TerraCycle

TerraCycle was founded by Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer in the fall of 2001.[2][3] In 2002, the company bought a US$20,000 continuous-flow composting system invented by Harry Windle of Gainesville, Florida, to take organic waste and have it processed by worms into fertilizer.[3][4][5] The dining halls of Princeton University were the first sources of waste used.[3][6]

Initial funding came from family and friends of Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer, as well as awards from business plan competitions.[3][7] TerraCycle received media attention when it turned down a one million dollar venture investment opportunity awarded through the Carrot Capital Business Plan because the investors planned to change TerraCycle's business model.[3][7] Further funding came from private investors.[3][7] The first investor was Suman Sinha, who gave $2,000 in exchange for 1% of the company stock.[3][8]

TerraCycle's "plant food" packaged in reused bottles and reject spray bottle tops.

Instead of pure fertilizer, TerraCycle sold its products in liquid form.[6] The company made this decision upon concluding that liquid fertilizer could have better consumer reception, as well as production advantages.[9] The original purpose for packing its liquid fertilizer in used plastic bottles was because the company could not afford new ones.[10][11] Later, the company continued this process and marketed their gardening products as "Waste in Waste".[10][12] Schools and local organizations collected bottles for TerraCycle in exchange for proceeds in what became known as the "Bottle Brigade".[3][13]

Maintaining intellectual property rights, The Coca-Cola Company gave TerraCycle a license to use its bottles in TerraCycle products.[14][15] PepsiCo also gave TerraCycle a license to use its distinctively shaped bottles.[16]

In 2004–5, Home Depot Canada and Wal-Mart Canada began carrying TerraCycle products.[3][17] Other companies followed. During its growth, the company bought an abandoned mansion to house its interns and a warehouse for its fertilizer production and offices.[6]

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company sued TerraCycle in 2007, claiming false advertising and trade dress violations.[13][18] In response, TerraCycle started a media campaign known as "suedbyscotts.com".[19][20] Scotts claimed that TerraCycle's choice of colors was too similar to its own products.[21] Scotts eventually dropped the case upon an agreement with TerraCycle to alter TerraCycle's product packaging.[19] TerraCycle agreed to recolor its packaging to orange and green as well as remove pictures of fruits and vegetables on its labels.[22] Issues over product comparison claims on TerraCycle's packaging were also resolved.[22] In the settlement, Scotts required TerraCycle to host a copy of the agreement on suedbyscotts.com.[22]

In 2007, TerraCycle developed waste solutions and Brigade collection programs for Honest Tea, Stonyfield Farm, and Kraft Foods.[2] Seth Goldman, founder and CEO of Honest Tea, asked Szaky for a waste solution to its Honest Kids brand.[10][23] As Tom Szaky himself designed sample products for the aluminum-plastic pouches, including pencil pouches and tote bags, Goldman agreed to sponsor the Drink Pouch Brigade.[10][23] Upon deals with Safeway, Target, and Walgreens to buy the products, TerraCycle acquired approximately 20 million baled juice pouches stored by Encorp in British Columbia, Canada, which contained many Capri-Sun pouches.[10][17][24] Because of intellectual property and trademark rights, TerraCycle sought out permission from Kraft to use Capri-Sun brand pouches in its products.[10][25] They obtained additional sponsorship for the Drink Pouch Brigade as well.[10][25] Programs for other Kraft brands, such as Oreo and Chips Ahoy, soon followed.[10][25] The same year, co-founder Jon Beyer left TerraCycle to work at another company, Princeton Asset Management Group.[26]

In 2008, TerraCycle partnered with Target to sell recycled Target plastic shopping bags fused together as reusable bags named "reTotes".[10] At the end of the year, TerraCycle lost $4.5 million.[23] As a result, the company changed its manufacturing processes to use pre-consumer extra and misprinted packaging labels from other companies in its upcycled products.[23][27] TerraCycle changed to use the majority of its collected post-consumer waste for recycling into plastic molding pellets.[23] Around 2008, it ended its Bottle Brigade program.[28]

TerraCycle launched in the UK in September 2009 (its first market in Europe) and today operates in 12 European markets (UK, Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Denmark).

In the UK, TerraCycle currently runs collection programmes for cracker biscuit and cake wrappers, crisp, nuts, pretzels and popcorn packets, baby food pouches, Pringles cans, writing instruments, air and home care waste, toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, Aqua Optima water filters, pet food packaging, contact lenses, personal care and beauty products / packaging, Tassimo & L’OR coffee pod / TDISC waste and cigarette waste.

To date in the UK, TerraCycle's programmes have diverted over 57 million items of packaging waste from landfill (around the weight of a jumbo jet) while earning over £744,000 for schools, charities and non-profit organisations[29]

By 2009, TerraCycle moved away from manufacturing to licensing all of its products.[23][30] As of the same year, it outsourced its vermicompost production to worm farmers in North Carolina.[31]

From 2012, TerraCycle and various tobacco companies partnered to launch a widespread collection and recycling system for cigarette butts.[32] The cigarette filters, generally made from cellulose acetate, are refined into pellets that are then used in the production of plastic items such as shipping pallets, benches, and ashtrays.[33] The company promises that the recycled plastic from cigarette filters will only be used in industrial products and not in household plastics, due to exposure to nicotine.[33] The recycled cellulose acetate is mixed with other recycled plastics to create usable industrial products.[33] Tobacco and paper are composted in this program.[32][34] It took six months for the development of the process required to recycle cigarette butts.[33]

On January 29, 2014, Progressive Waste Solutions announced a 19.99% interest acquisition in TerraCycle Canada to cooperate on recycling initiatives in Canada.[35]

In October 2016, TerraCycle and Suez Environment announced that Suez acquired 30% of TerraCycle's European operations to develop collection and recycling programs in Europe.[36] At the World Economic Forum in January 2017, TerraCycle, Procter & Gamble and Suez announced production of the world's first recyclable shampoo bottle made from plastic recovered from beaches, rivers and waterways for the Head & Shoulders brand. The first bottles went on sale in France in June 2017 and in October the project was recognized by the United Nations as a winner of a Momentum For Change Lighthouse Activities Award.

According to Tom Szaky, the name TerraCycle "came up at the beginning [as] the idea of 'earth' and 'cycle'."[11] Szaky thought up the name with another Princeton University student during a road trip from New Jersey to Florida.[48] The TerraCycle company logo is a green infinity symbol with two arrows pointed toward one another. Szaky designed the logo during a lecture at Princeton.[30]

TerraCycle was the subject of a National Geographic reality television series named Garbage Moguls.[49] The pilot premiered on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.[10] The show featured the TerraCycle team searching for solutions to various waste streams.[10][31]

In 2014,[50] now defunct Pivot launched Human Resources, a reality TV series providing a behind-the-scenes look at day-to-day operations at TerraCycle's headquarters.[51]

TerraCycle partnered with game developer Guerillapps to make a Facebook-based flash game known as Trash Tycoon.[52] The game was launched in 2011,[12] and it mimics TerraCycle's actual business model.[52] Major sponsors for the game include Carbonfund.org and Treehugger.com.[52] Revenue is generated through the inclusion of brand logos within the game and the use of virtual currency.[53] TerraCycle receives 25% of the advertising revenue but none of the virtual currency revenue.[54] The game donates 10% of its revenues to Carbonfund.org.[52]

In the game, players take on the roles of recycling entrepreneurs who perform actions, such as upcycling and composting.[52] Avatars collect litter from the streets, completing missions to earn points.[55][56] The game features synchronized multiplayer play.[52]

TerraCycle's main headquarters are located in Trenton, New Jersey. The office was originally a 20,000 square feet (1,900 m²) abandoned warehouse for a newspaper distribution facility.[21][57] The headquarters were purchased by TerraCycle in the summer of 2004.[58] Its renovations were done by TerraCycle's internal design team, led by employee Tiffany Threadgould,[49] and its walls are painted annually by local graffiti artists at "Graffiti Jams".[3][23][25]

As of 2013, TerraCycle maintains a one percent profit margin.[42] Tom Szaky reported TerraCycle sales in 2004 as $77,000; 2005 as $500,000; 2006 as $1.6 million; 2007 as $3.3 million; 2008 as $6.6 million; 2009 as $7.3 million; and 2010 as $13.5 million. The company hit $19.3 million in 2016 and expects to surpass $20 million in 2017. In fall 2017, TerraCycle US Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of TerraCycle, Inc., announced it has filed for a Regulation A offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that allows anyone the opportunity to invest in the recycling company's U.S. subsidiary.[59]