Kraft Canada Partners With TerraCycle For Upcycling Program
By Canadian Packaging Staff
Sustainability Kraft Canada TerraCycle Upcycling
Oh Yeah! Kraft Canada has announced a new partnership with TerraCycle Inc., the pioneering upcycling company, started by Toronto-native Tom Szaky, that 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 utilizes a monetary reward as an added incentive for schools, community groups, charities and more to participate in the recycling program whereby every TerraCycle Brigade receives a two-cent donation for every piece of packaging a location collects and returns to TerraCycle.
How a Brigade Works
“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.”
Kraft Canada is sponsoring the three specific brigades: the Drink Pouch Brigade collects used Kool-Aid Jammers and Del Monte beverages drink pouches which will be 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 to create items like bicycle seat bags, yoga mat carry cases, insulated water bottle holders, travel bags (for organizing toiletries or other small items), and backpacks.
For more information on Kraft Foods, visit www.kraftfoodscompany.com.
TerraCycle’s eco-friendly products are available at major retailers like: Walmart, The Home Depot and Whole Foods Markets. For more information, visit www.terracycle.ca.
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