Since 2001, TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky has been working hard to eliminate the idea of “waste.” The idea behind the company is to figure out how to repurpose waste, especially hard to recycle waste. They have literally repurposed billions of pieces of waste through innovative programs and partnering with conscientious companies, organizations and individuals. In their own words, “TerraCycle offers free recycling programs funded by brands, manufacturers, and retailers around the world to help you collect and recycle your hard-to-recycle waste.”

On having purpose: "Our entire drive is going good, saving the world and helping the environment." Tom Szaky founder and CEO of TerraCycle is interviewed by David Cogan managing partner and founder of Eliances and host of the Eliances Heroes show broadcast on am and fm, syndicated online.

Nuevo y divertido reality sobre TerraCycle, una innovadora empresa cuya misión consiste en “eliminar la idea de […]

Stream: Gentrification, Dramatized The rising tide of high-quality television doesn’t lift all boats. Participant Media recently announced it would shut down its three-year-old cable channel, Pivot, one of the multitude of outlets scrambling to build a reputation for original programming. Pivot made quirky, interesting choices: the unsettling Arctic murder mystery “Fortitude”; the Australian coming-out comedy “Please Like Me”; and “Human Resources,” an “Office”-like documentary series about an actual New Jersey recycling company.

We have just a few months left with Pivot, sometimes known as the Joseph Gordon-Levitt channel, the “Friday Night Lights” channel, or “that channel with all of the sad commercials about abused dogs.” Participant Media, which launched Pivot in 2013, announced Aug. 17 that it would be closing up shop at the cable network later this year. Pivot was best known for its tent-pole program, “Hit Record on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt,” a variety show created by the actor and inspired by his upbeat collaborative production company. “While this conclusion was not an easy one,” Participant Media CEO David Linde said in a statement of Pivot’s demise, “it is ultimately in the best interest of all our stakeholders, and allows us to allocate more resources toward the production of compelling content across all platforms.” Putting an end to Pivot might be the best decision for investors, but to me, the end of the network is a great sadness. The network had its own reality show, but this was Pivot, so it was no “Real Housewives.” Its take on the genre was “Human Resources,” which followed the happenings at the recycling company TerraCycle in Trenton, N.J. Even when plotlines got dramatic, it was all about bettering the world. Deborah Jaramillo, associate professor of Film and Television Studies at Boston University, has some theories about why. She’s studied how cable networks evolve, and what it means to have a network identity. Her best example is AMC, which used to have one goal: airing classic cinema. AMC took its platform to another level when it launched its own similarly-themed original programs, such as “Remember WENN,” about a radio station in the 1930s and ’40s. But over time, AMC realized it couldn’t survive with such a restricted focus. It began showing newer movies and relying more on advertising, Jaramillo says. Over the years, it became what it is now — the network that made “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” and, more recently, “The Night Manager.” During the day, though, it airs random films like “The Mummy.” Jaramillo says Pivot may have been too specific with its mission, just like AMC was in its early years. Pivot needed its syndicated material to have “more mass appeal, while maintaining that socially conscious message.” Pivot probably also should have thought beyond millennials at launch, Jaramillo says, because many young people — including her students at Boston University — rely on streaming devices. (Even Jaramillo says she discovered the British thriller “Fortitude,” which airs in the United States on Pivot, through Amazon.) The perfect audience for Pivot, Jaramillo agreed, was actually me — an older-than-millennial who has time to binge-watch old favorites, is open-minded enough to consider new shows, and wants to feel better about watching so much TV. Come fall, when Pivot is expected to start to fade away, I’ll have to go back to feeling conflicted about my television consumption. I’ll have to go back to getting my “Buffy” on Netflix, without commentary, like everyone else.

HUMAN RESOURCES7:30 p.m. on Pivot. This kooky workplace reality series follows Tom Szaky, the founder and chief executive of TerraCycle, a recycling company in Trenton, and his army of thinkers and doers whose mission is to eliminate waste — all of it. In Season 3, they take on condoms and toiletries.

“Human Resources” returns to Pivot TV Friday August 26 for its third season, and if you still wonder whether or not someone could make great TV out of life at a company whose business is green, wonder no more. The comedic docu-series is centered on the worldwide headquarters of TerraCycle, a company in Trenton, New Jersey that has lapped the field of recycling by being creative and motivated to end the need for landfills, as we know them. While it is a reality TV show, “Human Resources” is shot like a documentary, or in some ways like the great workplace sitcom, “The Office”. There is a lot of camera time for individual employees to comment on the project at hand and their TerraCycle colleagues, whether it’s about the pet policy in the office or one guy’s habit of eating his colleagues’ lunches, if they dare to step away from their desks. CEO Tom Szaky could play the part of Michael in “The Office”, but he doesn’t have to, because he is the anti-Michael, brilliant, articulate and constantly busy. While reviewing a season 2 episode we noted that Szaky has a vibe and style like NFL head coach Pete Carroll, someone who provides the guidance and a loose atmosphere for talented people to succeed, while challenging them to go further than they thought possible. There’s not too much structure at TerraCycle, and as a result the creativity is off the charts. The people are smart as whips, and many are a bit quirky, making for many an awkward moment. The department work together on projects that range from devising methods to recycle used tampons to creating schoolyard equipment from recycled material. If the show leaves you wondering why there aren’t more of those Zero Waste green boxes everywhere you go, it’s done its job. If you check out the season trailer posted below, you can get an idea of the work culture, but you have to watch the show to understand the passion of the staff and their love for a mission that is worthy and necessary. Season one is now available on YouTube and will continue to be available on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Pivot TV will air season 3 of “Human Resources” beginning Friday night August 26th at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT. Image/video credit: Pivot TV, used with permission

Great news for environmentalists and reality TV junkies alike: TerraCycle’s reality television show Human Resources premieres its third season Friday, August 26 on Pivot.

What is Human Resources?

Described as “The Office” meets “Project Runway,” Human Resources brings viewers behind the scenes and into the fast-moving environment of the TerraCycle office and the pandemonium that ensures. For those of you who are not familiar, TerraCycle is an international recycling company “Eliminating the Idea of Waste” through corporate sponsorship of various programs for recycling common household waste, the development of pre- and post-consumer waste technologies, blog posts, and much more. Committed to recycling the “unrecyclable,” TerraCycle works with companies putting forth the resources to find solutions for waste streams that fall outside the traditional recycling infrastructure. Can a reality show manage to make recycling fun? Recycling is one of the most commonly understood aspects of sustainability and environmentalism for consumers, but it doesn’t mean that it is the most entertaining of topics. Early on, we realized that an important balance had to be struck between TerraCycle’s message of sustainability and recycling processes, and an entertaining premise that viewers would come back to.

What Makes this Show Different?

Shot on location in Trenton, New Jersey, right off the bat, Human Resources takes place in a “trashy” office environment: the central conference room is made of clear plastic soda bottles, vinyl records built into desk dividers, desks made of doors, graffiti covers every wall, and a “carden” (an old convertible stacked on a mountain of old tired) is overrun with fresh mint in the building’s courtyard. Visually interesting, TerraCycle’s reality show exposes viewers to a somewhat exotic locale featuring unconventional décor and no shortage of color. It is the TerraCycle Design team’s job to look at objects like a Styrofoam cooler and a wool winter coat and think that the two seemingly unrelated objects can be upcycled into a totally new product with an entirely new function, like an ottoman, but viewers have the same freedom. Viewers can get ideas about different uses and perspectives for items commonly regarded as trash and use their imaginations to embark on their own upcycling journeys. If some people watch the Real Housewives for the clothes, some may watch Human Resources for the DIY inspiration.

Integration of Fun and Facts on Human Resources

We have achieved a balance between the fun and the factual by integrating TerraCycle projects, mission goals and events into each episode, and giving them a spin on our corporate culture by highlighting what really makes TerraCycle tick: its people. If the first step to enacting social change is raising awareness, this awareness is generated by holding the attention of the general public, and keeping it. Human Resources is entirely unscripted and features real employees of the growing sustainability startup, including Tom Szaky, the 34-year-old CEO and founder who dropped out of Princeton to pursue TerraCycle full-time. Past episodes have given viewers dynamic look at our Materials Sales team as they struggle to find a recycling solution for dirty diapers, chronicled the friendly intra-office competition that a boys vs. girls “recycle-a-thon” (with collegiate Greek-life recruits, no less) inspires, and followed our Design team down the rabbit hole of turning items bound for landfill into valuable, usable works of art. Filming three seasons of reality television has been a wild ride, but it’s been invaluable to our company’s message. While we can’t say for sure that Human Resources will galvanize greater support for mainstream environmental programming, it’s a good start nonetheless. The success of the show is proving that people are interested in reality TV that goes beyond the Jersey Shore club scene and D-list celebrity drama, and can see the fun in a young, mission-driven company from Trenton, NJ.

Get caught up and watch Human Resources Season One in its entirety for free online for a limited time on YouTube.

As a genre, reality television has a bad rap. A so-called “guilty pleasure” in many circles, top of mind here are the dating shows, cabin fever-fueled competitions, and the observational fly-on-the-wall brand of reality that has turned regular people into celebrities.