1. Can you explain in one paragraph what your business involves?

TerraCycle recycles and upcycles waste packaging and used products that are normally difficult-to-recycle. Interested consumers can sign up for free on our website to collect a variety of materials and for each piece of packaging waste or used product they collect we contribute 2 cents to a school or charity of their choice! We collect over 60 types of waste globally, including Capri Sun drink pouches, Frito Lay chip bags and Mars candy wrappers in the US and BIC writing instruments in the Netherlands. The collected material is upcycled and recycled into backpacks, tote bags, park benches, bike racks, and flower pots.

2. Why can we call your service sustainable?  

  The service is sustainable because it keeps unnecessary trash out of the landfill – cutting down on carbon emissions, landfill space, and waste. We also focus on providing upcycled and recycled products to consumers, so they can choose to buy items that were producing using less energy and less waste and are therefore more sustainable. In addition, we pay to carbon offset all the shipping of waste to our regional collection depots.

3. What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

Entrepreneurship means the pursuit of new ideas, creation of new systems and business models in order to make a profit, but also, especially in the case of TerraCycle, to solve the world's most pressing social issues. TerraCycle's business model has changed a few times over the years, but our mission and our practice remain the same. We've moved from organic fertilizer to sponsored waste stream collection for consumer packaging and products. We've expanded from consumer programs to include business programs. We've adapted to what's best for our idea: keeping waste out of the landfill, and making products completely from waste so they're ultimately as sustainable as possible. Entrepreneurism is always adapting, growing and innovative.

4. What are the biggest challenges when it comes to sustainable entrepreneurship?

One of the biggest challenges is staying in line with people's attitudes and encouraging them to remain focused on sustainable living and taking care of the environment. Trends change constantly, and we want a focus on the environment and eco-friendly living to remain a trend. For TerraCycle, keeping up with eco-friendly trends and helping other people see the value in what most people would just brush off as "trash" is another challenge. This is one of the more fun challenges – it's also fascinating to see what our design team, our CEO, and our TerraCycle come up with over the years, including dresses from candy wrappers and drink pouches, backpacks from billboard material, and an oversized sign depicting the Target logo made from of bottle caps. Seeing these projects helps keep up the energy, and keep up people's interest – a key factor in success for entrepreneurs.

5. What will be happening with TerraCycle in 5 years' time?

  In five years, we'll have more waste streams and be producing more products from that waste. We like to look into unusual waste streams such as dirty diapers, cigarette butts, and chewed gum. In addition, we've been expanding internationally since 2009, and we're continuing to expand into other countries and offer waste solutions abroad as well as in the United States.