Für den Kongress konnte die WHU den gebürtigen Ungar und Unternehmer Tom Szaky gewinnen, der mit seinem Unternehmen TerraCycle Recyclinglösungen für Abfälle in 23 Ländern weltweit entwickelt, die bisher nicht recycelt wurden.

Die Einrichtung der Büroräume organisierte der 27-jährige Darshan Alatan, der Teil des TerraCycle Designteams ist: „Die Büroräume von TerraCycle reflektieren unser Firmenkonzept. Dadurch zeigen wir, dass Müll wirklich vielseitig verwendbar ist und dass man für fast alles eine neue Verwendung finden kann: Sogar aus Zahnpastatubenverschlüssen kann ein Lampenschirm und aus Weinkorken eine Trennwand werden.“ TerraCycle organisiert in 23 Ländern weltweit Lösungen für schwer recycelbare Abfälle. Aus Materialien wie Süßigkeitenverpackungen, Stiften oder Zahnbürsten, die sonst in Müllverbrennungsanlagen oder auf Deponien landen würden, stellt das Recycling- und Upcyclingunternehmen neue, umweltfreundliche Produkte her. Hierfür arbeitet es mit mehr als 30 der größten Firmen der Welt zusammen, die das Recycling ihrer Produkte finanzieren. Deshalb findet man im neu eingerichteten Büro von TerraCycle auch einen Lampenschirm aus Kugelschreiberverpackungen des Schreibwarenherstellers BiC und Taschen aus Fabrikabfall der führenden Mundhygienemarke Colgate.

Tom Szaky is proving that one man’s waste is everyone’s treasure. His company, TerraCycle, Inc. is eliminating the idea of “waste” by creating easy-to-use collection systems and recycling processes that allow people to recycle materials previously considered “non-recyclable.”

HC App State also loves Garnier’s commitment to the environment.  Their eco-designed packaging and green partnerships with TerraCycle and EarthShare are just a few of the reasons why we love Garnier.

Be beautiful and environmentally savvy while you're at it. Recycle your old beauty products by shipping them to Terra Cycle (you can download their pre-paid UPS shipping packages online so it's completely free). They'll take your old beauty products and transform them into something new.

New Jersey-based TerraCycle, which collects non-recyclable, or difficult-to-recycle, waste, has partnered with major corporation Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury, to launch a recycling waste campaign on the Asian market.

Tom was interviewed live with Maria Bartiromo for her nationally syndicated CNBC show, On the Money, from the steps of the NYSE. Maria is widely considered one of the top financial journalists in the nation. The 2.30 minute-long piece ran on CNBC Primetime last night and also ran on NBC affiliates in 285 markets across the weekend.

Earth Day Every Day and MLK Children's Center--- Martin Luther King Children’s Center, a school district before and after school program on the campus of MLK K-8 Elementary School, collects a variety of items for recycling with TerraCycle.  The Children’s Center collected drink pouches, used toothbrushes, empty toothpaste tubes, empty beauty bottles, cheese wrappers along with dairy tub containers and sends them postage paid to TerraCycle.  MLK Children’s Center earns about $.02 per item. TerraCycle then converts the collected waste into a wide variety of products and materials. TerraCycle’s purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a 20-year-old Princeton University freshman, TerraCyle began by producing organic fertilizer, packaging liquid worm poop in used soda bottles. Since then Terracycle has grown into one of the fastest growing green companies in the world. Terracycle is creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable waste.  MLK Children’s Center is just one group of 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries. TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.  The goal is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today must be sent to a landfill. So far, MLK Children’s Center has sent in 18,146 drink pouches alone. Staff, students and families collect these items from their homes along with collection tubs in the school cafeteria at lunchtime. It’s a great way we celebrate Earth Day everyday! Good for the environment, community and especially the children. Here are some accolades from the students: “Terracycle is cool because we help the environment by recycling our trash.” — Leiomi Gastinell, sixth grader “It’s so easy to save and bring in the items.” — Alyson Eystad, fourth grader “It’s a good way to help the environment and the children’s center without doing anything hard or extreme.” — Elise Ledesma, sixth grader

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GOLD: TerraCycle TerraCycle’s business model is to eliminate waste by offering free recycling fundraisers to any school, non-profit, corporation or individual/family for any type of man-made waste. The program incentivizes the collection of common packaging and products ranging from candy wrappers to cosmetics, packaging to cigarette butts. “Brigades” collect waste that TerraCycle then turns into more than 1500 new products, ranging from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks. These products are available online and at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods. There are currently more than 40 programs that range from food packaging (like drink pouches and candy wrappers) to office supplies (like pens and tape dispensers) to personal products (like cosmetic and beauty packaging to diaper packaging). For every item returned, TerraCycle donates two-cents (or the local equivalent) to a school or non-profit of the collector’s choice. TerraCycle operates in 22 countries, minimizing the global threats of landfill and incineration on humans and the environment. So far, through TerraCycle, 32 million consumers have diverted 2.5 billion units of waste from landfill and incineration, while earning over 4.5 million dollars (US) for schools and myriad non- profits. For example, the drink pouch is a ubiquitous waste stream found in every school cafeteria in America. In order to offset the estimated 11 BILLION pouches that go to waste every year in America alone, TerraCycle partnered with Honest Tea and Capri Sun to start the Drink Pouch Brigade. The free recycling fundraiser was an opportunity for two competitors to put aside their corporate differences and do the right thing for the environment. Since the Program was founded, over 70,000 organizations – including 57,000 schools – signed up for the program. As of December 2012 they helped collect over 164 MILLION drink pouches and collectively earned over 3.2 million dollars. The collected pouches are upcycled or recycled into a variety of products. School items like pencil cases and backpacks that help to complete the education for kids. The students get to see what the pouches they helped collect are turned into for a second life. Pouches are also recycled into more utilitarian products like park benches, picnic tables and railroad ties. TerraCycle’s programs are sponsored by some of the world’s largest companies. These major companies include Kraft Foods, Nestle, Mars, Inc., Kimberly-Clark, Frito-Lay, Kashi, Sanford, Elmer’s Products, Inc, Logitech, Old Navy, Clif Bar, Sprout Baby Food, 3M, Malt-O-Meal, Colgate, Palmolive, L’Oreal, and BIC.