As many great companies do, this one started in a dorm room. Tom Szaky, now at the ripe old age of 27, is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  and was named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. magazine in 2009. The idea of upcycling wasn't trendy at the time, and the first few years at Terracycle were rocky. Hurdles involved near bankruptcy and the hard choice of turning down a $1 million grant because the investor's principles were not in line with Szaky's idea of a truly sustainable company — now that's a man with faith in his idea! TerraCycle upcycles the collected "waste" material into affordable, eco-friendly products. Since 2007, over 60,000 locations and 7 million people are helping to collect, instead of discard, their trash. Over 1 billion pieces of pre- and post-consumer packaging have been collected and over 250,000 dollars has been donated to schools and nonprofits.