The story of how TerraCycle turned waste into a $15 million business, with operations in 23 countries is truly remarkable. If you are not in Australia, there is bound to be a TerraCycle office near you too! TerraCycle believes that all waste can be re-used, up-cycled or recycled into new products. It just needs to be collected and sorted appropriately. If you’ve seen Waste Deep, you’ll understand why this is so important. Every year the world creates 5 billion tonnes of waste. 25% of it ends up in our oceans and only 5% is recycled.

A novel idea and vision to make the world a better place is what caused TerraCycle to take off and the start-up is all set to take Australia by storm now. Tom Szaky, the brain behind the company, is very hopeful about his company’s debut here. Termed as the ‘coolest little start-up’ in the US, TerraCycle, took a simple idea and made it a winning proposition.

Making millions from a business that recycles cigarette butts seems stranger than fiction. But Tom Szaky is an entrepreneur bent on making the impossible possible. Szaky's company TerraCycle has been described as “the coolest little start-up in America” and “the Google of garbage”. But don't describe this super eco-friendly outfit as just another recycling company.  

Making millions from a business that recycles cigarette butts seems stranger than fiction. But Tom Szaky is an entrepreneur bent on making the impossible possible. Szaky's company TerraCycle has been described as “the coolest little start-up in America” and “the Google of garbage”. But don't describe this super eco-friendly outfit as just another recycling company.

Last month, US-based TerraCycle, which runs national recycling programs called "Brigades" to collect and recycle problem waste entered the Australian market.

Launching this month in Australia, TerraCycle, will help us turn previously unrecyclable waste into affordable, sustainable consumer products and materials.

Recycling  personal  beauty  product  pumps,  tubes  or  face  wipes  is  no  longer  an  obstacle  with  the  introduction  of  an  Australian  first,  eco-responsible  program  “Cleaning Product Packaging  Brigade®”  by  innovative  recycling  pioneers  TerraCycle. Australians  are  now  able  to  collect  their  hand  wash  pumps,  body  wash  pumps,  beauty  product  pumps,  beauty  product  tubes  and  face  wipes  at  home  or  in  the  workplace. They  can  then  send  their  collections  to  TerraCycle  to  be  recycled  into  bright,  fun  and  sustainable  items  instead  of  being  discarded  garbage  sent  to  landfill. “ Now  consumers  have  a  “clean”  choice  with  the  option  to  recycle  used  beauty  products  regardless  of  brand -  and  look  good  and  feel  good.  Our  recycling  Brigades®  also allow  collectors  to  raise  money  for  their  local  school  or  favourite  charity.”  said  Anna  Minns,  General  Manager,  TerraCycle  Australia.

Clean Up Australia Day will be held this year on Sunday 2 March. The annual event provides a simple way for people to clean up, fix up and conserve the Australian environment. For the very first time, volunteers will this year be able to safely collect cigarette butts for recycling. Almost 6000 satchels will be distributed to volunteers, including businesses and community groups.

TerraCycle has been called the “Google of garbage” by the New York Times and “the coolest little start-up in America” by Inc. Magazine. We think these are pretty shrewd comparisons, considering the current in-demand job for change makers is in technology start-ups. TerraCycle, on the other hand, is a company that deals with waste.