President Bill Clinton got into the topic of trash at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative recently. It is an important topic. We create tremendous amounts of waste these days, and much of it could be used in a constructive way, rather than polluting our planet. While some companies are trying to be greener and minimize their waste, other companies have made waste the source of their business. Using “waste” as a key input to the products they create, these companies are as green as green gets. TerraCycle is one such company.

President Bill Clinton got into the topic of trash at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative recently. It is an important topic. We create tremendous amounts of waste these days, and much of it could be used in a constructive way, rather than polluting our planet. While some companies are trying to be greener and minimize their waste, other companies have made waste the source of their business. Using “waste” as a key input to the products they create, these companies are as green as green gets. TerraCycle is one such company.

The 15 students of the high school's environmental club, SAVE, or Students Against Violation of the Earth, are participating in a recycling campaign sponsored by TerraCycle, a Trenton-based company that "upcycles" trash and turns it into reusable items that are sold at stores like Target, Walmart and Home Depot. The students are encouraging the whole district and even residents to participate in the campaign which started Friday and runs through Dec. 15. SAVE adviser Donna Pancari said the competition is open to all public schools in New Jersey and could net the district a hefty prize. A total of $125,000 will be awarded to the six schools that collect the most garbage with the first-place prize being $50,000. Winners will be announced in January.

In their latest move to increase their upcycling of materials that normally end up in landfills, TerraCycle has partnered with five East Coast Walmart stores to test a new collection system for 28 types of trash that TerraCycle will then turn into new products. The New Jersey-based company collects waste through their Brigades programs, which not only keep waste out of landfills but bring financial benefits to schools and organizations as well. This new collection system, which began October 1st, will allow anyone to drop off any waste that TerraCycle accepts in converted 20-foot trailers at Walmart stores in Secaucus, Vineland, Deptford East and Lanoka Harbor, all in New Jersey, and Tullytown, Pennsylvania.

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!

Any item that TerraCycle accepts for it’s upcycled products can now be dropped off at one of five East Coast Walmarts instead of being mailed directly to TerraCycle. According to GreenBiz, anyone can drop the items off at Walmart, not just the schools or non-profits that have signed up for TerraCycle’s Brigade.

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.

went nuts about TerraCycle after learning about them for the first time on Garbage Moguls. After a little research, I decided they were worth writing about. To initiate my series of Extraordinary Business Savvy Folks, I began with Tom Szaky and his crew. To recap, this Princeton guy was making worm poo. He needed something to contain all those worm poo. He collected soda bottles. Worm poo turned into insta-gold. He went into garage business with his friend selling worm poo. After that, they evolved into upcycling and recycling garbage into sellable goods. Sounds awesome, right? Try telling that to someone with a straight face! Now, he started off so small and so simple. He wanted TerraCycle to be the Walmart of garbage. Today, generating millions of dollars in revenue, I believe he succeeded.