Rubicon Announces the Launch of Trash or Treasure™

Company expands holiday waste reduction campaign to provide candy wrapper recycling boxes to schools, businesses, and community organizations all year long.

Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (“Rubicon” or the “Company”) (NYSE: RBT), a leading provider of software-based waste, recycling, and fleet operations products for businesses and governments worldwide, today announced the launch of Trash or Treasure™, a program designed to help reduce the waste that accumulates around seasonal celebrations throughout the year, starting with Halloween 2023.

A New Name and Expanded Mission

Over the last four years, through the support of schools, community organizations, and independent businesses across the United States, Rubicon’s annual Halloween waste reduction campaign has helped to divert hundreds of thousands candy wrappers from landfills, enabling thousands of pounds of plastic to be recycled as part of the circular economy.

Campaign participation has grown exponentially every year since its inception in 2019, and now the Company is excited to celebrate five years of the program with a new name and an expanded mission. Trash or Treasure will now help schools, community organizations, and small businesses reduce waste all year long by providing easy-to-assemble mail-back recycling boxes which can be filled with discarded candy wrappers and returned via carbon neutral shipping provided by our longtime campaign partner, UPS.

Help Reduce Waste Year-Round

It is estimated that each year more than 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 2022, $3.1 billion dollars was spent on candy during the holiday.

Candy packaging materials 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 once again enlisting the help of teachers, business owners, and community leaders around the country in collecting used wrappers and inspiring communities to recycle.

Starting this fall, the Trash or Treasure program will run throughout the year with special campaigns around Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and other seasonal festivities in 2024.

“Rubicon’s mission is to end waste, and our Trash or Treasure campaign is the clearest example of this mission in action,” said Dan Sampson, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Rubicon. “We are so excited to announce the expansion of the program such that we can now divert candy wrappers from landfills all year long. We are incredibly grateful to all the schools, community groups, and small businesses for being a part of Trash or Treasure. Their support and enthusiasm have made the program what it is today.”

Is It Trash or Is It Treasure?

Core to the success of Trash or Treasure is the campaign’s education program, which was created in collaboration with The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Trash or Treasure’s official education partner. Downloadable lesson plans, reading lists, signage, and other collateral are available to help campaign participants rethink what is considered trash and understand its potential value as part of the circular economy.

These materials introduce circular economy concepts that can be integrated into any curriculum, and provide fun, interactive, critical thinking exercises with the goal of helping students understand recycling and why it is important to the health of our planet.

“The National Wildlife Federation seeks to educate and inspire environmental and wildlife champions of all ages,” said Kim Martinez, Vice President of Education and Engagement at the National Wildlife Federation. “By participating in Rubicon’s Trash or Treasure Halloween campaign, kids are doing their part for wildlife by keeping candy wrappers out of our landfills and oceans.”

New and Returning Partners

This year’s program also sees the return of UPS as the campaign’s official shipping partner. UPS has been integral to the positive environmental impact of Trash or Treasure, and its carbon neutral shipping solutions have been a critical component of the success of the campaign. Rubicon is proud to work with UPS again this year.

"At UPS, we believe in delivering more than just packages – we deliver a promise of sustainability,” said Joseph Mckinnie, Director of Product Management at UPS. “By pioneering carbon-neutral shipping options, we not only help our customers navigate the global marketplace seamlessly but also empower them to make eco-conscious choices. Together, we’re on track to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 – one carbon-neutral delivery at a time.”

Rubicon is also proud to announce a new Trash or Treasure partner in Wood Partners. A national, award-winning leader in the development, construction, and management of multi-family communities across the United States, Wood Partners joins the campaign as a commercial sponsor.

“Like Rubicon, Wood Partners is focused on diverting waste away from landfills and into recycling streams,” said Josh Lloyd, Executive Vice President at Wood Partners. “We are proud to join the Trash or Treasure campaign and help turn these 'sweet' celebrations into greener and cleaner holidays.”

To order a free Trash or Treasure for your school, independent business, or community organization, click one of the links above and follow the prompts. Trash or Treasure boxes can also be purchased for personal use on the RUBICONMarketplace™.

About Rubicon

Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RBT) is a leading provider of software-based waste, recycling, and fleet operations products for businesses and governments worldwide. Striving to create a new industry standard by using technology to drive environmental innovation, the Company helps turn businesses into more sustainable enterprises, and neighborhoods into greener and smarter places to live and work. Rubicon’s mission is to end waste. It helps its partners find economic value in their waste streams and confidently execute on their sustainability goals. To learn more, visit rubicon.com.

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