An Interview With a Garbage Mogul

TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky had a revolutionary idea back in 2001, during his freshman year at Princeton. What if you could make a useful product entirely out of garbage?

He came up with the first product, a fertilizer made from worm poop, and packaged in soda bottles that they “liberated” from neighborhood cycling bins. Just a few years later, TerraCycle is a multi-million dollar company on the leading edge of repurposing materials that other people see as waste into useful, effective and eco-friendly products.

Today, the company's line includes lawn and garden products, office supplies, cleaners and pet cleaning products in partnership with PETCO. You can find hundreds of TerraCycle products in stores like Home Depot, Walmart and Office Max, as well as local co-ops and natural food stores.

Tom has a new book out, called Revolution in a Bottle, as well as a show on National Geographic television. He's a busy guy, but he took a few minutes to chat with Tonic about his company, being an eco-capitalist, and observing Earth Day.

Tonic: Tell us about TerraCycle’s mission.

Szaky: Our goal at TerraCycle is to eliminate the idea of garbage. Everything can be used again, in some way. Each product originates with the idea that you can make something from something someone else would have thrown away.

Tonic: What does it mean to be an Eco-Capitalist?

Szaky: It’s looking at a business and saying you can do the best thing for the environment and by doing it make money.

Tonic: Is it about the environment or making money?

Szaky: It’s both. And there have been many times when the decisions at TerraCycle have taken more creativity because we have to have both. But the solution is always there if you’re willing to look.

Tonic: It seems like you are always branching out into new products. What’s coming up?

Szaky: You’re right — we have new products coming out every two weeks! There are five people dedicated to product development because people keep coming to us with new waste streams that they want us to find a use for. A couple of things coming up are coffee bags that are getting made into stationery products like journals, and chip bags that are turned into clipboards.

Tonic: Wow! With all of those products, you are repurposing a huge amount of trash!

Szaky: This year alone we diverted half a billion tons from landfills. We think we can get it up to a billion tons this year.

Tonic: Tell us about the National Geographic show, Garbage Moguls.

Szaky: We’ve been working on a TV show concept for three years. It finally worked with National Geographic. Imagine a reality show version of The Office. It premieres on Earth Day, and we’re filming more episodes!

Tonic: It’s Earth Day! What can our readers to do participate?

Szaky: They should look at garbage differently. Remember, it doesn’t exist in nature –- garbage is a man-made idea. We choose to throw things away, so think twice before you do it.

You can also check out our collection program. We pay people -– a lot of school groups do this to raise money –- to send in all kinds of trash, like empty Oreos bags, Doritos bags and Capri Sun packs.

But the most important thing is to always ask yourself, is there another use for this pasta jar?