Tom Szaky has built an entire business around the notion  anything can be recycled. "There is no such thing as garbage," said  the 28-year-old Canadian founder and president of TerraCycle Inc.  "The only difference between a soda bottle and a yogourt cup is that  one has a collection and solution system on it already -- the soda  bottle has our Blue Box program -- while the yogourt cup doesn't."

Tom Szaky has built an entire business around the notion  anything can be recycled. "There is no such thing as garbage," said  the 28-year-old Canadian founder and president of TerraCycle Inc.  "The only difference between a soda bottle and a yogourt cup is that  one has a collection and solution system on it already -- the soda  bottle has our Blue Box program -- while the yogourt cup doesn't."

From its humble beginnings selling worm-poop fertilizer, this New Jersey product manufacturer upcycles retail trash into retail treasure. Each and every product on this earth has a life span,” said Tom Szaky, CEO and vice president of licensing and product development at TerraCycle, Inc. “The end-of-life reality of a bag of potato chips is that the food ends up in the toilet and the bag ends up in the garbage. Same with a pen; you buy a pen, the ink runs out. The only difference is, some products can be recycled easily and others not so easily.”

TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  is truly an amazing company.  I thought what they do was really neat the first time that I heard about them.  When I saw their bags, totes, and back packs at Walmart, I thought they were the cutest products!  You may have seen them yourself.  Have you seen the cute M&M bags or the Capri Sun totes and back packs?  Those are the workings of TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> !  Just check out some of their products below!

Just about every school - public or private - needs money. And I'm not against it by any means. This year I'm chairing the fund raising committee for my younger son's school. My goal is to incorporate projects that teach as well as bring in money. But In my quest, I've found another that I must share. The company is called TerraCycle, and its aim is to make eco-friendly, affordable consumer products from waste.

That’s where TerraCycle comes into play. The goal of TerraCycle is to prevent snack and drink containers from ending up in landfills or being incinerated. TerraCycle helps band consumers together into groups — called “Brigades” — to return used packaging in bulk to TerraCycle. Returned goods are then cleaned out and transformed into new products including bags, coolers, clip boards, picture frames and kites. In addition, for every package returned the brigade earns money to put towards a charity of their choice or, if the team is from a school or non-profit organization, they can keep the money to further their mission.  It is a win-win program: people can reduce their waste while raising money for a good cause. As word spreads about TerraCycle more and more snack and beverage companies are joining the program, meaning even more packaging can be returned and re-purposed. Some major companies whose wrappers can be sent back to TerraCycle include: Stonyfield, Capri Sun, Frito Lay, Kraft, Mars Wrigley, Kashi, Aveeno, Colgate, and Ziploc. The recycled products that TerraCycle produces are then sold at major retailers, including Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and K-Mart. The end products are labeled as TerraCycle products, so consumers know they are supporting a good cause and creating demand for the program. According to the TerraCycle website, there are 11,597,783 people collecting trash with TerraCycle brigades, and over one billion units of waste have already been collected and re-purposed into 186 different products. If that doesn’t already sound good enough, these efforts also helped raise $1.2 Million for various schools, non profits, and charities across the country.

Fashionable Starburst Speakers shown in Ad

Every snack bag, baby diaper, candy bar wrapper that goes into the trash, is a story waiting to be told.  The question is, will the story be a negative one documented by a critic or a positive one created by you? If the product you market is made from non-recyclable material, it’s getting easier to convert that negative into a positive story.  A company called Terracycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  is helping CPG brands like Frito Lay and Mars turn their waste into upcycled products like speakers.  These re-birth stories are not only good for the planet, but a golden opportunity for business (as evidenced by Terracycle’s success <http://www.spider-topihitam.com/tom-szaky-of-terracycle-shares-secrets-to-success.html> ). Founded in 2001 by a 19 year old Princeton University freshman named Tom Szaky, TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of non-recyclable waste material.  With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart and Target, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world.  Every month it gives $100,000.00 in $0.02 donations and has are over 8.5 million people in the U.S. actively collecting waste to create its upcycled products.

It makes cents to recycle - two cents per waste product, to be exact. That's how much some central Arkansas schools are making each time they turn in a piece of trash to Terracycle. TerraCycle takes products that previously could not be recycled, like Capri Sun packages and many food wrappers, and "upcycles" them- creating things like Starburst insulated lunchboxes and Capri Sun backpacks.

It makes cents to recycle--two cents per waste product, to be exact. That's how much some central Arkansas schools are making each time they turn in a piece of trash to a company called TerraCycle. TerraCycle takes products that previously could not be recycled, like Capri Sun packages and many food wrappers, and "upcycles" them. This means that minimal energy is used and the products don't completely change form, creating things like Starburst insulated lunchboxes and Capri Sun backpacks. Tamonica Jenkins, second grade teacher at Huda Academy, decided to get involved with TerraCycle when she noticed the large number of Capri Suns her students were drinking. She researched the company online and realized it was the perfect way to make use of her students' trash and to raise money at the same time.