Back to Gallery Recycling used to be so simple: aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers and paper bags. The sheer amount of disposable items has turned a garbage problem into a garbage crisis, says Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle. The company’s mission is recycling the previously unrecyclable, such as cigarette butts, contact lenses and chewing gum. As consumers have become more supportive of recyclable products, the options for recycling what we used to deem trash have grown.