Media Coverage (2006)
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2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Below is a sample of our media coverage. If you know of a story that we have missed, please e-mail it to 
Environmental Business Journal Award
(December 2006)
TerraCycle, a maker of plant foods from organic wastes, for continued growth in revenues during its five years of existence. The firm was started in 2001 by two Princeton students with only $20,000. In 2006, sales will reach $2 million. TerraCycle's Plant foods are now carried nationwide at big-box retailers such as Target, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid, CVS, ACE Hardware, and Whole Foods Markets. TerraCycle makes OMRI-listed plant foods, the world's first consumer product to be made from worm excrement and packaged entirely in discarded products — namely, old soda bottles. The manufacturing of the company's products actually consumes waste instead of producing it. The company collects its soda bottles through a program called the Bottle Brigade, which consists of 1,600 schools and churches nationwide to whom TerraCycle donates 5 cents per bottle collected. At the end of 2005, TerraCycle was awarded Home Depot's Environmental Stewardship Award for being the most eco-friendly product sold at Home Depot. In 2006, two independent environmental groups — Zerofootprint.com and the Summerhill Group — announced that TerraCycle has "the World's Most Eco-Friendly Product." In July 2006, an Inc. magazine cover story named TerraCycle as "The Coolest Little Start-up in America."...
In Business
TerraCycle (Nov/Dec 2006)
TerraCycle produces a liquid plant food from vermicompost, packaged in reused soda bottles. Its research operation takes place at the EcoComplex greenhouse, while processing and packaging are done in a facility in Trenton, New Jersey. They are converting another building in Trenton to use as a vermicomposting facility. It seems that vermicompost is as good for growing a business as it is for growing plants. Since early 2004, TerraCycle Plant Food has sold for about $7 in natural foods stores and independent garden shops, and became available in Wal-Marts across Canada and on-line at Home Depot. Sales in 2005 reached $500,000, and are anticipated to triple this year with a planned launch in Home Depot stores and U.S. Wal-Marts. Terracycle has expanded its line to 10 products, including an African violet plant food and an orchid plant food. It continues to obtain used soda bottle containers through school collection programs. In the quest for making its packaging completely environmentally friendly, the company was looking at producing labels from corn-based polymers. Instead, it is looking to go with a label made from PET, which would make the packaging entirely recyclable...
The Trenton Times
Green Cycle(December 20, 2006)
TerraCycle co-founder Jon Beyer, second from right, recognizes Chris Ingelton, second from left, manager of the Home Depot in Ewing, for the chain's help in recycling 20-ounce soda bottles. Under the Eco-pallet program, people can drop off bottles at Home Depots. TerraCycle, a Trenton company, then uses the bottles to package its all-natural plant foods, which are sold in Home Depot and elsewhere. Zerofootprint, a nonprofit group, joined TerraCycle in honoring seven area Home Depots. Stores in East Windsor, West Windsor, Hamilton, South Brunswick, Burlington Township and Milltown were also honored...
West Windsor and Plainsboro News
Home Depot (December 18, 2006)
TerraCycle executive Jon Beyer presented a plaque to West Windsor Home Depot on December 6 to show their commitment to reducing their eco-logical footprint. Employees accepting the award include John Bryant, George Walling, Briar Haar, Jim Clouer, Josh Nikolai, and team leader Faye Clark. Clark and Clouer are West Windsor residents. The award pays homage to Home Depot's help collecting old soda bottles in TerraCycle's Eco-Pallet Program in which TerraCycle uses the old soda bottles to package their all-natural plant foods, which are sold in Home Depot...
Washington Gardener
Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Wish List (December 18, 2006)
Seed Starter — TerraCycle's new seed starter contains 100% worm poop. The 36-cell indoor unit comes in a biodegradable tray whose cells can be separated and planted directly into a container with soil. Just water the chosen cell, rip apart from the rest, and plant right into the pot. The cells, made from 100% recycled paper, will naturally break down once planted so there is nothing to throw away; every part of the unit is utilized. There is no need to pull the plant by the stem or risk damaging it and the roots. For details, visit www.terracycle.net...
Times Villager
Bethany Church helps the environment, raises money (December 18, 2006)
Bethany Lutheran Church is currently collecting used 20 oz. soda bottles to raise money for their yearly trip to a Lutheran Youth Conference in Orlando, FL. For every bottle the church collects, TerraCycle donates 5 cents to the church. TerraCycle reuses the bottles to package their revolutionary eco-friendly plant foods. The trip this summer to Orlando costs almost $1,000 per child, so the church is using the money from the fundraiser to help subsidize the cost. The program run by Nicole Dollevoet is part of a nationwide recycling and fund-raising program called the Bottle Brigade, which is organized by TerraCycle. The Kaukauna church is one of the top collectors in the Bottle Brigade...
Bob Tanem
Radio Interview (December 17, 2006)
We spoke with our guest Tom Szaky, the young CEO of TerraCycle inc, at 7:30 this morning. Tom dropped out of Princeton to found a company that makes a liquid palnt food — called TerraCycle, same as the company name — and packages it in re-purposed discarded plastic soda bottles. "We sell waste, packaged in waste." Aside from being both innovative and environmentally friendly, the all-organic, natural fertilizer is useful and effective as well. The product is being hailed as an ecological breakthrough, and featured by big box stores and neighborhood nurseries alike. It is so successful in fact, that the company has plans to introduce more products in the coming year; currently, there are 3 flavors of Terracycle LIquid Plant Food: All-Purpose, Orchid, and African Violet...
CFAX
Radio Interview with Erick Thompson (December 14, 2006)
Grindhopping
Building a Rewarding Career Without Paying Your Dues (December 14, 2006)
If the corporate grind is keeping you down, skip it! "Grindhopping" is the hottest career alternative for young people looking to hop out of the long hours, low pay and lackluster rewards entry-level corporate jobs provide. All across the country, Grindhoppers like Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, who's profiled in the book, are starting their own micro-businesses and freelancing ventures doing work they love, without much capital or experience. In today's economy, that's more possible than ever before. Grindhopping shows how people like Tom did it, and how you can, too...
Local Voltage
Vermicompost Tea Goes Mainstream (December 13, 2006)
What happens when you combine worm castings (AKA worm poop), recycled soda bottles and a business deal with Home Depot? Apparently, this combination yields a hot new company with it roots firmly in composting and environmentally friendly consumerism. Enter TerraCycle. Feeding food scraps to red worms produces worm dung. What use is the worm poop? It's an odorless natural fertilizer, but without the pesky requirements of the chemical fertilizers (like fossil fuels). The worm poop is converted into liquid form, and packaged in old soda bottles. Then, this worm poop in a second hand bottle is sold in Home Depot. Cha-ching!...
Wired Blog
Sexy Geeks (December 13, 2006)
We love Tom Szaky for his way with worm poop. He's the 24-year-old founder of TerraCycle, which makes plant food made entirely of waste — including the packaging. That's hot — and look at his cute spiky hair...
Princeton Business Journal
Big Store, Big Eco-Savings (December 12, 2006)
Home Depot's West windsor store was one of seven recently honored with a plaque presented by Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive officer of Trenton-based TerraCycle, Inc. the plaques pay homage to Home Depot's help collecting old soda bottles for TerraCycle, which uses them to package their all-natural plant foods, which are in turn sold at Home Depot. TerraCycle uses worm droppings to make all-natural plant food and packages it in discarded soda bottles...
CNBC
Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch (December 12, 2006)
Today we are speaking with Tom Szaky, co-founder of TerraCycle. TerraCycle, recently named the 'Coolest Little Startup in America', produces a fertilizer derived from worm poop...
Design Verb
Blog post (December 8, 2006)
Wow! What an amazing story, idea, and kick-butt revolutionary company. Terracycle delivers the most eco-friendly consumer product in big box retail shelves made entirely by garbage, yet with a higher quality than most competitors and at a lower price! So, how they they do it? They use garbage!!! Founder Tom Szaky (23 yrs old when he founded TerraCycle and a freshmen Princeton dropout), explains, they get paid to take garbage away and they get paid to sell their new products. Their main product is a liquid worm poop fertilizer which is created by feeding red worms organic waste in return for their castings which get mixed with water to create a rich organic fertilizer that's proven to be better than MiricleGro or various other competitors which are chemically driven rather than organic. (or as they claim, "The proof is in the poop!"). Now with a great product came the task of packaging it. When they first started up, they had no money to purchase fresh bottles, hence another innovation they ran around town collecting used soda bottles, cleaned them, added labels, and used that! They saved tons of money this way and also did something new in the product world; every single bottle was different, be it an old Pepsi bottle, Coke, Water, Sprite, etc. Their spray tops are even extras that have been dumped by manufacturers of other spray-on products and even the boxes that the plant-food is shipped in are misprinted rejects from major companies. Yup, it's garbage made into huge profits at its best!...
Your Hub
What's worm poop got to do with recycling? (December 8, 2006)
In Golden at First United Methodist Church, church secretary Sandra Beedle is in charge of an eight-month-old campaign to raise funds for the congregation's homebound and elderly through a program called TerraCycle. "I searched the Web for fundraising ideas and found this," she said. "We collect plastic soda bottles and pack them in boxes provided by Terracycle. The boxes are sent to Terracycle in Trenton, NJ. They use the bottles for their plant food, which is made from worm poop. It is a natural product in a recycled container," she said as she taped up a box of soda bottles...
Mile High News
Church hosts fundraiser (December 7, 2006)
First United Methodist Church, 1500 Ford St., in Golden is collecting old soda bottles to help save the environment and fund its Congregational Care program, which provides additional care for the elderly or disabled. For each 20-ounce bottle it collects, TerraCycle Inc., maker of all-natural plant foods, will donate 5 cents to the church. TerraCycle will reuse the bottles to package its plant food made from liquid worm-poop. The fundraising campaign, led by Sandra Beedle of First United Methodist, is part of a nationwide bottle collection being organized by TerraCycle, called the Bottle Brigade...
Your Hub
First UMC Raising Funds and Saving Environment (December 6, 2006)
First United Methodist Church in Golden is collecting old soda bottles to help save the environment and fund their Congregational Care program. For each 20 oz bottle they collect, TerraCycle, Inc. maker of all-natural plant foods, donates 5 cents to the church. TerraCycle re-uses the old soda bottles to package its plant food made from liquid worm-poop. The money raised in the campaign is used to help fund the church's Congregational Care program, which provides additional care for the elderly or disabled. The fundraising campaign lead by Sandra Beedle of First United Methodist is part of a nationwide bottle collection being organized by TerraCycle, called the Bottle Brigade. The church is one of the top collectors in the Bottle Brigade. Parishioners have saved over 2,000 bottles from becoming trash. That impressive total means that they have raised almost 100 dollars for church programs. Mrs. Beedle said, "The Bottle Brigade is a great opportunity to raise money for the church and help the environment at the same time!"...
Business Blender
Keep it simple. Keep it unique. (December 2, 2006)
The Blackhawk Hills Entrepreneurs & Inventors Club celebrated their First Anniversary with special guest speaker Tom Szaky from TerraCycle where Tom explained to the crowd of over 45 members how to keep their business ideas simple and unique. His company is growing at a feverish rate simply by sticking to that mantra, and his business idea can't get any simplier. Take waste, produce worm poop and bottle it in more waste and you now have TerraCycle's all-purpose Plant Food bottled in used soda bottles. If you can figure out what consumers need that isn't presently produced, then find a simple and unique product to fill that niche, you're going to grab most of the market share and never worry that much about competitors...
Horticulture
Eco-Friendly Plant Food (November 22, 2006)
In 2001, while they were students at Princeton University, Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer took dining hall refuse and fed it to hungry worms, then liquified the resulting "worm poop" to create a natural plant food. The process was slightly messy, but Szaky and Beyer knew they had created something worth marketing. They began entering contests to earn capital to fund their venture. Soon they had enough prize money and investors to create a full-fledged company, TerraCycle. Szaky and Beyer now work with the Rutgers University EcoComplex to conduct research and product development. TerraCycle makes orchid, African violet, and general purpose foods; Water-Less, a gel that helps extend time between waterings; and ProFusion, an all-purpose fertilizer. They reuse wherever possible, working out of an old factory in Trenton, New Jersey, packaging their products in discarded soda bottles, and shipping them in surplus boxes. For more info, visit http://terracycle.net...
Eco-Options
Helping You Improve Your Home and the Environment (November 21, 2006)
TerraCycle's Plant Food products are perfect for your potted plants — and for the environment. The range of potent, organic fertilizers is made by reprocessing organic waste. The plant food is packaged in used pop bottles and shipped in recycled boxes and you can use it straight from the bottle — no need to mix...
Belleville News Democrat
School bins entice students to recycle at Edwardsville High (November 16, 2006)
Also as part of the recycling effort, special education students at the high school are participating in a new plastics program with TerraCycle. Of the collected plastic bottles, the students reuse certain bottles through a program that places plant food made of worm castings in recycled plastic soda bottles. The special education students also will receive 5 cents per reused bottle. It has yet to be determined how the money generated from the program will be spent. "What you're doing is a great thing for the environment, and you're making little money on the side," Linenfelser said...
Edwards Intelligencer
Illinois Recycling Association Introduces Soda Bottle Recycling Program (November 14, 2006)
In honor of America Recycles Day, the Illinois Recycling Association (IRA) is announcing a new statewide program for soda bottle collection. The recycling effort will involve bringing TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade fundraising program to schools, churches, and other non-profit organizations throughout the state. TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade program pays non-profit organizations $0.05 for each empty 20 ounce soda bottle collected, or $0.06 each if the collector removes the label. In addition, TerraCycle offers a $0.10 to $0.15 "bounty" on the company's empty 20-ounce containers. Today, more than 1,200 organizations are registered for the Bottle Brigade...
AMOnline
Illinois Recycling Association Introduces Soda Bottle Recycling Program (November 14, 2006)
In honor of America Recycles Day, the Illinois Recycling Association (IRA) is announcing a new statewide program for soda bottle collection. The recycling effort will involve bringing TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade fundraising program to schools, churches, and other non-profit organizations throughout the state. TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade program pays non-profit organizations $0.05 for each empty 20 ounce soda bottle collected, or $0.06 each if the collector removes the label. In addition, TerraCycle offers a $0.10 to $0.15 "bounty" on the company's empty 20-ounce containers. Today, more than 1,200 organizations are registered for the Bottle Brigade...
Bloomington Pantagraph
Clinton school kids open recycling can of worms (November 14, 2006)
Karr's class also is collecting 20-ounce plastic bottles for a recycling project. TerraCycle pays non-profit groups a nickel per bottle for the containers that are filled with organic liquid fertilizer. The fertilizer known as "worm tea" is created from a process similar to the Can-o-Worms concept. "We're helping create natural plant food at the same time we're making natural fertilizer," Karr said of the two projects. More information on the compost and bottle project is available at www.canoworms.com and www.terracycle.net...
US Newswire
Illinois Recycling Association Teams with TerraCycle Plant Food on Statewide Fundraising Program (November 13, 2006)
In honor of America Recycles Day, the Illinois Recycling Association (IRA) is announcing a new statewide program for soda bottle collection. The IRA effort will involve bringing TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade fundraising program to schools, churches and other non-profit organizations throughout the state. TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade program pays non-profit organizations $0.05 for each empty 20 ounce soda bottle collected or $0.06 each if the collector removes the label. In addition, TerraCycle offers a $0.10 to $0.15 "bounty" on the company's empty 20-ounce containers. Today, more than 1200 organizations are registered for the Bottle Brigade...
Sheboygan Press
Recycling of 20-ounce plastic bottles can benefit the local public library (November 13, 2006)
A recycling company is raising money for the Rosemary Garfoot Public Library. For each 20 ounce plastic bottle collected, TerraCycle, a maker of all-natural plant foods, donates five cents to the library. TerraCycle re-uses the old pop bottles to package its plant food, which is made from liquid worm manure. Anyone who would like to get involved can bring old 20 ounce pop bottles to the World of Variety at 20 Glacier's Edge Square, or call 798-4795...
Arkansas Business
Arkansas Venture Forum Announces Speakers (November 6, 2006)
The Arkansas Venture Forum's fifth annual Venture Conference will present three nationally-known entrepreneurs: Konnin Tam, vice president of Goldman Sachs Asset Management; Dan Sanker, CEO and founder of CaseStack; and Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle. The conference will be held Nov. 16-17 at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers. "Our speakers bring to the conference highly-respected knowledge, insight and experience valuable for Arkansans seeking greater understanding for how we build sustainable, high-value, Arkansas-based enterprises prepared to compete in the 21st century economy," said Tim McFarland, an organizer of the AVF...
NJ Tech News
Gazelle Company of the Year (November 1, 2006)
Winner: TerraCycle. TerraCycle's impact on the marketplace is very simple. It produces the first consumer product that is made from and packaged entirely in waste. It creates its product by taking organic waste and feeding it to earthworms. The worms then produce worm castings, or worm poop, which is rich in nutrients and is a great plant food. TerraCycle liquefies the worm castings to create is all natural plant food. In addition to its actual product, the packaging is also a form of waste. TerraCycle packages its plant food in used 20 ounce soda bottles which are collected by schools, churches, and other non-profit organizations around the country...
Biocycle
Liquid Plant Food from Worm Castings Wins EcoFriendly Product Awards (November 1, 2006)
TerraCycle, manufacturer of liquid plant fertilizers brewed from vermicompost and packaged in reused soda bottles, has been honored by two national environmental groups. Zerofootprint and the Clean Air Foundation have both identified TerraCycle's products as "The Most Eco-Friendly Product available today." Notes a press release announcing the awards: "Unlike the production of any other consumer product, which produces waste, TerraCycle actually consumes waste in manufacturing their product. TerraCycle's plant foods are the world's first product that is made from (worm poop) and packaged (used soda bottles) entirely in waste!" To date, the company has reused over 1.2 million bottles that have been collected by over 1,600 schools, churches and other community groups across North America. The liquid fertilizer is carried by major retailers including Wal-Mart, Home Depot, CVS and Whole Foods. In 2007, TerraCycle will be launching 10 new products, including lawn and garden fertilizers (also packaged in reused bottles), a line of Peat-Free potting mixes packaged in reused milk jugs and "worm poop" Organic Seed Starters will come in a tray made from 100 percent recycled paper...
Inc Magazine
Do Good, Get Rich (November 1, 2006)
Tom Szaky is the rare recycling nut who doesn't drive a hybrid car or buy organic food. That's because being eco-friendly is too expensive, he says. But Szaky, the 24-year old founder of plant food start-up TerraCycle (and the subject of Inc.'s July cover story), aims to change the economics of environmentalism. His fertilizer, which is sold at Wal-Mart and Home Depot, is made entirely from garbage, is completely organic — and it's oftern a few pennies less than Miracle-Gro. Szaky started his Trenton, New Jersey-based company as a Princeton undergrad, feeding red worms with dining hall refuse and diving into recycling bins for no-cost packaging...
Madison Press
From waste not to want not (October 26, 2006)
One man's trash is another man's treasure. Anyone who watches the television show "Cash in the Attic" knows that items often thought to be junk are worth a fortune. And the Humane Society of Madison County (HSMC) hopes to cash in on precisely that idea. The HSMC has a new fund-raiser: they are collecting 20 ounce soda bottles for TerraCycle Inc. The self-proclaimed "eco-capitalistic" company uses the bottles to package and sell its liquid plant food. The entire program is known as TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade. According the the Web site www.terracycle.net, there are "millions of soda bottles every day which end up in garbage cans and landfills." Rather than adding to the amount of garbage, "TerraCycle packages its organic, liquefied worm poop" in bottles recycled by school and recycling centers...
Daily Southtown
Local Digest (October 24, 2006)
Bottle collection raises cash Eighth graders at Trinity Lutheran School are participating in a nationwide recycling program while helping raise money for their school. The students are collecting 20-ounce plastic pop bottles as part of a program sponsored by TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based manufacturer of organic plant food. The company donates 5 cents for every plastic bottle collected...
NJBiz Forty Under 40 (October 16, 2006)
Forty individuals who are making headlines in their fields and share a commitment to business growth, professional excellence and the community...
American Recycler
Consumer product earns Zerofootprint seal (October 15, 2006)
TerraCycle Plant Food has become the first consumer product to earn the Zerofootprint seal. The seal signifies that the materials and manufacturing process used to produce a product have virtually no negative environmental repercussions. Zerofootprint Inc. is a not-for-profit that seeks to help people and businesses reduce their effect on the environment. The Zerofootprint seal is issued through the organization's innovative offsetting program, which accounts for the environmental impact of a given product or service, seeks to reduce this impact through conservation and recycling efforts and then offsets the remaining impacts through natural resource restoration and carbon offsetting...
Green Man Radio (October 9, 2006)
Podcast Interview
Waseca County News
Teaming up to save the environment (October 8, 2006)
Two local Girl Scout troops have joined forces in their collection of used, 20 ounce soda pop bottles. Girl Scout Troops 3803 and 3810 are collecting the bottles to raise money for a trip, possibly to California. The money is donated by TerraCycle, Inc. who donates 5 cents for each bottle collected. TerraCycle reuses the pop bottles to package their all-natural plant food made from worm poop. So far, the girls from Troop 3803 have saved almost 5,000 bottles from becoming trash. This impressive total makes the girls the #1 collectors of pop bottles in TerraCycle's Bottle Brigade. The girl's campaign is part of a nationwide collection being organized by TerraCycle, called the Bottle Brigade...
Garden Design
Garbage In, Product Out (October 6, 2006)
When a twenty year old drops out of Princeton, maxes out all of his credit cards, and has a run-in with the cops for "dumpster diving", there is normally cause for concern. Not so in the case of Tom Szaky. He runs a business that turns garbage into an eco-friendly product that can be used by nearly every household in North America. The company is called Terracycle and the product is nature's best fertilizer, worm poop. Terracycle is packaging the liquefied fertilizer in used soda bottles and shipping it out in cardboard boxes that were otherwise headed for the dump (the plastic bottles are collected primarily from schools and non-profit organizations)...
Toronto Village Post
Digging the worm bank (October 6, 2006)
Building something from nothing could well be TerraCycle's motto. The fertilizer company, recently voted the most eco-friendly in North America, is produced and packaged entirely in waste. And for CEO Tom Szaky, all of 24 years old, running the $6 million US company has been realized from the lessons he learned at UCC. It wasn't so much the classes but the people he met who inspired him to "go big." "The parents of my friends were some of the most amazing businessmen in Toronto," Szaky says from his new corporate headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey. "These guys started with nothing to produce the Rolling Stones or being Roots clothing. It showed me you can do anything." And Szaky has certainly followed their leads...
Time Magazine
Let's Talk Trash (October 1, 2006)
Tom Szaky's office could pass for a landfill. Szaky, 24, the co-founder and CEO of plant-food manufacturer TerraCycle, sits in a chair that was at one time another firm's trash, next to a computer on a desk that were both once trash, and, with near palpable enthusiasm, draws supply-and-demand graphs on scraps of paper to show why he's so fond of building his business out of trash. "What is garbage?" he asks, marker in hand. "It's any commodity with a negative value, right? It's something you're willing to pay to get rid of." And TerraCycle is willing to take it, he might as well add. Negative costs drive the company's bottom line. Only the label on the bottle of TerraCycle's flagship product is new. The product is a ready-to-use organic plant-food spray, made from the excrement of worms fed on compost and packaged in repurposed soda bottles...
Trentonian
Making graffiti an art form (October 2, 2006)
It's rare when the repainting of a factory is cause for celebration, let alone a community wide event. 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...
Mankato Free Press
Girl scouts are champion recyclers (September 27, 2006)
A local Girl Scout troop is leading the nation in recycling plastic pop bottles for a company that makes all-natural plant food out of worm droppings. To date Troop 3803 has collected more than 5,000 bottles, making them the top collector for TerraCycle, a New Jersey company that reuses the bottles to package their plant food made from the liquefied byproduct of worms. The troop gets 5 cents per bottle. "I like it because we're helping the world and the environment," said Kayla Spielman, a member of Troop 3803 and Waseca sixth-grader...
Sandusky Register
Got bottles? Bring 'em here (September 25, 2006)
Christie Lane Industries Inc. teeters on a threshold of opportunity to provide used plastic pop bottles for a new company which composts garden waste into fertilizer. John Schwartz, general manager of Christie Lane Industries, said a shipment of 75,000 bottles is due in late October or early November. The contract with TerraCycle calls for 400,000 used plastic bottles in 20-ounce, 1-liter and 2-liter sizes, said Schwartz. TerraCycle products are made from waste. For example, TerraCycle Plant Food begins with feeding organic waste to millions of worms and liquefying the worm manure, according to a press release from TerraCycle. The fertilizer is packaged in the used plastic bottles, according to the release. Contracts such as this enable Christie Lane Industries to provide jobs for about 120 adults with mental retardation and development disabilities, said Schwartz. Outside at the loading dock on the west side of the building, Ken Huston, 32, Willard, untwists a lid from a bottle, strips off the label and tosses the bottle to a bin as if he's sending a hook shot to a basketball hoop. Ken cheers if the bottle hits the bin...
EnviroSolutions
Company offers 100% recycled fertilizers (September 25, 2006)
That plastic Coke bottle you pitched into the trash could soon be back on a store shelf, filled with worm waste and ready to be sold a second time. The second time, though, instead of the unmistakable red-and-white Coke logo, the bottle will carry a bright yellow TerraCycle label, advertising the organic plant fertilizer inside. In the US, TerraCycle is a New Jersey company that makes a line of liquid plant fertilizers that are 100 percent recycled - from the fertilizer to the recycled cardboard containers it is shipped in. Even the spray nozzles have been recycled. "In the Western world, it's the first product made from waste" - spokesman Barry Brinster said. "The more of it we make, the less waste there is."...
Bloomington Pantagraph
Daily Digest (September 23, 2006)
The Red Cross of The Heartland is running a continuing fund-raising campaign to help with local disaster relief efforts. The campaign is to collect empty 20-ounce soft drink bottles, which are shipped to TerraCycle Inc., a plant food maker in New Jersey. TerraCycle in return donates 5 cents per bottle to the Red Cross of the Heartland. So far the Red Cross has collected more than 2,000 bottles and raised more than $100. Helping the Red Cross is: Central Catholic High School's Key Club, which has collection bins at home football games; the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, which donates bottles recycled in local parks; and Alpha Gamma Delta sorority at Illinois Wesleyan University...
Fulda Free Press
Main Street Garbage Can Project (September 21, 2006)
With a plan in mind to purchase new garbage cans for Fulda's St. Paul Avenue, Mavis Schipper, owner of D & M Variety, contacted TerraCycle regarding their Soda Bottle Brigade Program. "What we are doing is collecting 20 ounce soda pop bottles," Schipper stated. "The bottles must be rinsed, labels removed, caps on or off. They need to be the sturdy bottles, and not bent. The bottles can be brought to D & M Variety and we then ship them to TerraCycle." TerraCycle, a non-profit organization, allows almost any organization to save the bottles and will donate $.06 per bottle to a charity of the organization's choosing...
US 1
Participate Please (September 21, 2006)
TerraCycle seeks used 20 ounce plastic soda bottles to package TerraCycle Plant Food. The concept behind the company is to use environmentally-friendly components in every aspect of production. There is an "Eco-Pallet" located at Home Depot, Nassau Park, West Windsor. For each bottle returned, TerraCycle will donate five cents to George School in Newton and five cents to Zerofootprint...
White Flowers
Generazione Verde (September 15, 2006)
In attesa che i primi diplomati si facciano notare, pero, il premio di genio verde va al 24enne Tom Szaky, inventore del primo prodotto fatto interamente di spazzatura. Tom sguinzaglia un esercito di vermi sull'immondizia dei ristoranti, quindi lascia in ammollo i loro resti, distillandone un fertilizzante a quanto pare imbattibile. I contenitori in cui lo versa sono bottiglie di bibite usate chiuse con gli spruzzini di vecchi detergenti per vetri. Le scatole sono scarti di fabbrica. Nel 2006 la sua societa, la Terracycle, incassera 2.5 milioni di dollari...
Heavy Petal
Heavy Petal (September 12, 2006)
Okay, so I'm a bit slow on the uptake with this product. Terracycle launched in the spring, and has been available locally for at least a couple months, and I just heard about it. I blame my distraction on wedding and school madness. Terracycle's product, which sounds to me like liquified worm castings, (or, as Terracycle likes to say, "worm poop"), might not be that innovative (at least in the organic gardening world where worm castings are de rigueur, but their packaging is: the organic fertilizer is packaged and sold in recycled soda bottles. That's right, the entire product is made out of garbage - from the contents to the packaging. As a result, TerraCycle "is the first mass-produced consumer product to have a negative environmental footprint." Very cool...
Sentinel
Business Briefs (September 7, 2006)
Home Depot, 4095 Route 1, Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick, will be collecting used 20-ounce plastic soda bottles. The store has a TerraCycle "Eco-Pallet" featuring a cardboard receptacle where residents may deposit used soda bottles. TerraCycle Inc., Trenton, was begun by two students at Princeton University, and uses the bottles to package its TerraCycle Plant Food. For each bottle returned, TerraCycle will donate 5 cents to Lincoln School, New Brunswick, and other area schools to be confirmed. It will also donate 5 cents to Zerofootprint to offset the environmental effect of driving to and from Home Depot to drop off empty bottles...
Examiner
Out with the old and in with the eco-capitalism (September 7, 2006)
TerraCycle Inc. is trying to turn consumerism on its head by revolutionizing the way people view waste. Starting this week, residents of Allentown and the surrounding area will aid the Trenton-based company in its quest to build the world's most eco-friendly product, according to Jennifer Wilkie, of TerraCycle Inc. "TerraCycle's goal is to save thousands of bottles that would otherwise go to landfills by reusing them as packaging," Wilkie said. "Reusing the bottles is even better than recycling them since it eliminates the shredding, melting and reforming needed in the recycling process."...
Messenger Press
Business Briefs (September 7, 2006)
Home Depot, 750 Highway Rt 130, Robbinsville, will be collecting used 20-ounce plastic soda bottles. The store has a TerraCycle "Eco-Pallet" featuring a cardboard receptacle where residents may deposit used soda bottles. TerraCycle Inc., Trenton, was begun by two students at Princeton University, and uses the bottles to package its TerraCycle Plant Food. For each bottle returned, TerraCycle will donate 5 cents to...
Popgadget
TerraCycle sells trash (September 6, 2006)
Keep an eye on this company, kids. They're an investor darling and a profitability case study just waiting to happen. This is one of those products that just smacks me upside the head with its perfect simplicity. TerraCycle's main product is an eco-friendly organic fertilizer that is made from feeding table scraps from university dining halls to earthworms. The resultant waste products are a potent fertilizer that's rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Charles Darwin once did a study on the effects of earthworms upon soil, and discovered that large numbers of worms could heartily sustain plant life as their natural byproducts left nutrients close to the surface...
Trenton Times
TerraCycle partners with Home Depot (September 6, 2006)
TerraCycle, which manufactures plant food from worm waste, has kicked off an environmental program in conjunc tion with the Home Depot in Ewing. People are being asked to drop off used 20-ounce plastic soda bottles at the store at 1621 N. Olden Ave. The bottles will be reused as packaging for TerraCycle's plant food, and TerraCycle will donate five cents for each bottle returned to Eldridge Park School in Lawrence as well as some other schools that TerraCycle will announce later. In addition, TerraCycle will do nate 5 cents for each bottle to Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based environmental awareness effort that provides services and information to businesses that are working to reduce their environmental impact, according to TerraCycle spokeswoman Jennifer Wilkie...
Marietta Journal
Marietta Wal-Mart helping with charity (September 6, 2006)
Wal-Mart employees at the 2795 Chastain Meadows store raised $114.25 for the Children's Miracle Network by collecting used soda bottles destined for use by TerraCycle, makers of a national line of garden products sold at Wal-Mart stores. Scott Ridgeway, manager of the Marietta store, led the employee campaign, which netted 2,285 bottles. TerraCycle makes its products entirely from waste. TerraCycle Plant Food, for example, is made by feeding premium organic waste to millions of worms and then liquefying their feces. The brew is then packaged for use in 20-ounce and 2-liter soda bottles...
TerraCycle Plant Food Becomes First Consumer Product to Earn Zerofootprint Seal
TerraCycle Plant Food has become the first consumer product to earn the right to carry the Zerofootprint seal. The seal signifies that the materials and manufacturing process used to produce a product have virtually no negative environmental repercussions. Zerofootprint Inc. is a not-for-profit that seeks to help people and businesses reduce their effect on the environment. The Zerofootprint seal is issued through the organization's innovative offsetting program, which accounts for the environmental impact of a given product or service, seeks to reduce this impact through conservation and recycling efforts and then offsets the remaining impacts through natural resource restoration and carbon offsetting...
CFAX
September 1, 2006
TerraCycle has been growing tremendously fast and is now available in Home Depot, Zellers and Wal-Mart stores across Canada. We are excited to announce today that TerraCycle will be launching a lawn fertilizer across Canada that will debut at Home Depot...
US 1
Another Drop-Out, Another Success (August 30, 2006)
Like Bill Martin and Randy Soerek, the CEO of TerraCycle, Tom Szaky, dropped out of a prestigious college (Princeton) at age 19 (U.S. 1, November 10, 2004). Like Martin and Soerek, Szaky is a media darling. His latest cover story was in July for Inc. magazine with the title "The Coolest Little Start-Up in America." Unlike Martin and Soerek, the 29-year-old Szaky is still at the helm of his first firm, and his company has nothing to do with the Internet...
Chicago Tribune
Garden Clippings (August 27, 2006)
Got plants? Try worm tea. Got empty soda bottles? Send them off to New Jersey to be filled with that rich organic fertilizer and raise a little money for your school. The tea is brewed from worm castings — what is left after earthworms consume food vegetable matter. Terracycle Inc. pays non-profits for 20-ounce soda bottles, fills them with worm tea produced in its New Jersey factory and sells it. The company has teamed with the Illinois Recycling Association to bring its Bottle Brigade to Illinois. Schools can earn a nickle for each two 20-ounce bottles they send in (see www.terracycle.net/bb/ira). Find Terracycle All Purpose Plant Food at Home Depot or Wal-Mart stores for about $6 for 20 ounces. Order online at www.terracycle.net...
CNN
In the Money (August 20, 2006)
Today we bring you the story of TerraCycle, a startup company based out of NJ that may make the world's most environmentally friendly product. And they are making money doing so...
Princeton Packet
Princeton University graduate a finisher in l'Etape du Tour (August 18, 2006)
Two big things happened for Jon Beyer while at Princeton University. No. 1, he co-founded TerraCycle Inc., which uses waste products to produce organic plant food. The 23-year-old is now chief technology officer of the company expected to top $2.5 million in sales this year with products stocked by such stores as Home Depot and Wal-Mart. To unwind from his startup company, Beyer can fall back on No. 2, cycling. At Princeton, he rode all four years and became captain and president of the Princeton University Cycling Team, which is considered a club sport by Princeton. "I used to do a little riding just for fun in high school," Beyer said. "It mainly kept me in shape for soccer. When I got to Princeton I was injured and wasn't playing soccer and I started riding with the team. A guy brought me into the fold who was a national champion, Tyler Wren. He's now a professional...
Channel CH (August 18, 2006)
This morning we will be joined by TerraCyle's CEO to see how TerraCycle Plant Food is built. Did you know its the first product in the world to be made from and packaged entirely in waste? TerraCycle was recently rated as the most eco-friendly product ever. TerraCycle was first launched by Wal-Mart Canada and then also taken national by The Home Depot Canada in 2005. This year, both retailers launched TerraCycle national-wide in the US. The Home Depot also awarded TerraCycle with their enviornmental stewardship award...
Channel A - British Columbia
TerraCycle plant food on the west coast (August 18, 2006)
Terracycle plant food is making amazing inroads into the Canadian market. This week Home Depot Canada launched Terracycle's ecopallet. Now residents in BC can visit select Home Depot locations and drop off their bottles to help make TerraCycle...
Lawrence Ledger
Beyer rides through l'Etape (August 17, 2006)
Jon Beyer embarked on his longest most challenging race to date when entered the L'Etape du Tour on July 10 in Gap, France. The 23-year-old Lawrenceville cyclist finished the 191-kilometer ride through the Alps in the French region known as the Provence-Alpes-Azur in seven hours, 49 minutes and 24 seconds. Beyer placed 817th out of the 7,548 riders who entered the 14th edition of the race, which is held on one stage of the Tour de France, and earned a silver medal for reaching one of the time goals in his class during the race. "It was the longest race I've ever done," said Beyer. "In terms of the course, it was the hardest." Beyer, a Princeton University graduate and co-founder of the Trenton-based TerraCycle Inc. organic plant food company, has prepared for the L'Etape and other races this summer since last October by cycling through the streets of Lawrenceville...
Star Ledger
Soldiers of the Soil (August 17, 2006)
The worm business that has attracted the most attention as an offbeat and innovative start-up would have to be TerraCycle, a company led by 24-year-old Tom Szaky that has already passed the million dollar mark this year in sales. Not bad for a four-year-old company started while Szaky and collaborator Jon Beyer were still Princeton University undergraduates. Marketing neither worms nor castings but dependent on both, TerraCycle produces a line of ready-to-use liquid fertilizers made from steeped "worm poop." The eco-friendly product is packaged in used soda bottles which would otherwise clog landfills as part of the waste stream. From the materials of production to the cast-off furnishings of the plant in Trenton, the business is all about recycling — garbage in, profit out. "We started out with the idea that you could make something really good out of garbage," says Szaky. "You might say we feed on the underbelly of capitalism."...
Web X
Holy Shit! (August 16, 2006)
This post is about one of the coolest startups I bumped into recently called TerraCycle. A little background - My next startup, after I finish with all this web stuff, is going to be around recycling/reusing. Yup - the business I aspire to get into is - just like Tony Soprano - the waste management business. My dream is to invent the ultimate contraption that descends upon landfills, chews up all the garbage, and spits out useful products on the other side. That's why I loved everything about TerraCycle, though I have to admit that I've never bought or used their product which is basically a fertilizer (NYC apartments are not particularly famous for their spacious backyards...). What they do is basically release a bunch of worms on a pile of garbage, and collect the worm-shit (hmmm... not sure that's the most scientifically accurate term...) and package it as plant fertilizer...
Small Business Trends
Green Business Trend Taking Hold (August 14, 2006)
Imagine a company where everything — from product to packaging — is made from garbage. Such a company exists — and it is growing at a rapid pace. It is called TerraCycle, and Inc magazine profiled the company recently. The company's product is an organic plant food made from worm castings. OK, all you gardeners know there's not much new about using worm castings as fertilizer. Gardeners have been using worm castings for ages — although this particular product is a bit different in that it is a liquid spray. No, what's truly revolutionary is the packaging. The fertilizer is packaged in used plastic soda pop bottles. Not soda bottles that have been melted down and remade into a different form, but the actual used bottles themselves. The company has repurposed over a million such bottles...
EcoSherpa
Worm poop, the fertilizer of choice (August 9, 2006)
If EVER there was a green business to utterly inspire me, Terracycle Inc. would definitely be it! Aside from having a fascination with 'Eco-Capitalism' in general, I'm extremely passionate about vermicomposting (composting with worms). Terracycle was founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer, two young students at Princeton (at the time). According to Szaky, the original inspiration for the project stems back to a visit with a friend - a friend who just happened to have an active worm composting bin. Seeing the worms at work, and the incredibly healthy plants fed with worm compost, the two students knew they were onto something...
Barrie Life and Times
Worm poop, the fertilizer of choice (August 9, 2006)
Tom Szaky is a dynamic young man. Raised in Toronto he headed south of the border to attend Princeton University. It was on a school break vacation with friends from university that his future was laid out for him. A friend they stayed with in Toronto had been using worms to create compost to help in the growth of his plants. He found they were faring significantly better than untreated plants. Tom and classmate Jon Beyer saw the big picture right away. Through a fortuitous chain of events, Terracycle was born...
Decor Mag
(August 8, 2006)
Plus vert que vert L'engrais TerraCycle est produit par des millions de vers qui transforment les dechets en nourriture pour les plantes. Il est moins dommageable, mais tout aussi efficace que ses vis-a-vis chimiques. Mieux encore, l'emballage est fait de contenants de plastique recycles... Des dizaines, des milliers de bouteilles de soda ramassees par des etudiants au Canada et aux Etats-Unis. Chez Home Depot. Info: www.terracycle.net...
Business Week
The Bootstrap Report (August 7, 2006)
So has the rise of TerraCycle, a maker of plant food created from waste products. Its founder, Tom Szaky, raised thousands of dollars by entering university business-plan contests...
Dallas Morning News
Forget the flowers, Mom. Gimme green. (August 4, 2006)
Produced by two Princeton University students, it is made from liquefied earthworm waste and packaged in recycled plastic soda bottles. It couldn't be easier to use; no mixing is required. Just spray it on leaves and soil. There also are formulas for orchids and African violets (www.terracycle.net). Made from waste and packaged in waste, it's perfect for an Austinite...
CSR Thoughts
TerraCycle: ecology, profits and worm poop (August 1, 2006)
Last weekend, a friend was telling me enthusiastically about a Princeton University drop-out who is using worms to turn food waste into plant fertilizer. The company, Terracycle, also recycles spray-bottles to package its product. Oddly enough, today I got an email from a totally unconnected friend, also raving about this same company. Looks like this small firm has somehow passed the media "tipping point" and is getting quite a bit of attention...
Euro am Sonntag (August 4, 2006)
Christin Martens interviews Tom Szaky about worms, life and everything. This eco-capitalist drives a Ford, and doesn't eat organic, so why is his team creating the world's most eco-friendly plant food and changing how we look at consumer goods...
CBC
Metro Morning (August 2, 2006)
Today we are speaking with Tom Szaky, co-founder of TerraCycle. TerraCycle, recently named the 'Coolest Little Startup in America', produces a fertilizer derived from worm poop...
Reuters
The coolest little start-up in America (August 1, 2006)
The first time Eric Smith laid eyes on Tom Szaky, in April 2005, he felt a shiver of panic. Oh, my God, Smith thought. What have I gotten myself into? There they were, about to meet with Home Depot's global product merchant, John Fuller, a guy who could make or break a young company with a simple yes or no, and Szaky, the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, all of 23 years old at the time, shows up looking as if he's just rolled out of bed after a night of heavy partying — rumpled, unshaven, and dressed in jeans, a sports jacket, a shirt with no collar, and a John Deere baseball cap. This was not what Smith had bargained on. The director of sales for Philips Lighting, he had set up the meeting as a favor to his former boss and mentor at SC Johnson. Granted, on the telephone Szaky had sounded young, but never did Smith imagine that he'd be walking into the meeting with Ferris Bueller on his day off...
C-Fax
Canadian-born company sells product made from garbage to Home Depot (July 31, 2006)
A young Trenton, NJ based company, co-founded by a Canadian has successfully brought to market a product made entirely from waste. The product, TerraCycle plant food, can be found in Home Depots throughout Canada. TerraCycle currently produces four organic, natural products...
Mountain News
Garbage plant food a green story (July 28, 2006)
At the local Home Depot stores, Ancaster, 122 Martindale Cr. and Hamilton at 350 Centennial Parkway N consumers can drop off used 591ml/20oz plastic bottles knowing they will be reused to package an all-natural plant food. TerraCycle Inc., a Canadian-founded company, uses the empty bottles to package its highly effective TerraCycle Plant Food. Not only is TerraCycle Plant Food packaged in waste - the used bottles - but it is actually made from waste...
Duct Tape Marketing
Podcast (July 25, 2006)
My guest today is Tom Szaky, co-found of Terracycle, a company that is taking the plant world by storm with a plant food made from worm castings — that's a nice way of saying worm poop. But, there's really a bigger marketing story here as well...
CHML (July 25, 2006)
Today we are speaking with Tom Szaky, co-founder of TerraCycle. TerraCycle, recently named the 'Coolest Little Startup in America', produces a fertilizer derived from worm poop...
Hamilton Spectator
Super poop (July 22, 2006)
TerraCycle plant food may be the model for a completely recycled and recyclable product. Made from worm-processed organic waste, it is packaged in reused pop bottles, which in turn, can be recycled. The product is easy to use — you simply spray it on the plants or pour it on the soil. The 591-mL bottles of all-purpose, orchid and African violet food are $4.97. A two-litre bottle of all-purpose food is $9.97. The company pays schools, charities and other nonprofit groups to collect bottles. TerraCycle products are available at Zellers, The Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Home Hardware. For information, go to terracycle.net...
Star Ledger
Biz Buzz: MBAs and startups apparently don't mix (July 14, 2006)
Trenton entrepreneur Tom Szaky isn't surprised business-school graduates, by a whopping 4 to 1 margin, would rather work at big companies such as Goldman Sachs or General Electric than take a flier with a tiny startup like his company, TerraCycle, which makes plant food out of worm excrement and packages it in recycled soda bottles. Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions surveyed students who had taken Kaplan courses to prepare for Graduate Management Admission Tests; 1,423 Kaplan GMAT prep alumni responded to the survey, conducted this past spring...
Lightning Labels Blog
A Unique Packaging Idea (July 13, 2006)
The latest issue of Inc. Magazine has a great article titled The Coolest Little Start-up in America. It is the story of TerraCycle, a company that "manufactures" plant food from worm poop. I found it a fascinating story, but what intrigued me most was the packaging that TerraCycle uses for its products. All of the bottles they use to sell their plant food began their life storing soda. You see, TerraCycle is the first company in the world to sell a mass produced consumer product in used soda plastic bottles. It all started out of necessity. Back in 2003, when the company was just getting going, they had no money to buy bottles for their plant food. So Tom Szaky, the young founder, recruited some Princeton students to go around during the night taking plastic bottles out of recycling bins. Today, they buy the bottles from recycling companies, and in 2006 they expect to use between 1.5 million and 2 million used bottles...
Weekend Today Show (July 9, 2006)
What is it like for an younger manager to manage older employees? We sit with Tom Szaky to discuss. Tom is the 24 year old CEO of TerraCycle, producers of organic plant food that is packaged in used soda bottles and sold to retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot...
IL Launches State Wide Bottle Collection Program
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The Illinois Recycling Association (IRA) announced this month that it has partnered with TerraCycle to launch a state wide bottle brigade program. Through this program the citizens of Illinois will be able to recycle their soda bottles and help raise $0.05 per bottle for charity. Half of the funds will be donated to IRA and the other half to the charity where the collection boxes are located. This effort will hopefully bring Illinois closer to becoming a bottle bill state...
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Do the worm doo-doo (July 8, 2006)
Worm manure is often called the perfect fertilizer. Problem was, collecting and using worm manure wasn't easy. Now there is a liquid form that comes ingeniously packaged. Terracycle worm poop is sold in recycled soda bottles topped with a trigger spray. The bottles are collected and used as a fundraiser for schoolchildren and non-profits. Terracycle debuted at Home Depot and won Canada's 2005 Environmental Stewardship award. Now it's available at garden centers and some nurseries. Once you spray the worm poop onto your plants, you may see results in as soon as a week...
Newmarket Era-Banner
Company recycling plastic (July 6, 2006)
Residents are invited to drop off used plastic bottles at Home Depot in Newmarket as part of a unique recycling initiative. TerraCycle will collect the 591-ml bottles to re-use them to package its plant food. For each bottle returned, the company will also donate five cents an environmental organization...
The Statesman
Young entrepreneurs make Inc. magazine list (June 30, 2006)
Judged Magazine
Cooley Client Named Coolest Start Up (June 29, 2006)
Cooley Godward LLP is counsel to TerraCycle, Inc. who was recently chosen by Inc magazine as "The Coolest Little Start-Up in America". TerraCycle's CEO, Tom Szaky was also selected #1 among the "30 Under 30: America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs". TerraCycle is a pioneer in a movement called Eco-Capitalism, which holds that organizations must be accountable for their performance in the consumption and production of natural capital. The company's flagship product, TerraCycle Plant Food is an all-natural, all-organic, 'goof-proof' liquid plant food made from and packaged in waste. The company sells its organic plant food through Home Depot and Wal-Mart, and investors want in on the action...
News 12
Channel 12 News Feature (June 29, 2006)
TerraCycle Plant Food - made by worms in Trenton, NJ and packaged in used soda bottles. A local organic success story...
Intelligencer Staff
Home Depot doing it's part in Belleville (June 27, 2006)
Home Depot in Belleville is doing its part to help the environment. The Bell Boulevard store is asking consumers to drop off their used 591 ml/20 oz. plastic pop bottles so the containers can be converted into packaging for an all-natural plant food. TerraCycle Inc., a Canadian-founded company, will use the empty bottles to package its TerraCycle Plant Food. Not only is the plant food packaged in waste — the used bottles — but it is actually made from waste, said the company's Jennifer Wilkie. TerraCycle is manufactured by feeding garbage to millions of worms and then brewing their castings — better known as 'worm poop' — into a highly effective, ready-to-use liquid. Wilkie said the concept behind the product is to use environmentally-friendly components in every aspect of production, creating a certified organic product that compares favourably to the synthetic chemicals used by the majority of gardeners...
Orillia Packet and Times
Home Depot launches Eco-Merchandiser (June 27, 2006)
The Home Depots have a TerraCycle "eco-pallet" that includes a cardboard receptacle where people can deposit used pop bottles. For each bottle returned, TerraCycle will donate five cents to Evergreen, an organization that works to bring nature back into urban communities through naturalization projects...
Windsor Star
Plastic pop bottles put to good use (June 24, 2006)
At both Home Depot stores in Windsor, consumers can drop off used 591mL (20 oz) plastic bottles to be reused to package an all-natural plant food. TerraCycle Inc., a Canadian-founded company, uses the empty bottles to package its TerraCycle Plant Food. Not only is Terra-Cycle Plant Food packaged in waste - the used bottles - but it's actually made from waste...
Stoney Creek News
Build eco-friendly product (June 23, 2006)
Nine out of ten Canadians rate the environment as a top concern. Now residents in the Stoney Creek area have a chance to do something about it by helping to build the world's most eco-friendly product. For the next month, at Home Depot at 350 Centennial Pkwy. N. and 122 Martindale Cr. in Ancaster, consumers can drop off used 591ml/20oz plastic bottles, which will be reused to package an all-natural plant food...
Inc Magazine
The Coolest Little Start-up in America (June 22, 2006)
The first time Eric Smith laid eyes on Tom Szaky, in April 2005, he felt a shiver of panic. Oh, my God, Smith thought. What have I gotten myself into? There they were, about to meet with Home Depot's global product merchant, John Fuller, a guy who could make or break a young company with a simple yes or no, and Szaky, the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, all of 23 years old at the time, shows up looking as if he's just rolled out of bed after a night of heavy partying — rumpled, unshaven, and dressed in jeans, a sports jacket, a shirt with no collar, and a John Deere baseball cap. This was not what Smith had bargained on. The director of sales for Philips Lighting, he had set up the meeting as a favor to his former boss and mentor at SC Johnson. Granted, on the telephone Szaky had sounded young, but never did Smith imagine that he'd be walking into the meeting with Ferris Bueller on his day off...
Toronto Star
Worm Poop (June 22, 2006)
Anybody who has been to their local Whole Foods, Home Depot or garden centre recently has seen displays of TerraCycle plant food. It's a terrific product and the company may actually be the model for a completely recycled and recyclable product. Made from worm-processed organic waste, it is packaged in reused pop bottles — which in turn, can be recycled. TerraCycle was founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, a then 20-year-old Toronto entrepreneur and Princeton dropout. It offers a variety of products from its worm-eating facilities in Trenton, N.J...
CNBC
On the Money (June 21, 2006)
Ancaster News
Terra Cycle Inc. providing win-win program for environmentally conscious consumers (June 16, 2006)
Nine out of 10 Canadians rate the environment as a top concern. Starting this week, residents in the Ancaster and Dundas area have a chance to do a little something about it by helping to build an eco-friendly product. At the Home Depot store in Ancaster, 122 Martindale Cres., consumers can drop off used 591 millilitre/20 ounce plastic bottles knowing they will be reused to package an all-natural plant food...
Lazy Environmentalist
Next-Generation Eco-Entrepreneurs (June 12, 2006)
Smarter, healthier and cleaner products and services are being created by a new generation of eco-entrepreneurs. They are young, aggressive and market-savvy and their eco-friendly solutions are changing the world one shopper at a time. Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer — Co-Founders of Terracycle, a manufacturer of affordable, potent, organic products that are not only made from waste, but are also packaged entirely in waste. TerraCycle Plant Food™ is made by feeding premium organic waste to millions of worms. The worm poop is then liquified into a powerful organic plant food and bottled directly in used soda bottles...
In Business
Sustainable Businesses at the EcoComplex Incubator (June 12, 2006)
TerraCycle produces a liquid plant food from vermicompost, packaged in reused soda bottles. Its research operation takes place at the EcoComplex greenhouse, while processing and packaging are done in a facility in Trenton, New Jersey. They are converting another building in Trenton to use as a vermicomposting facility. It seems that vermicompost is as good for growing a business as it is for growing plants. Since early 2004, TerraCycle Plant Food has sold for about $7 in natural foods stores and independent garden shops, and became available in Wal-Marts across Canada and on-line at Home Depot. Sales in 2005 reached $500,000, and are anticipated to triple this year with a planned launch in Home Depot stores and U.S. Wal-Marts...
Joe Gardener (June 3, 2006)
Listen to the recording here...
Startup Journal
Five Tips for Succeeding As a Young Entrepreneur (June 2, 2006)
During his freshman year at Princeton University in 2001, Tom Szaky, 24 years old, began working on a project to create organic plant food made entirely from organic food waste and packaged in recycled soda bottles. The company, called TerraCycle, now located in Trenton, N.J., began to grow, and by the middle of his sophomore year, Mr. Szaky went on sabbatical. Due to his age, investor interest was slow. "In the beginning, investors totally blew us off," he says. Knowing his age was the primary deterrent, Mr. Szaky remained patient and persistent. Eventually, a radio interview led to an investment of a couple thousand dollars by a caller, and from there TerraCycle grew one investor at a time. Today, some of TerraCycle's 15 products are found at Wal-Mart and Home Depot, and he expects revenues this year to be around $1.5 million. "Believing in the idea is critical, especially for a young person, because you have to get passed those first hurtles."...
Vancouver Sun
Suburban Splendor: Gardens in Bloom tour (June 2, 2006)
One of the safest fertilizers on the market is TerraCycle Plant Food, an innovative organic spray-fertilizer created from feeding organic waste to worms. The waste is liquified and the watered down "worm poop" gets packaged into recycled 20-oz pop bottles. The company, started in 2001, is the brainchild of Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer, who call themselves pioneers of "eco-capitalism." The company pays five cents for used bottles, which are collected by a 'Bottle Brigade' formed by school, charity, and church groups throughout North America. TerraCycle makes three fertilizers — an all-purpose plant food, one for orchids, and one for African violets. You can find them at Home Depot for about $5 a bottle...
You Bet Your Garden (May 20, 2006)
Listen to the recording here...
Chesapeake Home
The mid-atlantic's house and garden magazine (June 2006)
Bottled worm poop - to your plants, a five-star dinner. Made from worm-processed organic waste and packaged in recycled soda bottles, TerraCycle Plant Food can be applied to soil or leaves and won't cause plant burn like some synthetic fertilizers...
The Ledger
Things To Do This Weekend (May 12, 2006)
A new, organic fertilizer called TerraCycle Plant Food is made entirely from worm castings (worm droppings) and will be available this year at participating Wal-Mart, CVS, Home Depot and Ace Hardware Stores. The castings, harvested from worms fed organic waste, are liquefied and then packaged in 20-ounce, recycled soda bottles. TerraCycle Plant Food is ready-to-use and can be sprayed onto plants and the surrounding soil...
Insider Media Group
The soft skill standard (May 11, 2006)
Outside of the corporate establishment, the conference also featured Tom Szaky, the charismatic twenty-something founder of TerraCycle, a maker of organic plant fertilizer. Szaky, who dropped out of Princeton to pursue his business, has created a multi-million dollar company entirely out of garbage, with the original source of fertilizer coming from 'worm poop'...
Chicago Sun Times
Kids help turn worm poop into a growth industry (May 2, 2006)
It starts with worm poop and ends up as the world's first product made and packaged entirely from waste, the manufacturers claim. Millions of earthworms eat organic waste, and their excrement is liquefied into TerraCycle Plant Food. It's packaged in recycled plastic bottles collected by school kids, church groups and others. At Trinity Lutheran School in Tinley Park, Tiffany Gurgel's eighth-graders do the work after school as a fund-raiser. They also learn a down-to-earth lesson about waste recycling...
KTOE
Radio Interview (May 1, 2006)
TerraCycle, a seven-person start-up with an innovative plan to harvest worm castings from large-scale organic worm composters to make fertilizer — liquid plant food, pellet fertilizer, growth media or sprayable liquids. They're at an early stage, with big, industrial-size prototypes, but no significant money...
National Post
Liquefied worm poop recycles organic waste and re-uses old pop bottles (April 27, 2006)
You know worms are good for your garden, but there's no way you're actually going to cultivate a worm farm in your yard. Fear not. An enterprising young Canadian at Princeton University has been feeding organic waste to millions of worms, who then consume and process the waste. The worms' excrement — affectionately called "worm poop" — is rich in plant nutrients and is completely natural. TerraCycle plant foods can be sprayed on directly on plants or poured on the soil...
Ottawa Citizen
Ambassador of green (April 22, 2006)
The company has also added a Bottle Brigade to the Mow Down Pollution program. It hopes to collect more than 150,000 plastic soda bottles, clean them, take off the labels, put on new labels and fill them with TerraCycle, an organic plant food made from worm waste. It's all good for the garden, the environment and Home Depot's bottom line...
1360 WPTT
Jane Nugent / Garden Party (April 22, 2006)
Radio interview...
The Oregonian
New Products designed to make garden work easier (April 20, 2006)
Maybe the coolest thing about this new liquid fertilizer is that it's packaged in reused soda bottles, many of which are collected by school kids and nonprofit organizations to raise money. Of course, that's not all there is to it. TerraCycle Plant Food is made from worm castings (otherwise known as worm poop), one of the richest natural fertilizers. It's bottled in a ready-to-use form in all-purpose, orchid and African violet formulas...
CNW Group
Improve your yard and the environment with Mow Down Pollution (April 19, 2006)
The program also includes rebates and incentives on Eco-Options products that encourage energy efficiency and environmental conservation, as well as a plastic bottle recycling program. Through the "Bottle Brigade," the goal is to collect more than 150,000 plastic soda bottles to be used in packaging and distributing Terracycle, a wholly-organic plant food made from worm waste...
Princeton Alumni Weekly
Big test for TerraCycle's three generations of Tigers (April 5, 2006)
In a rundown warehouse in the heart of Trenton's old industrial area, several Princeton alumni have set up shop for an upstart fertilizer company, TerraCycle Inc. The brick building — marked by graffiti and metal window grates — is an unlikely location for a new company to thrive. But for TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky '05, the warehouse and its secondhand furnishings are emblematic of the company's ethos...
The Register Guard
Business idea: Turn old pop bottle into poop bottle (April 2, 2006)
"Made by Worms." That's what is says on the back of the bottle. "Made" as in the way we humans might "make" something in the bathroom, not with our hands. There's even a drawing on the back of the plant-food bottle of a worm, a happy looking guy, wearing glasses. Must have been a smart worm...
The Press of Atlantic City
As the Worm Turns / Spring is in the Air and Earthworms are Back at Work Fertilizing Soil (March 28, 2006)
Worm excretion is such a good fertilizer that a Princeton University dropout has created a fast-growing business selling it in liquified form as Terracycle Plant Food. The company, based in Trenton, packages what it calls "worm poop" in recycled 20-ounce soda bottles fitted with sprayers, so it can be applied directly on foliage or poured into a pot. It's available at CVS drugstores, Home Depot and Wal-Mart...
Herald Mail
Garden show sparks artistic inspiration (March 25, 2006)
Terracycle Plant Food and the Smithsburg High School students selling it at the show were another sort of inspiration. Terracycle (www.terracycle.net) is an environmentally-friendly fertilizer made by a process of feeding organic waste such as vegetable peels, coffee grounds...
The Arizona Republic
Health food your plants will soak up (March 25, 2006)
TerraCycle Plant Food. Organic product made from worm castings. Can be sprayed on plants or poured on the soil. Find formulas, packaged in reused soda bottles, for orchids, African violets and all-purpose. $4-$10 at Wal-Mart and Home Depot or terracycle.net...
Bergen Record
New Products for Your Gardening Pleasure (March 23, 2006)
TerraCycle is having a castings call. The Trenton-based company has developed a liquid eco-friendly plant food made from worm excrement. Developed by Princeton University dropout Tom Szaky, the all-purpose solution — packaged in recycled soda bottles...
The Herb Companion
Garden safely with TerraCycle (March 2006)
Garden safely with the new all-natural, organic TerraCycle Plant Food by TerraCycle, Inc. This sprayable, ready-to-use plant food contains the natural ingredients created when worms break down organic matter into essecntial plant nutrients, and is packaged in reused soda bottles...
CareersTV
Poop to Profit (March 2006)
Tom Szaky could have been set for life. The son of two Toronto doctors, he was sent off to Princeton to get an Ivy League education. But soon this whiz kid dropped out of university and risked everything to start Terracycle, a company that sells eco-friendly plant food made from worm poo...
CFRB 1010
(March 19, 2006)
It's spring time and TerraCycle develops a product that is made from liquid worm poop and packaged in reused soda bottles. Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart seem to like it...
Hagerstown Morning Herald
Flower & Garden show to sell TerraCycle (March 16, 2006)
The club is setting up shop at this weekend's Flower & Garden show to sell TerraCycle, an all-organic fertilizer derived from worm excrement and sold by...
ABC 6
(March 3, 2006)
Despite being in one of the most economically depressed areas of Trenton, TerraCycle has more workers than any other business in New Jersey, close to 10 million. OK, they're worms and they don't do much, but the company's business is based entirely on what they do. WHAT IS THIS? "This is worm poop...pure worm poop...I didn't know worms could do this...
Environmental News Network
Bottles Recycled for Fertilizer Line (February 23, 2006)
That plastic Coke bottle you pitched into the trash could soon be back on a store shelf, filled with worm waste and ready to be sold a second time. The next time, though, instead of an unmistakable red and white Coke logo, the bottle will carry a bright yellow TerraCycle label, advertising the organic plant fertilizer inside...
Star Telegram
Company offers 100% recycled fertilizers (February 20, 2006)
That plastic Coke bottle you pitched into the trash could soon be back on a store shelf, filled with worm waste and ready to be sold a second time. The second time, though, instead of an unmistakable red-and-white Coke logo, the bottle will carry a bright yellow TerraCycle label, advertising the organic plant fertilizer inside...
The News and Observer
Bottles Recycled for Fertilizer Line (February 21, 2006)
That plastic Coke bottle you pitched into the trash could soon be back on a store shelf, filled with worm waste and ready to be sold a second time. The next time, though, instead of the unmistakable red and white Coke logo, the bottle will carry a bright yellow TerraCycle label, advertising the organic plant fertilizer inside. TerraCycle is a New Jersey company that makes a line of liquid plant fertilizers that are 100 percent recycled — from the fertilizer to the recycled cardboard containers it is shipped in. Even the spray nozzles on the bottles have been recycled. "In the Western world, it's the first product made from waste," said spokesman Barry Brinster. "The more of it we make, the less waste there is."...
Laurel Leader
Plant food with local roots to be sold by national chains (February 16, 2006)
TerraCycle Plant Food, the product of a company co-founded by a Laurel native, will appear in Wal-Mart, Home Depot and CVS stores this spring. Jon Beyer, 22, who grew up in West Laurel, entered a Princeton University business-plan contest with fellow student Tom Szaky in 2002 while they attended the university...
Gloucester County Times
Centre City 'brigade' fights recycling war (January 29, 2006)
Students at Centre City School are stepping up the recycling program here with the introduction of the "Bottle Brigade" project. Instead of a township truck coming to pick up plastic bottles, the school has teamed up with TerraCycle — which offers a nickel for every 20-ounce bottles — to raise money for a charitable cause...
Toronto Star
Recycled bottles are perfect packaging for organic fertilizer (January 28, 2006)
Toronto boy Tom Szaky went to Princeton University to study economics and ended up getting an advanced degree in worm poop. Szaky, 23, dropped out of school after two years to make plant food out of worm excrement and the result of his extracurricular studies - he spent an entire summer, 10 hours a day, shovelling...
NJ Entrepreneur
Learn from Experience: Tom Szaky (January 25, 2006)
Is your current company your first entrepreneurial experience? If yes, when did you start it? Where did you receive your experience to start this venture? If no, what was your first venture and how successful was it? Did it relate to what you are doing now? I started my first company when I was 14....
St Petersburg Times
TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky plans to sell his product in Home Depots and Wal-Marts nationwide this year (January 3, 2006)
Tom Szaky is wearing what he calls his "greed hat", turning worm excrement into profit. The 23-year-old Princeton dropout set out to be a smart entrepreneur, not an environmental hero. His growing business is built on organic fertilizer made from worm feces, then bottled in recycled plastic bottles...
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