TerraCycle Press Kit
The TerraCycle story is a tale of ultimate Eco-Capitalism. The company's flagship product is TerraCycle Plant Food, an all-natural, all-organic liquid plant food made from worm castings and packaged in reused soda bottles!
It all started in 2001 when two Princeton University students set out to change the way people do business. Inspired by a box of worms, these students had a dream: a company could be financially successful while being ecologically and socially responsible.
Founder Tom Szaky was determined to turn the worm box concept into a real-life, viable process. That summer, he developed a prototype of the TerraCycling equipment – a 'worm gin' --, and by reprocessing waste from dining halls at Princeton University, proved his concept was feasible. Tom then left Princeton, and TerraCycle was born!
Today, TerraCycle produces the world's first consumer product line that is not only made completely from waste, but is also packaged in waste.
TerraCycle employs a mix of entrepreneurs and seasoned managers including a team of executives and advisors with Fortune 500 and global consulting expertise. The company's unique approach to business – manufacturing everything out of waste materials – has appealed to a number of leading retailers. TerraCycle Plant Food™ is currently available at leading retailers throughout North America, including Wal*Mart, Home Depot, and other leading garden, hardware and organic food stores.
With an ever-expanding customer list throughout the U.S. and Canada, TerraCycle is proving Eco-Capitalism works. A business can be just as successful building eco-friendly products as it can be building products that simply make money.
TerraCycle Plant Food is derived from organic waste which has been processed and excreted by worms. TerraCycle Plant Food™ has met the standards of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) (www.omri.org) and is listed by OMRI as an acceptable product for organic production, processing, and handling. TerraCycle Plant Food™ is packaged in used soda bottles, many of which are collected in an innovative Bottle Brigade program. That program pays schools, churches, charities and other non-profit organizations to collect used bottles. More than 1,300 organizations throughout North America are registered Bottle Brigade collection points.
TerraCycle pursues a negative-to-minimal-cost paradigm which it hopes will allow it to be more profitable and grow faster than conventional companies. By producing an environmentally friendly product from waste packaged in recycled bottles, locating its factory in an inner city Urban Enterprise Zone, and employing about 30 interns every summer, TerraCycle is committed to proving this paradigm. You can be more successful by doing good than by doing business the normal way!
Tom Szaky, 23, is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of TerraCycle, Inc., the first company to produce products made from -- and packaged in -- waste.
Tom Szaky is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of TerraCycle, Inc., producer of the world's first product made from and packaged in waste. TerraCycle Plant Food has been recently named the most eco-friendly product in Home Depot, and received a number of awards for business model and environmental stewardship.
Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1982, Mr. Szaky emigrated from Hungary to Holland. In 1989 he and his family emigrated again from Holland to Canada. At 14 he started his first business, a web design company called Flyte Design, which employed three associates and earned its young proprietor a five-figure income. Flyte Design also earned a number of Canadian national design awards. Mr. Szaky then engaged in the start-up of three small 'dot.com' companies: Werehome.com (an online home improvement site), piority.com (an online fundraising school), and studentmarks.com (an online grade tracking software).
While in secondary school, Mr. Szaky was also active in community service and philanthropy. As a third-year student, he cycled solo from Toronto to Vancouver to raise $4000 for the environmental organization Ontario Naturalists, setting a national speed record of 21 days for such a bike ride. As a fourth-year student, he organized and directed a full-scale fashion show, managing a volunteer staff of 200 people, which raised $35,000.
Mr. Szaky came to the United States in 2001 when he matriculated as a freshman at Princeton University. In 2002, Mr. Szaky took a leave of absence to dedicate himself full-time to starting TerraCycle, Inc., beginning as a two-man outfit in the crowded basement of an old office building in Princeton.
Today TerraCycle occupies a 20,000 sq. ft. factory in an urban enterprise zone in Trenton, NJ, where it employs nearly 20 workers and makes and ships its unique consumer products to Wal-Mart Canada, Whole Foods, Home Depot, and other major retail stores. It also runs its industrial prototypes and conducts its scientific product research at the Rutgers EcoComplex in Bordentown.
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