Suez and TerraCycle join forces in Europe

GreenPrint

Suez is partnering with TerraCycle and acquiring 30% of its activities in Europe to develop innovative collection and recycling programmes in Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden. This partnership brings together TerraCycle's collection programmes, which focus on community engagement, and Suez's expertise in waste recycling and recovery.

TerraCycle develops selective collection systems for the recycling of more than 100 specific hard to recycle waste streams (disposable items, flexible packaging, office supplies, beauty products, oral care, used coffee capsules and cigarette butts) currently not handled by traditional recycling channels.

Nearly 60 million collectors are already working with TerraCycle, either through collection programmes set by volunteers, ‘sponsored’ by companies or local authorities (collectors register on TerraCycle's website and are awarded points that are converted into donations for the organisations of their choice), or recycling services paid by companies such as Zero Waste Boxes.

Through this new partnership, Suez is expanding its range of services with innovative voluntary collection methods and additional recycling channels for its customers, particularly for products that need complex packaging and therefore require very specific collection and sorting solutions. All the waste collected will be reused or recycled into new products.

David Palmer-Jones, CEO of Suez recycling and recovery UK, said: ‘Our investment in TerraCycle allows us to harness the combined skills of both companies to deliver innovative, creative and scalable solutions which tackle problematic and emerging waste streams in the UK and across Europe. Suez's investment in TerraCycle will benefit UK customers both today and in a post Brexit future.’

The UK remains a key European market where, through innovation and collaboration such as this investment, so much more waste material discarded by business and industry could be put to better use.

‘Using the knowledge of both companies, we can ensure that even the most complex and challenging waste streams are put to good use in a sustainable, long term and economically viable way,’ concluded David.