Sadly, we have seen a high level of abuse of our Terracycle program. As a result, we are changing up how we run this, and if this does not work we will discontinue it completely. The program costs us approximately $500 per month to run and to see the disrespect it is incurring is incredibly disappointing. It is not a profitable venture for us; it’s simply something we want to do because it’s the right thing to do.
Here is a sampling of the things we have been finding in our Terracycle bins:
- Apple cores & banana peels
- Half full coffee cups & pop cans
- A full-on bag of household garbage
- Mesh bags for oranges
- Coffee bags
- Dog food bags
- Clothing
- Condiment packets
- Frozen fruit bags
- Rice / quinoa bags
- Paper towels / tissues
Yep, seriously, these are the things being thrown into the bins. We know that it is only a small number of people that are doing this; however we also know the theory of ‘the few ruin it for the many’. We also understand that some of you may not know that a coffee bag is not recyclable, and that there is some ‘wish-recycling’ happening. This we totally get and are happy to discuss with you when you come in with your materials.With all of this in mind, we have relocated the bins to another section of our building out of customer view. As of today, when you come in with your Terracycle materials, you will need to ask for a staff member to escort you to the bins where we will supervise the division of materials.
We will be also enforcing the following:
- If we do not have the bin in the building, we will not accept your materials for you while we await a new one to arrive. We may not get the same bin a second time.
- You can easily eliminate this problem by calling ahead to ask if we have a particular bin on hand!
- If we identify items that are not suitable for the bins, they are your responsibility to take with you when you leave the building and dispose of appropriately. We will not arrange for the disposal of materials that are turned away, regardless of the reason.
- Any verbal abuse towards our staff will not be tolerated.
We know that those of you who are truly passionate about our mission will understand and work with us going forward and will have no issue waiting for a staff member to assist you. We appreciate every one of you and love that you want us to continue to have these bins on site so that we can all do our part to send less to the landfill.