Credit: Unsplash

The packets themselves, not the sauce in them.

Taco Bell’s various spicy sauces are one of their primary draws. I knew a guy once who loved Taco Bell, but he would absolutely refuse to eat anything from them unless it was smothered in Fire sauce, and I know for a fact he wasn’t the only one like that. Taco Bell regularly goes through approximately 8.2 billion packets of sauce on a yearly basis, but the problem is even if the sauce itself gets used, the packets themselves just take up space in a landfill. Can you imagine how big a pile of 8 billion sauce packets would be? ‘Cause it’s pretty big.

In order to mitigate their environmental impact, Taco Bell has announced a new recycling initiative, wherein they will recycle packets after they’ve been drained of their saucy contents. Of course, sauce packets can’t be resealed after they’ve been torn open, so they can’t just be used again. This is why Taco Bell has enlisted the aid of New Jersey-based recycling company TerraCycle to help them develop a truly recyclable packet.

“In the food industry today, there is no widely available solution for recycling the flexible film packets that are so commonly used for condiments,” said Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s Global Chief Food Innovation Officer, in a statement. “So, we’re thrilled to leverage the expertise of TerraCycle to recycle our iconic sauce packet packaging in a way that’s as bold and innovative as our menu.”

Taco Bell Announces TerraCycle Sauce Packet Recycling Program https://t.co/L0dntmcmZV

— HYPEBEAST (@HYPEBEAST) April 20, 2021

“Now more than ever, consumers don’t want to sacrifice the planet no matter how delicious the meal,” said TerraCycle CEO and Founder, Tom Szaky. “Together, Taco Bell and TerraCycle will push the quick service industry by finally finding a way to recycle this type of product. This effort takes us one step closer to keeping packets out of landfills and our mission of ‘Eliminating the Idea of Waste.’”

Deeper details aren’t yet available, but Taco Bell is planning a dry run of their recycling initiative some time later this year.