One Man's Trash
TerraCycle Capri Sun (Kraft Foods) Walmart Target Include USA
Forget recycling. Reusing materials discarded in the manufacturing process is a growing force behind a fresh new industry.
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That scale that Looptworks' Hamlin is aiming for is already happening on the post-consumer end of the upcycling market. If Etsy is considered the epicenter of do-it-yourself upcycling, then New Jersey-based TerraCycle takes on that same function in mass upcycling. The company turns actual garbage into hundreds of products, like Oreo wrapper backpacks and bicycle chain picture frames. With a large-scale collection infrastructure developed over the past 10 years, TerraCycle nabs about 1 billion pieces of garbage every quarter that ultimately end up on the shelves of big-box retailers like Target and The Home Depot.
Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, started the operation <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219310#> as a humble provider of worm poop while he was a Princeton University freshman. But over the years the company's increasing fortunes have mirrored the burgeoning opportunities in the green market. In 2009, sales revenue hit $7.5 million; in 2010, it jumped to $20 million. Since January, Szaky has added operations in nine more countries, bringing the total to 20.
There's also serious behind-the-scenes innovation happening. Terra-Cycle employs "polymer scientists" who are immersed in figuring out ways to manipulate paper, organics and plastics into materials like a new plastic lumber and textile made from Capri Sun drink pouches. Meanwhile, teams of designers are figuring out how to make jackets from Doritos bags and luggage from energy bar wrappers.
"The market is ripe for more innovation," Szaky says. "[Valued] at $12.5 million, TerraCycle is, without any debate, the biggest upcycler in the world. But compared to other industries, that's small--and that means there's way more opportunity."