Nestled within the market for consumer plastics is an ever-growing industry for bioplastics -- plastics made from plant biomass, such as corn. In an increasingly sustainability-driven world populated by more conscious consumers and green-minded individuals than ever before, this growing focus on plant-derived plastics should come as no surprise.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” as the saying goes. For TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky, it was more than a saying—it was also his business plan. Founded in 2003, TerraCycle takes your garbage—everything and anything you could throw away or recycle—and transforms it into consumer products like cutting boards, reusable grocery bags, and even yard fencing.

This time we had an exhilarating conversation with Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle, an international leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, from used chip bags to cigarette butts. Though he’s very passionate about garbage, his main interest lies in ways to reduce waste to almost zero. For him smart and circular cities cannot exist without changing the behavior of consumers.

We hear how he has built a $22 million without paid advertising – Tom Szaky CEO TerraCycle. Szaky is founder and chief executive officer of TerraCycle, a company that enables consumers to collect non-recyclable waste, from used juice pouches to used cigarettes. The collected material is then reused, upcycled, or recycled into thousands of various products and materials.

Better World Books (BWB) is a book company outside the norm with social and environmental responsibility at the core of its business. BWB's model is simple: BWB donates a book to someone in need every time we purchase a book from them.

This is a particularly tough time to be telling businesses that using more recycled materials makes good economic sense. Falling oil prices have lowered the price of virgin plastic against the recycled stuff, which has put off manufacturers and hurt recycling companies (plastic makes up a growing share of their waste feed). Without a price on carbon, using recycled commodities does not necessarily help a company’s bottom line. “People aren’t going to pay more for recycled plastic just because it’s recycled,” says Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, which makes consumer products from waste.

One great example of this type of success is Tom Szaky, who dropped out of Princeton to create Terracycle, which started off making fertilizer and now creates over 250 products from 60 different waste streams. The company’s 2010 revenue was $13 million, and since then, it has also donated $3.2 million to charity by pledging two cents for every waste item recycled.

"The bottom line is that what is recycled and what is not is directly linked to oil," said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, which works with companies on programs to make packaging recyclable. "If the cost of collection and processing is greater than the material value, then the material becomes nonrecyclable. If it's less, then it's recyclable. It's that easy. And the material value is 100 percent dependent on oil prices as it's derived from oil."

"The bottom line is that what is recycled and what is not is directly linked to oil," said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, which works with companies on programs to make packaging recyclable. "If the cost of collection and processing is greater than the material value, then the material becomes nonrecyclable. If it's less, then it's recyclable. It's that easy.

A szemétdomb császáraként is emlegetett Tom Szaky 33 éves és már 24 országban van cége. Szelektív hulladékgyűjtésben nem válogat, vállalkozása szinte minden gyűjt, mindenre van megoldásuk. Ezért nincs is versenytársuk. Magyarország nagy kihívás nekik.