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.

With its innovative Upcycle Program, TerraCycle encourages consumers to “be a part of their eco-revolution!” Started by a Princeton student in 2001, it is the company’s endeavor to minimize what most toss as trash. In order to reduce waste in landfills, TerraCycle establishes turn-key operations that make it easier for schools and non-profit organizations to save, collect and donate non-recyclables, and to earn cash from the donations for fund drives.

In every residence hall, there are Terracycle bins. Terracycle is an organization that collects wrappers that normally would not be recycled and turns them into eco-friendly products. Ramirez said some of the items they collect are Lays chip bags, Mars candy wrappers, Nabisco cookie wrappers, and foil-lined energy bar wrappers. “Buy products that have wrappers that can be Terracycled, and keep many snack food wrappers out of the trash,” said Kenneth Armstrong, residence life recycling coordinator. You can also purchase eco-friendly school supplies and other items made from Terracycled products on the Terracycle website

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.

Pat Reynolds takes a look at how Nabisco moved from traditional bag-in-box packaging to flexible film packaging with a Terracycle twist when it introduced Wheat Thins and Ritz brands in a toasted chips format.

Until recently, students at Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary School were unfamiliar with the idea of up-cycling. Up-cycling, as explained by Albe Zakes of TerraCycle, is “the process of taking non-recyclable material that can’t be traditionally recycled and find=ng a way to directly re-purpose it into a new product. By doing that, you̵'re giving it a new life cycle thus you’re up-cycling it.” Students at Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary are collecting, sorting, packing and sending drink pouches, chip bags, zipper style bags and Nabisco and Keebler cookie wrappers to TerraCycle. They will receive 2 cents per container for their efforts. Special needs teachers Emma-Lou Edwards and Lindy Hylton are coordinating the ongoing project.

TerraCycle Inc. aims to make money by reusing the hard-to-recycle trash the U.S. produces each year—but it first needs to find out if Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers think there's enough demand for its products.