RB, TerraCycle partner to recycle health, hygiene products

Global health and hygiene company Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB), which makes popular consumer brands including Mucinex and Enfamil and is headquartered in the U.K., has announced it entered into a partnership with TerraCycle, Trenton, New Jersey, to offer consumers with a simple, free way to recycle their consumer goods packaging. According to a news release from TerraCycle, the RB Health & Nutrition Recycling Program will accept packaging waste from all brands of vitamins and supplements, upper respiratory, sexual health and well-being, infant formula and child nutrition, personal care items and foot care items. 

The Healthy You, Healthy Planet partnership with TerraCycle to recycle all health and nutrition packaging is the next step in achieving RB’s global commitments to support a more sustainable future, which also includes reducing product packaging and eliminating waste through innovation, according to a news release from TerraCycle.

“At RB, we know how important protecting the future of our planet is to our consumers so we’ve partnered with TerraCycle to make it simple for anyone to take an active interest in the environment and recycle their packaging waste,” says Nitish Kapoor, executive vice president of RB North America Health Brands. “People buy millions of RB health products from brands like Enfamil and Mucinex every week, so offering free, national recyclability for the packaging is simply the right thing to do. This program is part of RB's ongoing commitment to creating a circular economy, which also includes making 100 percent of our packaging recyclable or reusable, while using at least 25 percent recycled plastic content in our packaging by 2025.”

Through the RB Health & Nutrition Recycling Program, packaging waste from the following categories will be recycled, including:

• vitamins, minerals and supplements packaging, such as blister packs, tubes, bottles, cans, boxes, caps and lids

• sexual health and well-being packaging, such as tubes, bottles, wrappers, cans, boxes, caps and lids;

• cough, cold, flu, sore throat and nasal care packaging, such as bottles, tubes, spray bottles, blister packs, caps and lids;

• infant formula and child nutrition packaging, such as tubs, bottles, wrappers, cans, boxes, caps and lids; and,

• personal care and foot care packaging, such as tubes, bottles, caps, lids and other plastic packaging.

From vitamin bottles and caps to infant formula tubs, TerraCycle will clean and melt the collected product packaging into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. The RB Health & Nutrition Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, day care, fitness facility, health care office, office or community organization.

“At TerraCycle, our mission has always been to ‘Eliminate the Idea of Waste’ and its recycling initiatives like the RB Health & Nutrition Recycling Program that drive awareness of single-use packaging epidemic. These programs elicit positive change in the consumer and ultimately lead to the preservation of our environment for future generations to come,” says Tom Szaky, TerraCycle CEO. 

TerraCycle financial results

Trenton-based TerraCycle US Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of international recycling leader TerraCycle Inc., has announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2019, ending June 30. The company’s revenue rose to $11.2 million, representing a 16 percent year-over-year growth over second quarter of 2018 revenues of $9.5 million, TerraCycle reports in a news release. Net income more than doubled to $1.8 million, marking 67 percent year-over-year growth over the second quarter of 2018’s net income of $603,000.

During the first two quarters of 2019, the company surpassed its prior year’s total number of new contracts and new programs. Additionally, the company reports that it’s continuing to invest in its workforce, increasing its U.S.-based staff by 10 percent over the prior year.

In addition, TerraCycle’s Regulation A capital raise is approaching $10 million, the company reports.  TerraCycle has attracted investment in its Regulation A offering from ITOCHU Corp., a 100-year-old, $50 billion revenue Japanese trading company. ITOCHU, a large broker of plastic, will work with TerraCycle to expand the market for postconsumer plastics and in particular will develop and sell plastics that come from generally nonrecycled waste streams. 

"Our mission at TerraCycle has always been to eliminate waste, recycle the unrecyclable and use our innovative business solutions to minimize human impact on the planet,” says TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “During the course of our 18-year history, we’ve successfully translated our passion for what we do into an established company built on a strong financial foundation with sustained earnings and growth.”

Using third-party logistics and facilities, TerraCycle converts collected waste into raw materials that are sold to and used by manufacturers to create new products. Examples of waste streams collected and recycled by TerraCycle include chip bags, coffee capsules, cigarette butts, oral care, beauty care, writing utensils and more than 100 other waste streams in the U.S., TerraCycle reports in a news release on its second-quarter earnings.