This cliché has translated into success for one young entrepreneur.  Tom Szaky is co-founder and CEO of TerraCycle, Inc., the leading player in “upcycling”, or turning disposable items into new products:  fertilizers from worm poop, backpacks from juice pouches and reusable tote bags from plastic bags. The company has been named the producer of the most eco-friendly brands in America. Szaky sees a new model for doing business in the future: eco-capitalism. Forget recycling and trying to reduce Americans’ consumption, he says. Instead, get rid of the idea of garbage and waste altogether. “The only reason waste is waste is because we haven’t figured out what to do with the material once we use it the first time. If you can find uses for waste, you can eliminate the idea of waste,” says Szaky.

Some plastics are easier to recycle than others. Municipalities that accept plastic for recycling generally accept numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. This is because recyclers have an easier time of finding buyers for these. And like most businesses, supply and demand is what drives success or failure in the recycling industry.

I always appreciate a designer who aims to create more eco-friendly accessories. After some time admiring these green handbags, I finally took one for a spin on Saturday. Yak Pak teamed up with recycling giant TerraCycle to craft this DEN Tote from billboards destined for landfill. The glossy fabric feels incredibly strong and it's water resistant to boot. The fairly plain colors aren't as exciting as some recycled billboard bags I've seen, although with one side white and the other blue I suppose I could treat this as two bags in one! It's important to remember that these bags were made from real billboards. That means no two are the same, and some have features that girls may regard as flaws. Mine has a few black marks on the blue side and some lighter stains on the white. Personally I think the imperfections add character, reminding us of the bag's history, but some may disagree.