Recycling is a pretty new process in the United States; televisions became mainstream in American households before recycling. For decades, cardboard, paper, metals, and glass were the only materials that could truly be recycled on a large scale. However, with the tsunami of plastics and mixed materials in recent years, industries have had to become more innovative to find solutions for new kinds of waste. 

Typically, mixed materials like Capri Sun pouches or potato chip bags that combine plastic with metal have been unrecyclable; the plastic and metal are too difficult to separate and are generally considered trash. Companies like Terracycle are changing this, though. Terracycle specializes in recycling mixed materials and hard-to-recycle products, making it possible for Recycle Utah to collect everything from toothbrushes to snack wrappers.

Certain companies, like Colgate or GoGosqueeZ, sponsor product recycling, allowing Terracycle to offer free send-back programs for select materials. But what really happens when these products get recycled? 

All items get sent directly to Terracycle recycling facilities. Contamination–material that is not accepted for recycling–is sorted out and removed from the material stream.  Material is then sorted manually or with a variety of processes, including fans, magnets, or infrared sensors, into different categories of waste based on composition. From here, metals get melted, glass gets crushed into cullet, and plastics get shredded and melted into pellets or flakes. These materials are then ready to be sold to manufacturing companies and turned into new products. The materials accepted through Terracycle can have a second life as park benches, bricks, watering cans, athletic fields, and so much more.

Terracycle recycles 98.3% of accepted material that enters their facility, and is regularly audited by third parties. They do not send any accepted material to incineration or waste-to-energy; all materials are recycled into new products. You can even buy new products from Terracycle-recycled material on their website. 

Recycle Utah now accepts razors, Swiffer brand products, GoGo squeeZ and other squeezable snack pouches, Capri Sun and other drink pouches, and air fresheners and pods through Terracycle. Learn more about Terracycle’s recycling programs at terracycle.com.

By Chelsea Hafer