As a social business with a triple bottom line of ‘planet, people and profit’ TerraCycle’s motivation from its beginning as a worm fertiliser start-up to a global recycling company is to ‘eliminate the idea of waste’. Through nationwide collection programs called Brigades, that are free and accessible, TerraCycle’s purpose is to recycle ‘unrecyclable’ waste streams that others deem challenging, impossible or unsavoury and provide a cyclical solution through reuse, upcycling and recycling. TerraCycle does not believe in linear solutions such as incinerating waste or waste-to-landfill.

We all try to do our part. If nothing else, most people will throw their recyclables into those yellow-lidded bins. But what do you do with non-recyclables? American start-up TerraCycle have saved 2.6 billion pieces of waste through their upcycling process which turns hard to recycle waste into new products. Founder and CEO Tom Szaky spoke with Tim Higgins about TerraCycle's unique brand of upcycling, which has now started up in Australia.

RECYCLING entrepreneur Tom Szaky is stubbing out the world's cigarette problem - one butt at a time. The 30-year-old who dropped out of Princeton University to start his innovative company TerraCycle in New Jersey, said there's no such thing as rubbish, even when you're talking about the contents of ashtrays.