TerraCycle's science-driven models outperform traditional options for post-consumer flexible film recycling

TerraCycle has released a third-party verified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that evaluates the environmental effectiveness of four different recycling models offered by TerraCycle for post-consumer flexible film recycling in the US.  

The LCA compared the TerraCycle programs to traditional municipal waste management solutions for this specific waste stream including municipal landfilling and municipal incineration. Across the eight key impact categories considered, including global warming potential, human carcinogenic toxicity and fossil resource scarcity, all the TerraCycle recycling models outperformed the municipal waste management options by an average of 45 percent.

"Science-driven decision making is central to how we operate as both recycling and reuse are not just about waste reduction, but also about helping mitigate climate change," said Tom Szaky Founder and CEO of TerraCycle. "As a company, for nearly two decades, we have and will continue to take the life cycle analysis of our platforms seriously and strive to maintain as a net negative carbon footprint organization."

The goal of the LCA was to evaluate, quantify and compare the environmental impacts of TerraCycle's four core recycling models against the municipal waste management scenarios for the multi-layer flexible film snack wrappers in the US. The impact of all six models were assessed against the categories of Global Warming Potential, Ozone Formation, Human Health, Freshwater Eutrophication, Freshwater Ecotoxicity, Human Carcinogenic Toxicity, Human Non-Carcinogenic Toxicity, Fossil Resource Scarcity and Water Consumption.

The results show that the TerraCycle recycling models have lower environmental impacts when compared to the municipal waste management models across all categories considered in this study.

Results for TerraCycle's recycling models