TagBack® Recycling Program Sees Positive Response
April 22, 2021 • Alyssa Sobotka, Digital Content Specialist
Active and growing participation from brands and consumers has led to measurable success for Bedford’s TagBack® program.
The program, active since late 2019, provides a return option for food packaging closures including twist ties and bread clips and scannable produce packaging like produce ties and barcode tags. Bedford’s point-of-sale ElastiTag® hang tags used in many industries across the country are also reclaimed through the TagBack program.
Brands participate by adding the TagBack logo to their custom ties and tags. The Natural Dog Company sees the program as a key component to its own sustainability goals. Consumers may either return ties and tags to a store drop box location or mail them directly to Bedford, where the elements are separated and given new purpose.
To date, the program has: 
- Participation from more than 36 brands
- Printed the TagBack logo on 79 million (& counting!) ties & tags
- Collected and recycled 67,749 pounds (& growing!) of returned product
We have been able to collect more than 67,000 pounds of ties and tags from the following practical return methods.
1. Retail – What better option for consumers to return ties and tags than at their next trip to the supermarket? Jimbo’s Natural Family is one of our retail partners who added TagBack boxes to their stores, providing consumers a convenient option for returning the packaging closures no longer needed. More stores are continuously being added. View the list of locations at tagback.com.
2. Mail-In – Consumers are also taking matters into their own hands and mailing their ties and tags directly to our manufacturing facility, where we have the capability to upcycle the products into other usable items.
3. Application Sites – Our TagBack boxes are also growing in popularity among our own customers for tie and tag products that have been compromised and may not be applied for its intended use. The on-site collection bins are a convenient way for packers to responsibly discard this waste without sending it to the landfill.
Whether products are returned at the beginning or end of their lifecycle, there’s one thing we know for certain: brands and consumers care about the environment. They care about reducing the amount of plastic in their consumer packaged goods and finding the most sustainable packaging option. We hope to build on this success with continuous participation from brands, retailers, and consumers.
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