 SustainLane: How is your plant food produced?
Tom
Szaky: Our plant food is made from and packaged entirely in waste. We
feed red worms compost and use their casings as the base for our plant
growth food. Then we package the plant food in recycled soda bottles.
Essentially we're trying to change the way people view waste; we're
trying to put a positive value on materials that have previously been
viewed as trash. SL: Where did this idea come from?
TS:
While visiting Montreal I saw a "worm box": a box of red worms used for
composting. That got me thinking about using the red worms to create a
marketable product on a larger scale. My friend (Terracycle co-founder
and Chief Technology Officer) Jon Beyer and I then put together a
business-plan for what would become Terracycle. SL: How does Terracycle's plant food change gardening?
TS:
Our plant growth food outperforms conventional, non-organic plant foods
in testing, while also being cheaper. Also, as opposed to other organic
and conventional growth formulas, you can't kill your plant by giving
it too much Terracycle plant food. Another key difference from other
organic plant foods is in odor. Many other organic plant growth
formulas are made from fish emulsion, which carries a strong smell. In
contrast, our growth formula is odorless. SL: How are communities incorporated into your business plan?
TS:
We have set up plastic bottle collection programs in thousands of
places where people collect plastic soda bottles and then send them
back to us. In return we give them $0.05 per bottle or make a donation
to the charity of their choice of equal amount. SL: What are your longterm plans for Terracycle?
TS:
We want to have our product distributed on a large scale in stores
around the U.S., and further down line, in other countries as well.
Within the next three months Terracycle Plant Food will be in every
Home Depot and Walmart in the U.S. and will be stocked on a large scale
in CVS, Whole Foods, and Wild Oats soon after. Additionally, we plan on
expanding our product offering to include specilized plant foods as
well. Find out more about Terracycle. Related Articles
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