TerraCycle is an inspired company that began with the simple concept of eliminating everyday waste. Ten years ago, emboldened by this idea of “outsmarting waste,” Princeton student Tom Szaky started selling cartons of worm casting in plastic bottles. Now, a decade after its humble humus-based beginnings, TerraCycle is a multimillion dollar company with a global waste recycling program that turns common trash items into products like purses and swing sets. In partnership with companies such as Kraft and Nabisco, Tom has seemingly done the impossible— he has gotten some of the biggest corporations in the world to sponsor the upcycling and recycling of their own trash. Here’s how it works: Everyday people throw away consumer packaging and other odds and ends that could easily be reused and recycled into something else. TerraCycle works by providing the means for anyone to collect and recycle these products. Schools, neighborhoods, or even individuals can sign up for a “Brigade,” or recognized cotillion of trash collectors. Each Brigade is provided with Collection Kits for goods like juice pouches and yogurt cups. Once their kit is full, a Brigade sends the box back to TerraCycle, earning money to donate towards the charity of their choice. From there, TerraCycle takes each waste item and upcycles or recycles them into products like kites, backpacks, and benches. These products are available online and from retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, and Wholefoods, thus bringing the whole circle back around. The same juice pouch purchased from Wal-Mart the previous year can now sit on the self as a CD case.