Throughout Earth Month, Trenton-based TerraCycle is encouraging consumers to participate in its Taco Bell recycling program and collect all brands and types of sauce packets — including ketchup and mustard packets!
All condiment or sauce packets, whether Taco Bell or otherwise, can be collected, mailed back with a prepaid shipping label and given a spicier second life. As an added incentive, any collector who is part of Taco Bell Rewards will receive 80 points for mailing in any and all used, empty sauce packets during April.
“In 2022, we tested the idea with consumers to responsibly recycle any brand of condiment sauce packets,” Missy Schaaphok, director of global nutrition & sustainability at Taco Bell, said. “We worked with TerraCycle and a franchisee in New Jersey to test out the concept, and it was such a success. As a result, we decided to take the idea nationwide later that year and share the love beyond our iconic sauce packets, giving a more sustainable option to everyone.”
Through the Taco Bell Sauce Packet Free Recycling Program, consumers are encouraged to mail in all brands and types of empty sauce packets to TerraCycle. Participation is free and easy: simply sign up on the TerraCycle program page, collect any and all empty packets, then mail them in using the provided prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the packets are cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products.
“At TerraCycle, our objective has always been to provide innovative sustainability solutions for hard-to-recycle waste streams through partnerships like the one we share with Taco Bell,” TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky said. “Through this groundbreaking expansion, consumers have the ability to easily recycle any and all sauce packets through the Taco Bell Sauce Packet Free Recycling Program with no restrictions.”
With every shipment of waste sent to TerraCycle through this program, collectors earn TerraCycle points that can be donated to a nonprofit, school or charitable organization of their choice.
