'Trick or Trash': TerraCycle and Rubicon partner for candy wrapper recycling

According to industry data, $2.6 billion will be spent on candy in 2019, and Americans purchase nearly 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween.

But a new initiative is helping keep some of those pesky candy wrappers out of landfills.

Rubicon Global, based in Atlanta, has launched a Halloween campaign designed to help elementary and middle school teachers across the U.S. educate their students on the importance of recycling and keeping candy wrappers out of landfills.

Throughout the month of October, Rubicon will be running its first ever “Trick or Trash” campaign, offering teachers in elementary and middle schools across the U.S. a recycling and circular economy lesson plan, as well as a candy and snack wrappers Zero Waste Box through TerraCycle for students to discard their Halloween candy wrappers within. All of these items are being provided free of charge.

“We believe this campaign can be a catalyst for the next generation to recycle more and reduce waste in our world,” says Nate Morris, the founder and CEO of Rubicon. “Our hope is this program is a great addition to everyone’s Halloween festivities while providing teachers with a curriculum with which to educate students on how to develop positive recycling habits.”

“TerraCycle’s mission has always been to eliminate the idea of waste, and we’ve proven that solutions do exist for items that may seem difficult to recycle,” says Tom Szaky, the founder and CEO of TerraCycle. “Rubicon not only shares our commitment but has taken it to the next level by spearheading the ‘Trick or Trash’ Halloween campaign to reduce the impact of candy and snack wrappers on the environment and help pave the way for a greener future.”

Rubicon Global is a technology company that powers a digital marketplace, provides a suite of software products for waste, recycling, and smart city solutions, and collects and analyzes data for businesses and governments worldwide. Using technology to help turn businesses into more sustainable enterprises and neighborhoods into greener places to live and work, Rubicon’s mission is to end waste in all of its forms by helping its partners find economic value in their waste streams and confidently execute on their sustainability goals.

Teachers can download the lesson plan immediately upon sign-up. After completing the sign-up, a candy and snack wrappers Zero Waste Box will be shipped to their school. Once delivered, teachers can simply set up the box in their classroom, cafeteria or hallway and encourage the students to deposit all of their candy wrappers in the box. Once the box is full, teachers can close the box, attached the prepaid shipping label and ship it off free of charge.

Sign up for the free “Trick or Trash” Recycling and the Circular Economy lesson plan and the candy and snack wrappers Zero Waste Box are on Rubicon's website.