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!

TerraCycle's program benefiting nonprofits and schools The company collects what is typically nonrecyclable waste, such as candy and snack wrappers, pens, coffee bags and toothpaste tubes, from consumers, as well as recyclable items such as cell phones, plastic containers and more. It uses the trash to make new products sold at major retailers including Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Consumers who make the effort to get their trash to TerraCycle earn monetary rewards that go to nonprofits of their choice. Some manufacturers, such as skin care products maker Aveeno, even encourage consumers to send their brands' empty product containers to TerraCycle for repurposing.

Incentive programs aim to spread environmental awareness to more-mainstream consumers \ TerraCycle's program benefiting nonprofits and schools The company collects what is typically nonrecyclable waste, such as candy and snack wrappers, pens, coffee bags and toothpaste tubes, from consumers, as well as recyclable items such as cell phones, plastic containers and more. It uses the trash to make new products sold at major retailers including Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Consumers who make the effort to get their trash to TerraCycle earn monetary rewards that go to nonprofits of their choice. Some manufacturers, such as skin care products maker Aveeno, even encourage consumers to send their brands' empty product containers to TerraCycle for repurposing.

What excited me about my daughter’s project was her description “Inspired by Terracycle“. My daughter’s familiarity with Terracyle comes from items we have been sent to review for our blogs.

TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage.

It seems easy, at first, to hate Tom Szaky, who gives the keynote address at Columbia’s fourth annual Green is Good for Business conference on Tuesday, Sept. 14. At 27, Szaky is the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company that he started in his Princeton dorm room. Last Friday, he was driving up the West Coast to a Dave Matthews Band show, having just met with one of his company’s big clients: Starbucks. Other clients include Kraft Foods, Home Depot and Frito-Lay. But the goal of TerraCycle, his nine-year-old company, is so jaw dropping — and so freakishly noble — that scorn and jealousy dissipate quickly.

Terracycle <http://terracycle.net/> , founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky when he was a 19 year old Princeton freshman, began by selling all-natural plant fertilizers using old plastic soda bottles. The chemical fertilizer was literally "all-natural" because it was harvested from vermicompost <http://www.redwormcomposting.com/ecopreneurs/ten-things-i-love-about-terracycle/> : earthworm waste. Nearly ten years later, Terracycle products are being sold at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market.

While many companies boast of using 100% recycled materials for their paper or cardboard products, there are not many companies who take the extra step in saving the earth by "upcycling" previously non reusable products. TerraCyle is one company that is seeking to change that. TerraCycle's slogan is "outsmart waste" and this is exactly that this company has been doing since its inception nine years ago. Founded by a 19 year old Princeton student <http://www.terracycle.net/about_us> , TerraCycle has been focused on finding ways to upcycle everything from Capri Sun packages to Frito Lay chip bags. Because TerraCycle is an upcycling company, and not a recycling <http://www.associatedcontent.com/theme/607/recycling.html>  plant, the company does not turn juice packages into more juice packages. Instead, old "trash" finds a new life as it is changed into fashion bags, backpacks, fences, and more for a total of 186 upcycled products to date <http://www.terracycle.net/products> . Many of these products can be found for sale in stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, The Home Depot, Office Max, Petco, and Whole Foods Market.  The purpose of upcycling, overall, is to reduce landfill waste by producing products that are even better than the original item; in fact, most of the items used in TerraCycle's upcycling program would normally be considered non-recyclable.

According to a Keep Blount Beautiful press release, TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With more than 50 products available at major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Their hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage. Free collection programs pay schools and non-profits nationwide to collect used packaging such as drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, cookie wrappers, chip bags, corks and more. The collected materials are upcycled into affordable, high quality products ranging from tote bags and purses to shower curtains and kites.

My mother called me last night to tell me about an interesting notice on the side of her Wheat Thins box. Apparently Wheat Thins has teamed up with Terracycle to recyle their packages. My mother proceeded to tell me a bit more about it and then sent me a link to read through today. Here’s what I found in their “About Us” page: TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage. You can be a part of our eco-revolution, just sign up for one of our FREE Brigades or look for TerraCycle products at your local retailer.