Rubicon Global, the worldwide leader in sustainable, cloud-based waste and recycling solutions, has announced a partnership with TerraCycle, an innovative recycling company focused on developing solutions for the hardest-to-recycle waste. Rubicon and TerraCycle will now combine their solutions to offer both sets of customers a robust suite of waste reduction services aimed at advancing Zero Waste solutions.  This partnership will facilitate a broader spectrum of non-landfill solutions to customers for virtually every waste stream – from the most common recyclables such as mixed recycling and cardboard to stubborn streams such candy wrappers, batteries, and cigarette butts. Rubicon and TerraCycle will have access to each other’s customer bases to offer new solutions, fill in the service gaps, and develop innovative go-to-market strategies.

“Rubicon Global and TerraCycle share the same passion of advancing the circular economy, to keep materials functioning at their highest utility, and preventing would-be waste from reaching landfills,” said Nate Morris, founder and CEO of Rubicon Global. “Both companies are focused on evolving the traditional waste industry that is dependent on landfills and leading the way towards a Zero-Waste Future.”

TerraCycle develops selective collection systems for the recycling of more than 100 specific hard-to-recycle waste streams currently not handled by traditional recycling channels. Active in 21 countries, TerraCycle partners with mass market companies, brands, municipalities, and local organizations to implement recycling programs tailored to these post-consumer products and their packaging.  Other offerings include recycling programs for post-industrial waste streams, the sale of unique “storied” plastics, and other distinctive waste management and project management services.

Rubicon Global works with its customers, including many Fortune 500 companies, small and medium businesses, and municipalities, to find new efficiencies and cost-savings in their waste streams and to develop new and innovative ways to reduce, re-use and recycle waste. In March, Rubicon Global was named an “Emerging Innovator” member of the Circular Economy 100 USA (CE100) by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which brings together corporations, governments, cities, academic institutions, emerging innovators and affiliates to advance knowledge and collaborate on key sustainability initiatives. Rubicon is also a founding member of the Zero Waste Business Council and was recognized by the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Circulars Award in the Digital Disruptor category.

“To truly achieve Zero Waste, we believe we must solve the challenge related to hard-to-recycle waste,” said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle. “TerraCycle reuses, upcycles, and recycles these difficult waste streams, such as candy wrappers, disposable coffee cups, and kids’ toys, instead of incinerating or landfilling them – moving waste from a linear system to a circular one, allowing it to keep cycling in the economy.”

In 2016, TerraCycle partnered with consumer products giant Procter & Gamble to create the world’s first shampoo bottle made of 25 percent recycled beach plastic, sourced from people who collect it from beaches around the world. In 2017, TerraCycle teamed with Target to collect and recycle roughly 80,000 car seats, totaling more than a million pounds of material.  These and other unique platforms allow TerraCycle to drive value for its customers.