Italian food company Barilla is partnering with TerraCycle to provide a free, easy way to recycle its  Ready Pasta packaging. The Ready Pasta Recycling Program offers consumers a method of recycling the instant pasta pouches. 

“The well-being of our planet, our communities and our consumers is at the very core of Barilla’s business philosophy and operations,” said Giorgio Beltrami, vice president of Research and Development, Barilla America. “Our company is hard at work growing our sustainability initiatives, but we also want to ensure we are empowering our customers to do the same by giving them the tools they need to lessen their environmental impact. The recycling program in partnership with TerraCycle is a personalized solution for our customers and shoppers.”

Though technically recyclable, flexible plastic packaging often ends up in landfills due to the high cost of recycling these mixed plastics. Barilla’s recycling program means their Ready Pasta packaging is now 100 percent recyclable, providing nationwide access to a solution that will prevent these recyclables from entering the waste stream.

Once collected, the pasta pouches are cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. Additionally, for every one pound of waste shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice.

Prior the Ready Pasta Recycling Program, Barilla worked with TerraCycle to divert landfill waste during public samplings at food and wine festivals in 2017.

The Barilla Ready Pasta Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office or community organization. To participate, just sign up on the TerraCycle program page and mail in your waste using a prepaid shipping label. To learn more, visit: terracycle.com/en-US/brigades.