The theory of waste
Our waste crisis is only growing
Humanity started recognizing waste as an issue because of unsightly litter, bringing about anti-litter laws. Then came the first Earth Day in 1970, which birthed the modern environmental movement and led to the invention of recycling.
Now, 70 years since the modern idea of waste emerged, it’s a fast-growing crisis. We create products that nature doesn’t have systems to digest. We buy things we don’t need, use them for a short period of time, and dispose of them. The vast majority of this material is burned in incinerators, buried in landfills, or littered.
Only a small amount of our waste is recycled or reused. Each year, we use the resources of nearly two planets, and we throw out over two billion tons of trash.
Cumulative plastic waste generation and disposal
A circular future
Our current economy is primarily a linear “take, make, waste” model. We take resources from the Earth and make them into products. Then the products become waste once we’re done with them, typically after a very short useful life. Ultimately, we need to move to a circular economy where materials are circulated through reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and recycling. This avoids the need to extract new materials and the associated impact on our planet.
With that said, the only silver bullet to most environmental challenges we face today is to buy less.
Learn about the circular economy by reading The Future of Packaging.
Read moreWhat TerraCycle is doing about it
TerraCycle’s mission is Eliminating the Idea of Waste®. We partner with individuals, businesses, and communities around the world on our journey toward a circular economy.
We create first-of-their-kind solutions in:
We also work to clean up trash from waterways through the TerraCycle Global Foundation.
And see how we create innovations with waste, like tiniestBiome™, through TerraCycle Discovery.
What can we do as individuals?
As citizens and consumers, we have more influence than we may realize. We can all make a meaningful difference both with our actions and our voices.
Learn more about the waste crisis—and how TerraCycle’s working to solve it—by reading CEO and founder Tom Szaky’s books or watching our TV shows.
What were the early days of fighting the waste crisis like at TerraCycle? Read how it all began—with worm poop in a used soda bottle.
Learn more about our humble roots