Spotlight On: TerraCycle. Making money from trash.

May 20, 2008

TerraCycle is a company started by two Princton University students. What’s so unusual about their products is that every single part is made from garbage and waste. Yes, including the bottles and the packaging. The bottle you see on the right is an old, cleaned Pepsi bottle. To save resources, they recycle old soda bottles, and instead of melting it down, they use the bottle as is, even if they’re different shapes — they’re first company to do this.

You can see their full line of products here. They’ve got everything from lawn care products to bags and office supplies.

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.

Co-founders Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer were determined to turn the worm box concept into a real-life, commercially viable process. That summer, they developed prototype equipment and proved their concept was feasible by reprocessing solid waste from dining halls at Princeton University. — The TerraCycle Story

Now this is what I’m talking about. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I commend TerraCycle for not only re-using our wasted resources and progressing to save the earth, but outputting almost no emissions in the making of their products, and on top of that, making good money! You really can’t beat that.

Posted in agriculture, garbage, green biz ideas