(WTAJ) — Admit it, you can never take just one sauce packet from Taco Bell. They’re always nice to have in a drawer or even your glove box, but that’s a lot of plastic. The company is now teaming up with TerraCycle to keep those packets out of landfills.
TerraCycle is a New Jersey-based company that worked with other companies such as Procter and Gamble and Unilever to create reusable packaging instead of single-use. Now they’re teaming up with Taco Bell in a first for fast food and asking for your used sauce packets.
In a release to CNN earlier this year, Taco Bell said that more than 8 billion sauce packets are used every year in the United States, a huge number that’s potentially environmentally damaging.
That’s where TerraCycle comes in. Customers will be able to sign up for a TerraCycle account and collect empty sauce packets in a recyclable container. Once full, you can print a free shipping label from TerraCycle’s website and ship the box back via UPS. Taco Bell said they will display QR codes and other signage in various parts of restaurants to promote the program and encourage sign-ups.
In another effort to be more ‘green,’ Taco Bell recently removed their Mexican Pizza from menus, citing that it used too much cardboard packaging that was just ending up in landfills.