TerraCycle® – outsmart waste

When is an Eco Refill pack not an Eco Refill pack? The answer is when it’s a park bench or watering can, of course.

TerraCycle® is a company with a brilliantly simple idea – to turn everyday waste items that aren’t recyclable through normal household collections into new products. Once you’ve finished with our Kenco Eco Refill packs our friends at TerraCycle will turn them into new plastics to make a whole range of eco-friendly products like park benches, watering cans or waste bins. They also collect other waste from our factories to make into shopping bags and pencil cases.

It won’t cost you a penny to send your Kenco Eco Refill packs to TerraCycle. All you have to do is download a free postage label, pop it in the post and they’ll take care of the rest. We’ll even donate 2 TerraCycle points which can be redeemed for a 2p contribution to a nominated charity or school for every one you return.

What about upcycling?

Even though the waste from our factories is upcycled into shopping bags and pencil cases, we’ve found that recycling is by far the best way to re-use used Eco Refill packs. Once these have been melted and pelletized, the new plastic can be used to create a bigger variety of recycled products.

Eco Refills

How do I return my Eco Refill packs to TerraCycle®?

First you need to register with TerraCycle. Then just print out a free Royal Mail shipping label from the website and pop your empty pack(s) in the post. Remember its more environmentally friendly to return a number of empty Eco Refills per shipment rather than one at a time.

How much do you give my chosen charity for every Eco Refill pack I send?

Your charity will receive 2p for each pack.

How can a plastic bag be more eco-friendly than a glass jar?

Good question. The simple answer is that they’re more efficient to produce and therefore more planet-friendly because Eco Refills use 81% less energy to manufacture. Our 150g Kenco Eco Refill pack has 97% less packaging weight than our jars, so you can send less packaging waste to landfill (source: Mondelēz International eco calculator).

But surely a glass jar is more recyclable?

Firstly, don’t forget the lid. Although it’s technically recyclable, it’s made of polypropylene, and there are very few recycling facilities in the UK capable of recycling that material. So in the vast majority of cases the lid is sent to landfill. An Eco Refill pack weighs less than the jar lid alone, so purchasing an Eco Refill means sending less waste to landfill.

We also recognise that 40% of glass is not currently recycled (Source: Defra, 20092). And while we’d like everyone to recycle their jars - and we know lots of Kenco coffee drinkers do - we need to acknowledge that not everyone does. Buying a Kenco Eco Refill pack means everyone (whether they recycle their glass jar or not) can reduce their waste.

Is the Eco Refill endorsed by environmental organisations?

Yes - WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) likes what we've been doing with Kenco Eco-Refill: "We support the development of the new Kenco refill packaging. It is less packaging for consumers as it allows them to re-use a favourite container. While the refill pouches are not currently recyclable in the UK, the move to refills will help reduce the overall waste being sent to landfill." Richard Swannell, Director of Retail & Organics, WRAP.

WRAP's June 2008 report states that refill solutions have the potential to significantly reduce both retail packaging waste and product waste.

"Recycle Now"4 supports refillable packaging as an environmentally positive choice.