Small Businesses Across America Lead the Way with TerraCycle Zero Waste Boxes

TRENTON, NJ (August 12, 2025) – From herbal skincare studios to dental practices and engineering firms, small businesses across the country are rethinking how they manage waste.

Many face the same challenge: how to recycle materials that aren’t accepted through local services—like multilayer packaging, plastic films, cosmetic pumps, and toothpaste tubes. TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box™ makes it easy for everyday leaders to recycle hard-to-recycle materials keep waste out of landfills. 

“Across the country, individuals and businesses are leading the charge. By reducing waste, influencing behavior, and sparking change in their communities, they’re showing what it really means to put circularity into action,” said Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle. “Our Zero Waste Box solution removes the barriers to responsible recycling for both households and businesses. It offers a simple, effective way to take meaningful steps toward your sustainability goals, regardless of how or where you operate.”

• Back in the Temple LLC (Santa Fe, NM)

Wellness practitioner Nodiah Brent, founder of Back in the Temple LLC, lives with intention—refilling products, avoiding single-use plastics, and choosing items based on packaging. Yet, despite her efforts, flexible plastic continues to pile up.

“I bring my own bags to the farmer’s market, I’ve stopped eating non-essential foods like chips to reduce plastic waste, I buy almost all of my supplements based on the packaging, and I refill my household products at the local refill station,” Brent said. “And still, film plastic builds up. It doesn’t disappear just because I’ve tried to do everything right.”

After a local plastic-to-brick initiative shut down, Brent turned to TerraCycle’s Plastic Packaging Zero Waste Box™ to recycle pouches, wraps, and bags that aren’t accepted curbside.

“TerraCycle is candid about the limitations of recycling,” she said. “Waiting for perfect solutions is a dead-end street. I feel good spending money on a venture that represents innovation and hope.”

For Brent, the box serves as a daily reminder to consume mindfully and make small decisions that ripple into broader cultural change.

• Peak Scents (Flagstaff, AZ)

In Flagstaff, AZ, woman-owned wellness brand Peak Scents is turning sustainability from aspiration into action. At its storefront and refill shop, the company installed a Beauty Products and Packaging Zero Waste Box™ to collect hard-to-recycle cosmetic packaging like pumps, caps, and tubes.

“We started using TerraCycle recycling boxes at our skincare company because we’re committed to sustainability and minimizing our environmental impact,” said DeeAnn Tracy, founder of Peak Scents. “This gives our customers a way to return their empty packaging and ensures it gets processed in a way that aligns with our values.”

The box now serves as more than a recycling solution—it’s a visible symbol of product responsibility and a growing culture of reuse.

• Krider Dental Wellness Center (Fort Wayne, IN)

Sustainability is taking root in clinical spaces, too. Krider Dental Wellness Center in Fort Wayne, IN, has added a ClinicCycle Oral Care Waste Zero Waste Box™ to its front office—collecting toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, floss containers, and caps that aren’t accepted by local recycling services.

“As a dental office, we give out so many supplies,” said Brooke Wallisch, who helped bring the program to the practice. “Why not have patients bring those dental scraps back to us and have them reused and recycled?”

The practice is now exploring how to expand into additional TerraCycle waste streams, such as non-hazardous disposable gloves, gowns, and disposable packaging used in everyday operations.

• Zaro Engineering (Clifton, NJ)

In Clifton, NJ, mechanical engineer Melissa Zaro—founder of Zaro Engineering — applies the same precision she uses in structural design to minimize waste. When she couldn’t find a recycling solution for the multi-material packaging piling up at home and work, she turned to TerraCycle’s All-In-One Zero Waste Box™ to fill the gap.

“It allows me to recycle most items I would normally have disposed of,” Zaro said. “It keeps me conscious of what I buy. I try to avoid products in thermoformed plastics and instead choose options I can recycle through the box.”

The shift has even transformed her household’s daily habits. They now cook more meals at home, use less packaging, and generate so little trash that missing garbage day is no longer an issue.

“We barely throw out garbage anymore,” Zaro added. “Recycling promotes a healthier life overall, as it starts a trend of being conscious of all it connects to.”

“Progress doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it can start with something as simple as setting up a Zero Waste Box and choosing to treat waste differently,” said Rhandi Goodman, Vice President of Zero Waste Boxes at TerraCycle. “Whether it’s a wellness practitioner carefully choosing products based on packaging, a skincare brand taking back used products, a dental office offering patients a place to recycle, or a family changing how they shop and cook, all of their stories show what’s possible when sustainability becomes part of everyday life. They’re turning intention into action, reducing what goes to landfill, and inspiring others to do the same. As more individuals and small businesses take that first step, the collective impact grows—proving that real change isn’t just possible, it’s already happening.”

The Zero Waste Box™ solution provides a simple, ready-to-use recycling option for items that aren’t typically accepted through local recycling collection.  Simply select the box that fits your specific needs, whether it’s for plastic packaging, beauty products, disposable gloves, or the All-In-One option that accepts a wide range of materials. Once delivered, the box is set up in a home, office, or retail space and filled over time with the accepted materials. When full, the box is sealed and shipped back to TerraCycle using the included prepaid UPS label.

Once received, the collected items are recycled into raw materials that can be used to make new products—like outdoor furniture, shipping pallets, flooring tiles, and more. It’s part of TerraCycle’s mission to eliminate the idea of waste by keeping valuable materials in use, and out of landfills and incinerators.

To learn more about TerraCycle’s recycling solutions and how to keep hard-to-recycle items out of landfills and incinerators, visit www.terracycle.com.

About TerraCycle

TerraCycle is an international leader in innovative sustainability solutions, creating and operating first-of-their-kind platforms in recycling, recycled materials and reuse. Across 21 countries, TerraCycle is on a mission to rethink waste and develop practical solutions for today’s complex waste challenges. The company engages an expansive multi-stakeholder community across a wide range of accessible programs, from Fortune 500 companies to schools and individuals. To learn more about TerraCycle and join them on their journey to move the world from a linear economy to a circular one, please visit www.terracycle.com.