loop is a refillable container system for supermarkets. We will be able to use refillable containers to purchase select items from shampoo to ice cream - items which are typically encased in plastic. The scheme will only be available through Woolworths at this stage.

5.     Lastly, Terracycle rewards community involvement through a points scheme. For every kilo of waste returned to Terracycle, groups earn Terracycle Points which are turned into a cash donation to the non-profit of their choice. Any not-for-profit can be registered to receive donations through the scheme.

So far, the Waste Action Group has earned a whopping $59 through Terracycle. Perhaps not much to shout about, but now the fabulous Waste Action Terracycle Trolleys are back in action we expect this to increase over the coming months. 

So, where should our first $100 earned through community recycling go? Send us your ideas: waste@mrsg.org.au