It’s been four years since Fairfield was dubbed the world’s first “TerraCycle Town” for its progress towards zero waste. In addition to taking part in conventional recycling, local residents (and many of you readers) have diverted 89,000 plastic products from landfills, enough to fill 10 bathtubs with solid plastic. These are thousands of everyday products that can’t typically be recycled: toothbrushes, snack bags, shampoo bottles, CDs, mascara wands. So how is this possible? Whether you have personally used these programs or if this is your first time hearing about TerraCycle Fairfield, let’s take a look back at 2024 to understand how far Fairfield has come towards zero waste.
TerraCycle Fairfield currently offers public collection programs for 12 categories of products: oral care, beauty care, plastic bags, health, batteries, e-waste, lightbulbs, razors, snack bags, cookware, art supplies, and CDs. All these services are offered as a result of participating corporations and local businesses sponsoring the collection and recycling of these products. As of 2024, Fairfield ranks as one of the largest recyclers nationally for TerraCycle’s Oral Care program, with 860 pounds collected. That’s nearly 21,000 toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, and floss containers diverted from landfills. This year, TerraCycle Fairfield collected an additional 15,000 units or 800 pounds of plastic across all categories, as well as several thousand pounds of batteries and lightbulbs, thanks to our partnership with Connelly Sanitation.
Perhaps the largest development for TerraCycle Fairfield was a new partnership with Hy-Vee. In addition to offering plastic-bag recycling, last October the store unveiled two new TerraCycle bins in its entryway—one for oral care products and another for health and beauty products. This is the seventh location offering public TerraCycle bins in Fairfield and a major step for increasing local recycling efforts. Others can be found at local schools, Maharishi International University, Fairfield Public Library, Cindy’s Art Beat, and Everybody’s Whole Foods.
While many of you may participate in Fairfield’s TerraCycle programs, you may not be aware that you are also giving back to the community. TerraCycle Inc. offers “TerraCycle Points” to participating organizations for sending in their items, which can be redeemed as charitable donations. Simply by bringing old household items to local TerraCycle bins, residents of Fairfield have raised $900 for the Sustainable Living Coalition (SLC), a nonprofit that works to promote sustainable living practices locally. In addition to the TerraCycle Fairfield project, the SLC also focuses on renewable energy adaptation, regenerative agriculture, and food security.
Fairfield is a great example of the impact that a single community can have on a local and national level. Yet global recycling rates still remain alarmingly low. By participating locally and setting reasonable goals to involve yourself, you have the ability to substantially improve the health of our planet and the lives of other people. As TerraCycle Fairfield continues into 2025, the opportunities for progress are nearly limitless.
You Can Help Out
if you have found these programs valuable, your contribution can make a big difference. Fairfield’s TerraCycle programs have an annual budget of $6,600 and community donations are highly encouraged to make them possible. If you would like to find out more, you can email TerraCycleTown@gmail.com or you can make a donation at sustainablelivingcoalition.org/contribute. Also check out @TCFairfield on Facebook, where you’ll find a 2024 retrospective from TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky.
Read more by Drew Schoenfeld at substack.com/@drewschoenfeld.