As the Travel Industry Converges in New York for the The Travel & Adventure Show, a Hard Question Lingers: What Happens to Travel Gear When it Wears Out?

TRENTON, NJ — January 20, 2026 — As the travel industry converges in New York for the The Travel & Adventure Show, one of the largest travel trade shows in the country, one part of the journey remains largely invisible: what happens to the essential travel gear when it wears out.

“It’s easy to focus on destinations and experiences while overlooking what travel uses up,” said Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle. “In practical terms, this pattern shows up in the items travelers and hotels move through most often — toiletries opened once and thrown away, suitcases that fail after years of use, and travel bags worn down by repeated trips. These are ordinary, expected parts of travel, yet what happens to them at the end of their useful life is rarely considered, even though many fall outside traditional recycling systems. That’s exactly where Zero Waste Box comes in, this solution provides a way for these materials to be recycled.”

Against this backdrop, TerraCycle is highlighting practical Zero Waste Box™ options that reflect a more pragmatic approach to sustainability in travel — solutions that recognize wear and tear as an inevitable part of going places and focuses on what happens when travel gear reaches the end of its useful life:

• Hotel Amenity Bottles – Zero Waste Box™: Enables hotels and hospitality groups to collect and recycle used plastic amenity bottles — including shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion.
• Luggage and Travel Bags – Zero Waste Box™: Provides travelers with a responsible end-of-life option for worn-out suitcases, backpacks, duffel bags, and soft-sided luggage that typically cannot be recycled through municipal programs. 

Once received, the collected materials are recycled into pellets that are used by manufacturers to  make new products, helping keep hard-to-recycle items out of landfills and incinerators.

Zero Waste Box™ provides travelers and hospitality partners with a clear, established way to manage items at the end of their useful life. For more information about TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box™ solutions for travel and hospitality, 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 18 countries, TerraCycle is on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste and develop practical solutions for today’s complex waste challenges. The company engages an expansive multi-stakeholder community, from Fortune 500 companies to schools and households, across a wide range of accessible programs and has raised millions for schools and nonprofits since its founding more than 20 years ago. 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 terracycle.com.