Today's featured project isn't my own.  It comes to me from a company called TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> .  I can hear you scratching your head and questioning, "A corporate craft?" Yes, friends - a corporate craft.  But, TerraCycle is no ordinary corporation.  Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky (when he was 19 years old and a freshman at Princeton University,) TerraCycle is a multi-category eco-friendly upcycle company. Basically: They profit by taking waste and turning it into new goods which they then sell.  Things like Capri Sun drink pouches, Oreo cookie package wrappers, Cliff Bar wrappers and other assorted non-recyclable waste becomes purses, picture frames, clip boards and other cool items.

As part of the "How I Made My Millions" series, CNBC.com asked the founders and CEOs of these companies to share their experience on a variety of topics. What follows is advice for starting a business even in a tough economy from TerraCycle's Tom Szaky. Recession. Depression. Just plain tough. Whatever you call the economy today, the sane among us would have you believe it’s a lousy time to start a business. Except it isn’t. I’ve been operating TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> in a recession-smart way since the start, and have four ways you can, too:

I stumbled onto a company that turns the stuff people throw away every day into items that people also use every day. For example, do you eat Clif or Odwalla Bars while on a ride and then throw away the wrappers? Well, TerraCycle takes your discarded wrappers and turns them into messenger bags. Or how about coffee – this one’s not so obvious: coffee beans grow on trees with leaves and TerraCycle turns those leaves into high-quality copier paper, saving a little bit of tree in the process. Some other neat products that TerraCycle makes from your garbage: – plant pots made from computers and fax machines – clip boards made from circuit boards and juice boxes – stereo speakers from Starburst and M&M wrappers And see more on DwellSmart. Let’s face it, there’s lots to throw away, every day and everyone who eats or lives on the planet. That’s a lot of garbage! But TerraCycle is more than just reusing these pieces of trash to make useful, reusable items. For every piece of garbage that you send them, they will make a small donation ($.02) to the charity of your choice.

Admit it. You’ve done it before running. While cycling. After getting out of the pool. Thrown out an energy bar wrapper, that is. What else could you do? You probably stowed it away in your pocket, which is better than tossing it wherever you were. Unfortunately, not everybody is like you, and that leads to trails, tracks and streets littered with the up until recently non-recyclable packaging. Is there any other option? Yes. TerraCycle, one of the earliest innovators in upcycling (taking something and making a higher level use for it, if possible using it in its original form) come up with an alternative. First with Clif Bar, then with Kashi, Bear Naked, and Odwalla: Collect the used packaging and other hard to recycle materials and turn it into new products ranging from shower curtains to backpacks.

Tom Szaky's ambitions to turn one of America's fastest-growing private companies into a multi-billion dollar global empire didn't have glamorous beginnings. Szaky's Trenton-based TerraCycle got off the ground eight years ago out of a Princeton University student business plan contest. Szaky's idea was to establish a company that would transform biodegradable waste into high-yield fertilizer made from worm poop. Szaky, 28, drew his inspiration for the fertilizer plan from the success he and some of his Canadian high school buddies had in growing robust plants in fertilizer made from worm poop. He decided to drop out of Princeton during his sophomore year to give his full attention to the waste-into-fertilizer business he dubbed TerraCycle. Today, the company that Szaky founded in 2002 with a $20,000 machine for feeding organic waste to millions of little worms that would turn that waste into fertilizer has moved well beyond being merely a fertilizer-specialty manufacturer. It is a high-profile player in a niche corner of the recycling market known as "upcycling," in which used materials such as aluminum drink pouches, plastic soda bottles and plastic food wrappers are collected and transformed for use in new products without being broken down into their raw material components.

TerraCycle, CLIF BAR, Kashi, Bear Naked and Odwalla partner to turn granola bar wrappers and bags into eco-friendly products, while earning money for local charities. And because offices and schools produce a tremendous amount of waste, TerraCycle recently partnered with Papermate, Sharpie, 3M, Scotch Tape, Elmer's and more to launch a new program that helps clean up offices and schools nationwide.

Recycling company TerraCycle is making it easy for Americans to start trash cleanup projects. Simply sign up at terracycle.net <http://www.terracycle.net/>  to have collection bags with prepaid return shipping labels mailed to your home or business. Fill them with chip bags, cookie <http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/terracycle_trash_recycle/green_living/191#>  wrappers, drink pouches, and other food-packaging waste and send them back to TerraCycle; the trash will then be “upcycled” into tote bags and pencil cases (you can buy these accessories at Target stores or target.com <http://www.target.com/> ). Thanks to partnerships with food <http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/terracycle_trash_recycle/green_living/191#>  giants like Frito-Lay, Mars, and Nabisco, plus well-known natural brands such as Kashi, Clif Bar, Honest Kids, and Bear Naked, TerraCycle will donate $.02 for every wrapper you collect to the charity of your choice. At the end of last year, volunteers had raised more than $100,000 for public school organizations and groups like the Arbor Day Foundation.

TerraCycle Makes Strides with Brigades Most outdoor enthusiasts enjoy energy bars, granola, or trail mix before, during and after they hit the trails, streams and lakes. They already stash the leftover wrappers in pockets and backpacks to properly discard the used packaging when they return home. Now some of the industry's most trusted names, CLIF BAR, Kashi, Bear Naked and Odwalla, are rewarding people's efforts by creating a program that turns those wrappers and bags into eco-friendly products, while earning money for local charities. The four leading brands sponsor TerraCycle "Brigades" or free collection programs that contribute two cents to a school or charity for every energy bar wrapper, granola bag, or Kashi packaging returned. In under a year, the programs have helped keep over a million and a half wrappers out of landfills -- TerraCycle collects the used packaging and other hard to recycle material and turns it into new products ranging from shower curtains to backpacks.