As many great companies do, this one started in a dorm room. Tom Szaky, now at the ripe old age of 27, is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/>  and was named one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. magazine in 2009. The idea of upcycling wasn't trendy at the time, and the first few years at Terracycle were rocky. Hurdles involved near bankruptcy and the hard choice of turning down a $1 million grant because the investor's principles were not in line with Szaky's idea of a truly sustainable company — now that's a man with faith in his idea! TerraCycle upcycles the collected "waste" material into affordable, eco-friendly products. Since 2007, over 60,000 locations and 7 million people are helping to collect, instead of discard, their trash. Over 1 billion pieces of pre- and post-consumer packaging have been collected and over 250,000 dollars has been donated to schools and nonprofits.

With budget cuts increasing every year, local teachers are saving trash to meet their classroom needs. Thomson Elementary, Norris Elementary and Maxwell Elementary schools earn money for used drink pouches, cookie and candy wrappers, chip bags and other trash that they send in to various participating companies.  Thomson Elementary School has the biggest "trash to cash" program, according to Lauren Taylor, public relations person for TerraCycle. TerraCycle accepts empty drink pouches, chip bags, cookie wrappers, candy wrappers, yogurt cups, Lunchables and lotion tubes and pays the school two cents for each unit of packaging.

With budget cuts increasing every year, local teachers are saving trash to meet their classroom needs. Thomson Elementary, Norris Elementary and Maxwell Elementary schools earn money for used drink pouches, cookie and candy wrappers, chip bags and other trash that they send in to various participating companies. Thomson Elementary School has the biggest "trash to cash" program, according to Lauren Taylor, public relations person for TerraCycle. TerraCycle accepts empty drink pouches, chip bags, cookie wrappers, candy wrappers, yogurt cups, Lunchables and lotion tubes and pays the school two cents for each unit of packaging. Ms. Taylor said Thomson Elementary students collected approximately 82,000 wrappers and earned $1,640 during the first semester of last school year. It is not yet known how much was collected/earned during the second semester. In addition to the products turned into TerraCycle, Thomson Elementary students also collect Campbell's soup labels, General Mills Box Tops for Education, Coke caps and tabs, old ink cartridges, old cell phones, empty Neosporin tubes, gum packages, and empty Ziploc bags. All items earn money for the school, with the exception of Coke can tabs, which Mrs. Giles sends to the Ronald McDonald House for their benefit. Maxwell Elementary School also participates in the TerraCycle program. Parent volunteer Judith Hodges was recognized by News Channel 12 for her efforts at the school. According to Ms. Taylor, Maxwell Elementary students collected almost 63,000 wrappers and pouches, earning the school $1,250 after the first semester. Maxwell Elementary Principal Donna Bennett said those numbers should be higher after the second semester, because Mrs. Hodges has hosted several contests with big prizes, such as a week-end at the beach. At Norris Elementary, QUEST students who make up the "Green Team" collect Capri Sun pouches and Frito Lay chip bags for TerraCycle. QUEST teacher Khrista Kent said the school has no parent volunteer to assist in the efforts, so their collection is much smaller. She said Norris Elementary earned approximately $45 during the first semester. "It just helps us focus on recycling, and we used the money to buy flowers that the students planted around the school," Mrs. Kent said. TerraCycle uses the trash to make a range or products like Seed Starter kits, pencil cases, cleaner bottles and tote bags. In a release, Ms. Taylor said the trash "came full circle back to Thomson" this year when these items were sold at Walmart in Thomson for the first time in early April. For information, visit www.terracycle.net.

With hundreds of students eating lunch every day, the teachers=at F.J. Dutile Elementary School used to see a lot of used drink pouches g=t thrown away. Now they earn 2 cents for every one of those pouches they c=llect and return to a company called TerraCycle, which uses the pouches to=make affordable, eco-friendly products.

Terracycle is one of those odd little success stories. If you read their story – it all boils down to the fact that this is a company that takes recycled fruit juice pouches and turns them into backpacks cooler bags and lawn fertilizer.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) could play a big role in helping Earth-friendly start-ups survive. The Wall Street Journal reported that Terracycle, a small, private company that fashions products out of difficult-to-recycle packaging, is hoping that large retailers like Wal-Mart will take up its cause more consistently -- and help the tiny company finally turn a profit. Wal-Mart carried Terracycle's wares during a promotion for last month's Earth Day. In one clever touch, the retailer stocked Terracycle's backpacks, crafted from Kraft's Capri-Sun packages, next to the actual Capri-Sun beverages

After reading an advertisement on the wrapper, she learned about a company called TerraCycle, which pays groups to collect foil- and plastic-lined bags, as well as other types of trash, and then turns them into other products.

Other companies' trash is Terracycle's treasure. Back in 2006, we  dubbed Terracycle the "coolest  little start-up in America <http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060701/coolest-startup.html?partner=newsletter_news> ." At the time, Terracycle was focused  almost exclusively on their core product, a garden fertilizer made from  composted worm poop, packaged in re-purposed soda bottles. Today the  company is still turning trash into new products, only on a much larger  scale. As the Wall  Street Journal <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575214431306540058.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_smallbusiness>  reports, Terracycle has greatly expanded their  product line to include everything from backpacks made from reused drink  pouches to kites made from old candy wrappers. That expansion, however,  hasn't come without some difficulties. To house the mounds and mounds  of garbage they collect for their products, the company has had to lease  five new storage warehouses. Terracyle's execs have even begun sharing  offices and moving their desks into the hallways to make room for trash  piles. Terracyle is now banking on increased orders from big-box stores  like Wal-Mart <http://www.inc.com/topic/Wal-Mart+Stores+Inc.>  and Target <http://www.inc.com/topic/Target+Corporation>  to jumpstart their business and keep their  warehouses full of trash out of landfills. "The pressure is as high as I  can think of," says the company's founder, Tom Szaky <http://www.inc.com/topic/Tom+Szaky> .

Terracycle makes cool things by reusing the pouches.

The Wall Street Journal featured three start-up companies with plastics connections over the weekend: e-book company Plastic Logic, recycler TerraCycle Inc., and plastic wine closure maker Nomacorc LLC.