That lesson was driven home to me at an inspiring seminar I attended recently in Boston. The event was put on by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, founded by a Harvard business professor, to celebrate 100 of the fastest-growing, urban small businesses across America. These companies had averaged fourfold growth over five years--during a punishing recession no less--by identifying and addressing unsatisfied niches in the marketplace. Their stories were breathtaking: A college student who created a global business to develop reuses of everything from chip bags to cigarette butts to diapers because he thought a better alterative must exist to all the waste being buried in landfills. Propelled by social media, reality TV, and a greater desire by people and businesses to act green, TerraCycle now has millions of people in 20 countries sending it trash. That waste gets recycled into hundreds of products that are then sold at major retailers.

As America's culture of convenience continues to flourish, single-cup coffee makers have become increasingly popular among coffee drinkers. But beneath those expedient one-cup coffee pods lies a growing environmental problem. Like most single-cup coffee pods, K-Cups consist of a combination of plastic, aluminum, organic material (coffee grounds) and a paper filter. While all said items can be easily recycled separately, the K-Cup as a whole cannot be recycled on a municipal level. "It's that hybrid packaging that makes it very hard for traditional recycling companies," said Albe Zakes, global vice president of public relations at the recycling company TerraCycle. "If you think of something as simple as a chip bag for example, a chip bag is fully recyclable. The challenge is that it's both plastic and aluminum, a hybrid packaging, which is very common, especially in food and beverage." Since 2009, TerraCycle has partnered with various single-serve coffee manufacturers to provide recycling solutions for spent coffee pods. By teaming up with Tassimo, Mars Drinks, Nespresso and more recently Illy, TerraCycle has developed a customized take back program for each company that has helped divert millions of coffee pods from landfills across the country. "Over the last couple years, TerraCycle has already collected I believe 25 million coffee capsules of the various applications through all these programs," said Zakes. "As we expand with more companies, bringing Illy into the fold, we've really ended up in a place where we work with basically everyone except for the K-Cup." Despite reaching out to the company multiple times, TerraCycle has not been able to develop a relationship with Green Mountain, Zakes said.    

The Social Innovation Summit Landmark Ventures launched the Social Innovation Summit 3 years ago to convene socially conscious businesses, non-profits, corporations and investors to explore technology innovations and partnerships that solve problems around clean air and water, poverty and more. Recycling Everything We Touch Dynamic 31-year old CEO Tom Szaky founded TerraCycle in 2001 to attack recycling with a vengeance! TerraCycle works with more than 100 major U.S. brands and in 22 other countries to collect used packaging and products otherwise headed to landfills. It repurposes the waste into creative materials and products to be sold online and through retailers. Waste ranges from food wrappers to dirty diapers to cigarette butts. TerraCycle’s mission is to recycle everything we touch and eliminate the idea of waste all together! What Tom Szaky discovered is that recycling is all about economics. He developed a Corporate-sponsored Waste Program with Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers like Kraft to pay consumers to help collect non-recyclable packaging. The waste is then converted into eco-friendly products. TerraCycle has won repeated awards for social change, recycling and sustainability.

 

Pinecrest    

 

Earth Patrol Ambassadors recycling along side the company, TerraCycle.

CashForPurses.com is partnering with TerraCycle, Inc. as part of the TerraCycle Brigade program to help consumers find a new life for unwanted designer handbags instead of throwing them out.TerraCycle is an international upcycling and recycling company that takes difficult-to-recycle packaging and turns it into affordable, innovative products. There is value in gently used designer handbags and this free program allows consumers to repurpose their unwanted purses through the Designer Handbag Brigade instead of throwing them away. It's a win-win for the consumer and the environment," says Trent Silver, founder of CashForPurses.com It's free! Participating in this TerraCycle Brigade is totally free. There are no signup or participation fees, and the shipping is covered by the program. In return for each acceptable, authentic handbag sent in, participants will receive 7,500 TerraCycle points. TerraCycle points can be redeemed for a variety of charitable gifts, or for a payment of $0.01 per point to a non-profit organization or school of choice. TerraCycle points are awarded upon completion of the Handbag Compliance Form and a determination of authenticity by the appraisal team. The Designer Handbag Brigade specifies a list of acceptable designers, including Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Prada and many more. More information, plus a complete, printable and downloadable designer list is available on the website About TerraCycle TerraCycle, Inc. is an international upcycling and recycling company that takes difficult-to recycle-packaging and turns it into affordable, innovative products. Founded in 2001, TerraCycle is the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable post-consumer waste, working with more than 40 major brands globally to collect used packaging and products that would otherwise be destined for landfills  TerraCycle repurposes that waste into new, innovative materials and products that are available online and through major retailers. The waste is collected through TerraCycle’s Brigade programs, which are free fundraisers that pay for every piece of waste collected and returned. About CashForPurses.com CashForPurses.com, the purse exchange site, is a Silver Visibility brand, developed and launched under the Silver Visibility PINC label, or "Personal Incubator."