Subaru begins recycling collection program

Company’s dealerships will collect “difficult to recycle” packaging materials for TerraCycle.

Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Subaru of America Inc.and its philanthropic platform “Subaru Loves the Earth” has announced a new partnership with TerraCycle designed to help divert “hard-to-recycle” waste from landfills and incinerators.

Beginning in April 2018, participating Subaru retailers will receive TerraCycle Zero Waste boxes, designed to encourage “customers, employees and community partners to recycle waste streams that are commonly thought of as hard-to-recycle, including snack wrappers/bags, disposable cups and lids, and coffee and tea capsules.”

Subaru indicates it “will embolden customers to enhance their own commitment to sustainability by collecting these waste streams at their home or office and bringing them into a local participating Subaru retailer.”

The collected materials will be converted by TerraCycle and its customers into items including park benches, picnic tables and playground materials that will be donated to Subaru community partners connected to the more than 540 retailers participating in the initiative.

Subaru retailers also can view and order products made from the recycled materials through a branded product line expected to be available in the fall of 2018.

"At Subaru, we feel it’s our personal responsibility to protect Earth’s natural wonders and encourage our retailers and customers to engage in smart environmental practices, simply because it's the right thing to do,” says Thomas J. Doll, president and CEO of Subaru of America Inc. “Through Subaru Loves the Earth, we are honored to partner with TerraCycle to empower local communities nationwide to think about recycling in new and meaningful ways.”

Subaru of America Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. The company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 620 retailers in the United States.

Founded in 2003, TerraCycle collects and repurposes what it considers to be hard-to-recycle postconsumer materials, ranging from cigarette butts and chewing gum to dirty diapers, ocean plastic, adhesive packaging and household paint.