TerraCycle

TRENTON, New Jersey--In an effort to divert more waste from landfills and help businesses engage local communities, recycling and upcycling pioneer TerraCycle encourages dental offices to sign up for the Oral Care Brigade.

Oral Care Brigade is a free recycling program for oral care products that offers free local marketing campaigns to offices that enroll. By joining the Brigade and collecting previously nonrecyclable toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, toothpaste caps and floss containers, dental offices can offer existing customers and the local community an easy way to earn extra funding for local schools or charities while also creating free marketing and consumer engagement opportunities.

Any dentist office employee can sign up to send in toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, toothpaste caps, and floss containers regardless of brand. The waiting room becomes a community drop-off point for this kind of waste, which can generate foot traffic and attract new patients.

For each piece of packaging received, the office earns two points, which can be put toward buying a specific charity gift or converted to cash and given to a local charity that they choose. TerraCyclewill recycle the collected packaging into plastic items such as park benches, recycling bins and plastic lumber. The Brigade is free to join, and all shipping costs are prepaid.

To help raise awareness of the dentist office’s sustainable and charitable endeavors, TerraCycle’s public relations team will offer a free local media campaign to those that enroll for the Oral Care Brigade, sponsored by Colgate. By securing coverage in local outlets, TerraCycle hopes to increase participation and make the Brigade a success while also helping to increase awareness of the dentist’s offices and efforts.

Offices that sign up should send an email to [email protected] to be eligible for this local campaign.

“At TerraCycle, we’re trying to keep as much waste out of landfills as possible and working with the businesses that generate high volumes of the waste we collect is the next step,” explained Tom Szaky, CEO, TerraCycle. “People usually get a new toothbrush when they go to the dentist, so collecting the old ones in the office makes perfect sense.”

TerraCycle collects more than 40 different kinds of products and packaging through its Brigade programs, which are open to any individual or organization. It has already kept more than two billion pieces of trash from going to the landfill, and with its partners, dispersed almost $3 million to charity.

For more information, visit www.terracycle.net.

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