The Return Foundation is the philanthropic and community engagement arm of Return Technologies. We believe that responsible materials management is about more than compliance, it's about leaving communities and the environment better than we found them.
The Return Foundation exists to advance environmental stewardship, support education in materials science and sustainability, and invest in the communities where Return Technologies operates. We work alongside retailers, municipalities, and nonprofit partners to turn waste into opportunity.
Through direct community programs, educational partnerships, and flagship initiatives like Trick or Trash™, we are proving that responsible end-of-life processing can create positive social impact at every stage.
Every initiative we support maps to one of three focus areas that align our expertise with community need.
We invest in the communities where we operate through local partnerships, job creation programs, and direct engagement initiatives. From hiring locally at processing facilities to partnering with community organizations on waste reduction, we believe infrastructure should benefit the people closest to it.
Through programs like Trick or Trash™, we teach the next generation about materials recovery and environmental responsibility. We also support workforce training programs in materials processing, logistics, and environmental compliance.
We fund research into advanced materials recovery techniques and support landfill diversion programs nationwide. Our goal is to push the boundaries of what can be recovered from unsellable inventory, reducing the environmental footprint of reverse logistics across the entire industry.
Our signature consumer engagement program transforms Halloween by turning candy wrapper waste into an educational opportunity. Through our mail-back box program, classrooms across America collect and return candy wrappers for recycling instead of sending them to landfill.
Trick or Trash demonstrates what's possible when you combine operational infrastructure with community engagement, and it's exactly the kind of program that resonates with the nation's largest retailers.
Learn More About Trick or TrashWe work with retailers, municipalities, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations to expand our impact. If your organization shares our commitment to sustainable materials management, we'd like to hear from you.
We'll show you the compliant path to resolving your unsellable inventory.