Washington, DC – Taco Bell announced that it will partner with TerraCycle on a pilot program to recycle its hot sauce packets, which are not currently recyclable. The announcement states that participation will be easy for customers and include free shipping to return the packets.
In response to Taco Bell and TerraCycle’s partnership, Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar stated:
“It is hard to see how encouraging people to mail in their used sauce packets to be washed, melted down, and recycled makes any sense either from an environmental or economic standpoint. One of the things that has made Taco Bell popular is the ability to customize an order. Allowing people to request that their sauce of choice be added to their food would eliminate the need for millions of throwaway plastic packets. For in-store dining, dispensers could add further flexibility for customers. The solution is to move away from these useless plastic packets entirely, not to create a program that few people will take advantage of.
“This announcement is really a distraction from Taco Bell’s broader single-use plastics problem. The vast majority of the single-use plastic packaging that Taco Bell uses gets dumped, burned, or ends up directly polluting our environment. It is time for Taco Bell to think outside the box, not cook up more failed greenwashing strategies for Earth Day headlines.”
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Contact: Perry Wheeler, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, P: 301-675-8766
