Rubicon is proud to announce the launch of Trick or Trash™ 2021, a fun and educational program designed to help reduce the waste that accumulates every year around Halloween.

This year, we are thrilled to welcome new Trick or Trash partners, Cox Communications, Arby’s Foundation, and g2 revolution, as we endeavor to reach and engage communities large and small around the country. And we are honored to have the continued support of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in the development of the Trick or Trash education program.

It is estimated that each year 600 million pounds of candy are consumed in the United States during the Halloween season, and research from the National Retail Federation shows that in 2020, $2.4 billion dollars was spent on candy during the holiday. The materials used for candy packaging are notoriously difficult to recycle with the vast majority ending up in landfills, as well as America’s waterways and oceans. To address this challenge, Rubicon is enlisting the help of teachers and small businesses around the country in collecting candy wrappers and inspiring communities to recycle.

This year’s campaign marks Trick or Trash’s third year and follows its immense success in 2020. When the campaign first launched in 2019, it reached more than 470 schools in 49 states, and diverted an estimated 4,000 pounds of wrappers and packaging from landfills. The 2020 campaign not only reached more people than the prior year, finding its way to more than 730 schools and small businesses in all 50 U.S. states, it also improved upon the number of candy wrappers and other packaging diverted from landfills and oceans, increasing to an estimated 7,000 pounds.

How Trick or Trash Works

So, how does Trick or Trash work? Participants deposit their wrappers into custom collection boxes, and once full, simply return the boxes for processing using a prepaid shipping label for carbon-neutral shipping. Rubicon is giving free boxes to every participating school and small business while supplies last. For this year’s campaign, the processing of the candy wrappers is being managed by Trick or Trash partner, g2 revolution, an innovative recycling company that develops sustainable Second Life® solutions to divert waste from landfills through reuse, recycling, or recovery of usable ingredients to make new products or to generate energy.

This year, participants will each receive a Certificate of Recycling, confirming the exact weight of material diverted from landfill and enabling them to share the positive impact of their collection efforts with their community.

Welcoming World-Class Partners

This year’s program also includes two new corporate partners, whose presence will enable the campaign to reach even more communities and individuals than ever. Cox Communications, a leading cable television and telecommunications provider and longtime Rubicon partner, has joined Trick or Trash as the official media sponsor. The company has pledged to place hundreds of Trick or Trash boxes in Boys and Girls Clubs in their communities.

The Arby’s Foundation, the independent charitable arm of Arby’s, has come aboard as Trick or Trash’s official charity partner, building on its long-established commitment to helping young people improve their lives through a range of programs, including confronting childhood hunger, improving educational outcomes, and supporting national and local volunteering programs. Given its community focus, Trick or Trash complements the Foundation’s other initiatives

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) returns as the official education partner of Trick or Trash. The critical educational component of the campaign, which focuses on the role of recycling within the circular economy, has also expanded in 2021 to include, in addition to the K-12 lesson plans and other content from prior years, a reading list for university and college students, and a useful factsheet for business participants. NWF hopes to introduce campus sustainability teams to the Trick or Trash program as part of its Campus Race to Zero Waste initiative, a nationwide recycling competition which Rubicon also supports.

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Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it’s always a thrill to celebrate the launch of Rubicon’s annual Trick or Trash campaign. We are excited to have leading corporate organizations like Cox and Arby’s join us, as well as seeing established partners like NWF return for another year.

To order a free Trick or Trash box for your school or small business, go to the official Trick or Trash website and hit “Order a box.”

Michael Allegretti is Chief Strategy Officer at Rubicon. To stay ahead of Rubicon’s announcements of new partnerships and collaborations around the world, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, or contact us today.