Tom Szaky Terracycle At a Glance * Age: 29 * Headquarters: Trenton, N.J. * 2010 revenues: $13 million * www.terracycle.net Profile When Tom Szaky was a freshman at Princeton he hit upon the idea of using worm poop as an organic fertilizer. He borrowed money from family and friends and spent all his savings on a $20,000 "worm gin"—which can hold hundreds of thousands of the invertebrates—and dropped out of college. With a $2,000 angel investment from venture capitalist Suman Sinha, Szaky started packaging the fertilizer in used soda bottles and selling it out of his car to local gardening centers. In 2004 he convinced a buyer for Home Depot to take a flier on his fertilizer, which is also now available in Target and Wal-Mart. In addition to the ­fertilizer, Terracycle collects trash and turns it into bright, fun products, like messenger bags made out of used Capri Sun packages and trippy "urban art trash cans." The company donates 2 cents to charity for each waste item it ­recycles, raising $3.2 million so far.

Terracycle has both a great story and a social movement at its core, founded as it was by a Princeton University dropout who launched a business selling worm-poop compost in refurbished Coke bottles. It has built an eight-figure brand largely by leveraging the marketing power of far bigger brands, either through a bit of PR jujitsu or marketing partnerships with such big marketers as Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Walmart and Target, VP Global Media Albe Zakes told the ANA in October. The jujitsu part came when Terracycle used a trademark-infringement suit by Scotts Miracle-Gro to unleash a wave of publicity. The partnership element involved enlisting major brands in its school-based recycle and reuse programs where the brand turns such things as old CapriSun pouches into new products. Terracycle also has gotten top retailers such as Walmart and Target involved in merchandising and advertising events around its compost products in recycled containers around Earth Month in April.

Almost fairytale-like, Noble Elementary School this year converted trash into treasure. But it took a lot more than a fervent wish and a wave of a wand for the Berryessa school to win a $50,000 play structure for the school's empty playground. In a mega-recycling campaign, for one year students and parents saved, sorted and shipped what normally ends up in the trash: empty Doritos bags, Lunchables trays, Elmer's glue bottles, Colgate toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. And there was more: Neosporin tubes, tortilla bags and all types of pens and markers. In all, parents collected and sorted into 37 bins items from both home and school, and sent them to Terracycle, a not-for-profit New Jersey company dedicated to recycling the previously unrecyclable.

Dinosaurs Rex and Rita get their fill of recycled bags at Madison Avenue Elementary. Now they're looking for their fill of votes to win a recycling contest. The school's bins used to accept chip and drink pouches during lunch period are among the 10 finalists in TerraCycle's The Box that Rocks Contest. The winner gets 100,000 points - which translates into $1,000 - from the the New Jersey business that "upcycles" or turns typically non-recyclable materials into new products.

In order to teach students a fun way to protect the Earth and earn money for their school, Oakwood Elementary is participating in a national recycling program. TerraCycle Inc. has partnered with brands including Kraft, Nabisco and Frito-Lay to recycle and “upcycle” packaging including Capri Sun juice pouches, Lunchables containers, chip bags, and more. The items can be used to make products including notebook covers, backpacks and pencil cases. Through TerraCycle, Inc., the school is able to collect food packaging which is difficult to recycle, ship the items at no cost to various warehouses across the country, and receive points. The points can be used toward buying a charity gift or be converted to money for a charity or the school itself.

If you’d like to donate some of your pouches, there are boxes in the office and cafeteria to place empties. What happens to them? The firm Terracycle turns them into cool bags and pencil cases for kids.

We are thrilled to partner with TerraCycle to give away six exclusive, upcycled school supply items. Up for grabs is a large tote bag made from a large potato chip bag, spiral notebook created from smaller chip bags, pencil case and homework folder made from drink pouches, circuit board clipboard, and a package of eco-friendly printer paper. Total value? $50! Read below to see all the ways you can enter to win. One winner will be selected at random. Entries will be received through 11:59 PST on October 27, 2011. Good luck!

Upcycling takes recycling to a whole new level. A product or material, like a CapriSun juice pouch or Skittles candy wrapper, products made famous by TerraCycle, is made into something of higher value. The purse or wristlet made with the original materials is far more valuable than the used wrapper on its own, even if that wrapper is recycled. The same goes for upcycling your content. Rather than merely recycling it, why not add to it for increased value. Rework it into a new thought, offer new opinions, ask new questions, based on your original content, or someone else’s in order to create more value.

I had the chance to interview Albe Zakes, the VP of Media for Terracycle, and a founding member. This is such a great interview as Albe tells how Terracycle was started, how they overcame their obstacles and most importantly, how social entrepreneurs should go about making their vision come to life. He explains what ‘up-cycling’ is and how that put TerraCycle on the path to generate millions in sales.