Waste isn’t exactly a “sexy” topic, and for the household and personal care industry, that’s exactly what products need to be in order to grab the attention of consumers.


Communications around efficiency and price (which remain strong drivers for the category) can get lost on short attention spans in a competitive, media saturated marketplace. Messages that appeal to the senses have been a time-tested way to drive value in a manner people are hard-wired to notice, and the very idea of waste (material, organic and otherwise) is often enough to pull most consumers out of the mood.


But public consciousness is increasingly turned on by the environment, sustainability and redefining resources. Consumers want to contribute to a less wasteful world where there’s more to go around, and look to brands and manufacturers to provide the tools they can use to be a better steward for the future. Emotional and social value benefits are prevalent with brands that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability, and you tell me: what’s sexier than abundance?


There is tremendous opportunity for to create value around waste, which is a fairly modern human concept and one that is wholly a matter of perspective. It currently costs less money to burn or bury discarded material than it does to collect and recycle it. But when you think about it, waste is just a resource that we haven’t found an attractive way to make work for us. Investing in systems that eliminate the idea of waste not only helps with material sourcing (more abundance, less waste), but changes perspectives from a negative value commodity that people pay to have taken away, to something interesting, powerful and, well, sexy.


For consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands in particular, the fast-moving packaging and product waste generated by the industry is a visible, accessible problem of pollution and resource mismanagement; that we’ll see more plastics than fish in the ocean by 2050 is an engaging stat that’s hard to ignore. Consumers report a willingness to pay more, switch brands and work for companies dedicated to sustainability and waste reduction, and respond to innovations that shift the consumption paradigm to the cutting-edge of a waste-free world.


Some of the world’s top CPG brands have teamed up with TerraCycle to recycle their difficult-to-recycle packaging, diverting waste from landfills, providing material for new production and empowering people around helping the planet. Together, we prove that nothing is beyond recycling by forging new partnerships and investing in ongoing scientific research and development, each year adding new waste streams to our recycling portfolio, from the trending (food pouches, energy bar wrappers, cosmetics empties) to the near-impossible (dirty diapers, used tampons).


Our constant question to ourselves is, “What can we recycle next?” In order to acquire related companies, increase staff and further grow the business, our U.S. subsidiary was recently qualified for its $25 million Regulation A offering by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), thereby allowing anyone the opportunity to invest for the first time. Interested investors are invited to visit www.OwnTerraCycle.com or https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1714781/000114420418002133/tv483295_253g2.htm to view detailed information about the offering.


Making recycling sexy and interesting is about making it accessible. Concepts like natural resource depletion and the scourge of plastic pollution can be intimidating when consumers don’t have straightforward solutions available to them. The ability to easily recycle and support companies working to expand options is empowering for individuals, who need solutions and impacts that are attractive, easy-to-understand and allow them to take actions they can get charged up about. Leveraging recyclability and waste reduction is exciting because as the CPG landscape continues to change, so do the opportunities for brands and manufacturers to differentiate. Whether it’s through collaborations with companies like TerraCycle, circular design or education, spicing up sustainability is a win for brands looking to stand out and assert themselves as leaders for the next frontier in market innovations.