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But if anyone knows how to turn nothing into something its the folks at TerraCycle.
The company, tucked away on a highly industrial corner of New York Avenue, has been turning poop into profits for the past three years.
Their operation, making high-quality, organic fertilizer from the droppings of earth worms, has since its inception been geared toward making a profit, while maintaining an environmental and social conscience.
This weekend, the company invited the community out to their facility for the second annual Graffiti Jam.
As many as 50 graffiti artists from all around the country came to TerraCycle to remake the exterior of the factory.
Writers covered nearly every inch of the building’s walls, and even painted a few broken down vans and trucks that have sat lifeless in the company’s courtyard ever since they bought the building.
Walls that had been covered in drab, black primer suddenly came alive with vibrant burners and elaborate productions sprayed-on in limitless styles and colors.
Jon Beyer founded the company along with Princeton University classmate Tom Szaky, and he said the graffiti decor fit in with their "recycling" mentality.
"TerraCycle is all about recycling," Beyer said.
Like reusing empty two-liter, and 20-ounce soda bottles to package their fertilizer, Beyer said he sees the graffiti as recycling broken down looking buildings into a workable work of art.
"We enjoy giving the artists a place to work," he said.
Chief among the artists working at TerraCycle is Leon Rainbow,a Trenton area artist, who recruited the team of writers for the jam.
Rainbow has been working to rotate the art on the fertilizer factory’s walls for about the past year, and he said the relationship has been a mutually beneficial one.
"Those guys give us a lot of leeway and we’re really able to just create," Rainbow said.
Rainbow, who said he also runs a few other legal graffiti spots in Trenton, said that while many people don’t appreciate his craft as art, graffiti artists incorporate many of the same techniques and theories as other fine artists.
But appreciation for Rainbow isn’t lacking at TerraCycle.
"Leon put a lot of work into this," said the company’s spokesman Albe Zakes.
Zakes said the painting party seemed to bring everyone together, including the painters and the community.
"It’s got a big family-feel to it," he said.
The jam stretchedover Saturday and Sunday, with a band, a D.J. and a barbecue adding to the party on the first day.
Zakes said that some kids from the Isles community organization had the chance to come out and were treated to a tour of the factory and even got in the graffiti game by painting one section of wall themselves.
"We’re a very artistic company, and being in an urban area, we wanted to incorporate an urban art-form," he said. "It’s part of the community. It’s part of the neighborhood. It’s part of the flavor of Trenton."
