Kraft teams with TerraCycle for upcycling in Canada
Partnership with pioneering upcycler expanded for new waste reduction programs.
-- Packaging Digest, 11/24/2009 12:30:16 PM
Kraft Canada is launching a new partnership with TerraCycle Inc., the pioneering upcycling company, started by Toronto-native Tom Szaky. TerraCycle takes packages and materials that are challenging to recycle and turns them into affordable, high quality merchandise. The partnership will create a new Canadian program for groups to collect used packaging. And with a monetary reward as an added incentive to recycle, the program supports schools, community groups, charities and non-profits across the country.
Kraft Canada will become the first major Canadian business to sponsor a program of this kind. Building on the success of the partnership in the US, Kraft Canada and TerraCycle hope to replicate a similar program in Canada.
Several Kraft Canada brands -- Kool-Aid Jammers and Del Monte beverages; Mr. Christie's Snak Paks and other Mr. Christie cookies and crackers; and Back to Nature nuts and trail mixes -- will be sponsoring collection efforts. Every participating TerraCycle Brigade will receive a two cent donation for every piece of packaging a location collects and returns to TerraCycle.
"Kraft Canada is proud to partner with TerraCycle to create an end-of-life solution for select packaging that is not currently recyclable in the existing municipal programs," says Jonathan Ingram, Director, Procurement & Sustainability, Kraft Canada. "TerraCycle's model of rewarding "brigade teams" with a donation towards their non-profit organization, school or a charity of their choice is a novel way of encouraging people to collect packaging that would otherwise have been sent to landfills. We hope the program will engage and educate people on the importance of recycling."
TerraCycle Brigade programs do much more than just divert packaging waste from going to landfills. They also help to raise consumer awareness about environmental responsibility by encouraging people to rethink 'what is waste.' TerraCycle is making it simple for consumers to lessen their impact on the environment.
How a Brigade Works
Kraft Canada is currently sponsoring three TerraCycle Brigades. A community group or a school signs up with TerraCycle (www.terracycle.ca) to establish a Brigade location. Then, the group collects used drink and snack packaging and sends them to TerraCycle for "upcycling" into eco-friendly products like backpacks, tote bags and pencil cases. TerraCycle donates two cents per pouch or package collected. This donation can be directed to any non-profit organization (schools, charities, sports teams) including their own organization. In addition, there are no costs to join and all shipping costs are paid.
-- The Drink Pouch Brigade collects used Kool-Aid Jammers and Del Monte
beverages drink pouches. The used pouches are returned to TerraCycle and
sewn into tote bags, handbags and other durable items that will be
available in mid-2010 at select Canadian retailers.
-- The Cookie/Cracker Wrapper Brigade collects used Mr. Christie's Snak
Paks and other Mr. Christie cookies and crackers wrappers (including
new Kraft Dinner Crackers Snack Packs). 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 Back to Nature Nut Snacks Brigade collects Back to Nature packages
as well as ANY nut package currently available on the market -- be it in a
tin, plastic pouch or other container. Back to Nature is looking to clean
up the nut category by providing recycling options for all nut packaging
out in the marketplace today!
About Kraft Foods
SOURCE: TerraCycle
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