Kraft and TerraCycle Team Up to Reduce Packaging Waste

Kraft Foods has announced a new partnership with TerraCycle, a Trenton, N.J.-based company that converts difficult-to-recycle materials into a range of consumer goods. The partnership will reduce packaging waste going into landfills by repurposing it for use in the manufacturing of consumer products.

Several Kraft brands, including Balance bars and South Beach Living bars, Capri Sun beverages, and Chips Ahoy! and Oreo cookies are now the lead sponsors of TerraCycle Brigades. Each brigade is a nationwide recycling program that makes a donation for every piece of packaging a location collects.

The Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade collects used bar wrappers and donates 2 cents for each wrapper collected. TerraCycle has found a unique way to braid these wrappers into colorful, durable purses and backpacks. The wrappers also can be fused, making the wrappers very dynamic for upcycling.

The Cookie Wrapper Brigade collects used Nabisco cookie wrappers and donates 2 cents for each wrapper collected. TerraCycle will use proprietary technology to fuse the wrappers together into sheets of waterproof fabric, which then can be made into umbrellas, shower curtains, backpacks, placemats and much more.

 

The Drink Pouch Brigade collects used drink pouches and donates 2 cents to participating schools or community groups for every pouch collected. The used pouches are then sewn into tote bags, handbags and other durable items.

TerraCycle is also in talks to establish more brigades with several other Kraft brands, including Planters Peanuts and their cheese and toasted chips brands.

The recycled merchandise will be available for purchase at Wal-Mart, Target and Walgreens retail stores as early as April 1, 2009.

"Sustainability is about looking out for future generations. Kraft is proud to partner with TerraCycle, an innovative company who has made it their mission to reduce the impact on landfills and to educate consumers on the importance of recycling," says Jeff Chahley, senior director of sustainability for Kraft Foods. "TerraCycle’s model of rewarding ‘brigade hosts’ is a novel way of collecting packaging waste that would otherwise have been sent to landfills. It’s so cool to see trash turned into merchandise that’s unlike anything else on the market.”

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Additionally, the partnership will more than double the number of TerraCycle collection sites. Currently TerraCycle has more than 3,500 collection sites and they plan to add 4,000 more by the end of the year.