Environmental Leader

Mars Inc. and TerraCycle are partnering to turn waste and surplus packaging into consumer goods.

By making products ranging from cell phone holders and laptop sleeves to messenger bags, TerraCycle will repurpose waste packaging from Mars five U.S. business segments – Chocolate, Petcare, Wrigley, Food, and Drinks. The packaging will be recovered at Mars facilities, as well as in a unique consumer recycling program.

Mars will become a sponsor of TerraCycle’s Brigade programs, in which organizations raise money through the collection of used packaging from participating brands, then sending it to TerraCycle, according to a press release.

TerraCycle will repurpose waste packaging from Mars U.S. operations into products ranging from cell phone holders and laptop sleeves to messenger bags, significantly reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills. Mars will also sponsor TerraCycle ‘Brigade programs,’ in which organizations can raise money by collecting used packaging from participating brands and sending it to TerraCycle.

The program will play into Mars’ goal to reduce its waste by 3 percent a year. Mars focuses on four main areas of sustainability: reducing waste, reducing use of energy, reducing water, and ensuring the sustainability of raw materials. Recently, Mars pledged to add more sustainable sourcing of cocoa.

The program applies to more than 20 Mars brands, including M&Ms, Snickers, Altoids, Wrigley’s, Uncle Bens, Flavia, Pedigree and Nutro, among others.

According to the release, TerraCycle’s products are distributed all across the U.S. at retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and Petco, and the company plans to expand into Mexico, Brazil, Canada and the UK.