TerraCycle is a private U.S.-based

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

business headquartered in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

-based recycling platform to collect non-recyclable pre-consumer and

post-consumer waste Post-consumer waste is a waste type produced by the end consumer of a material stream; that is, where the waste-producing use did not involve the production of another product. The terms of pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials are ...

on behalf of corporate donors or

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

to turn it into raw material to be used in new products. TerraCycle also manages Loop, a consumer-products shopping service with

reusable packaging Reusable packaging is manufactured of durable materials and is specifically designed for multiple trips and extended life. A ''reusable package'' or container is “designed for reuse without impairment of its protective function.” The term ret ...

History

TerraCycle was founded by Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer in the fall of 2001. In 2002, the company bought a US$20,000 continuous-flow

composting Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

system invented by Harry Windle of Gainesville, Florida, to take

organic waste Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane or simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digesti ...

and have it processed by worms into fertilizer. Initial funding came from family and friends of Szaky and Beyer, as well as awards from

business plan A business plan is a formal written document containing the goals of a business, the methods for attaining those goals, and the time-frame for the achievement of the goals. It also describes the nature of the business, background information on ...

competitions. Further funding came from

private investors An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

. The first investor was Sumant Sinha, who gave $2,000 in exchange for 1% of the company stock. The dining halls of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

were the first sources of waste used. Instead of pure

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

, TerraCycle sold its products in liquid form upon concluding that liquid fertilizer could have better consumer reception. The original rationale for packing its liquid fertilizer in used plastic bottles was because the company could not afford new ones. Later, the company continued this process and marketed their gardening products as "Waste in Waste". Schools and local organizations collected bottles for TerraCycle in exchange for proceeds in what became known as the "Bottle Brigade". CGW TerraCycle2 (14106012050)

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrup ...

and PepsiCo both gave TerraCycle a license to use their bottles in TerraCycle products. In 2004 and 2005,

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

Canada and Wal–Mart Stores Canada began carrying TerraCycle products. During its growth, the company bought an abandoned mansion to house its interns and a warehouse for its fertilizer production and offices. In 2007, TerraCycle developed Brigade and waste collection programs for

Honest Tea Honest Tea (U.S.) is a bottled organic tea company based in Bethesda, Maryland. It was founded in 1998 by Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company History Honest Tea was founded in 19 ...

Stonyfield Farm Stonyfield Farm, also simply called Stonyfield, is an organic yogurt maker and dairy company located in Londonderry, New Hampshire, United States. Stonyfield Farm was founded by Samuel Kaymen in 1983, on a 19th-century farmstead in Wilton, New H ...

, and

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arran ...

. Seth Goldman, founder and CEO of Honest Tea, asked Szaky for a waste program for its Honest Kids brand. As Szaky himself designed sample products for the aluminum-plastic pouches, including pencil pouches and

tote bag A tote bag is a large and often unfastened bag with parallel handles that emerge from the sides of its pouch. Totes are often used as reusable shopping bags. The archetypal tote bag is made of sturdy cloth, perhaps with thick leather at its handl ...

s, Goldman agreed to sponsor the Drink Pouch Brigade. Upon deals with Safeway,

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

, and

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, a ...

to buy the products, TerraCycle acquired approximately 20 million baled juice pouches stored by Encorp in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, which contained many

Capri-Sun Capri-Sun (, ) is a brand of juice concentrate drinks based in Germany and Switzerland. Invented by Rudolf Wild, it was introduced in West Germany in 1969 by his company as Capri-Sonne (a name retired in favor of the English name in 2017). ...

pouches. Kraft granted TerraCycle permission to use Capri-Sun brand pouches in its products, They obtained additional sponsorship for the Drink Pouch Brigade as well. later followed by programs for other Kraft brands. In 2008, TerraCycle partnered with Target to sell recycled Target

plastic shopping bag Plastic shopping bags, carrier bags, or plastic grocery bags are a type of plastic bag used as shopping bags and made from various kinds of plastic. In use by consumers worldwide since the 1960s, these bags are sometimes called single-use bags, ...

s fused together as reusable bags named "reTotes". At the end of the year, TerraCycle lost $4.5 million. 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. TerraCycle changed to use the majority of its collected post-consumer waste for recycling into plastic molding pellets. Around 2008, it ended its Bottle Brigade program. TerraCycle launched in the UK in September 2009 as its first market in Europe, and operates in 12 European markets. By 2009, the firm moved away from manufacturing to licensing all of its products. The same year, it outsourced its vermicompost production to worm farmers in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. In the UK, by 2010 its 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. From 2012, the firm and various

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

companies partnered to launch a widespread collection and recycling system for cigarette butts. The

cigarette filter A cigarette filter, also known as a filter tip, is a component of a cigarette, along with cigarette paper, capsules and adhesives. Filters were introduced in the early 1950s. Filters may be made from plastic cellulose acetate fiber, paper or ...

s, generally made from

cellulose acetate In biochemistry, cellulose acetate refers to any acetate ester of cellulose, usually cellulose diacetate. It was first prepared in 1865. A bioplastic, cellulose acetate is used as a film base in photography, as a component in some coatings, and ...

, are refined into pellets that are then used in the production of plastic items such as shipping pallets, benches, and ashtrays. 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 Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...

. Tobacco and paper are composted in this program. In January 2014, Progressive Waste Solutions announced a 19.99% interest acquisition in TerraCycle Canada to cooperate on recycling initiatives in Canada. 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. At the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

in January 2017, TerraCycle,

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

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 Head & Shoulders (H&S) is an American brand of anti-dandruff and non-dandruff shampoo produced by parent company Procter & Gamble. It was introduced in the United States on 1 January 1961 based in Manhattan and used the slogan THE AMERICA AND WORL ...

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. In 2019, TerraCycle announced Loop, a closed-loop

platform for

consumer packaged goods Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG), are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, cand ...

companies. The system ships food, household cleaning, personal care products in a reusable padded container. The products are delivered in reusable containers, which are returned to the Loop tote, picked up by Loop, cleaned, refilled and reused.

Products and services

TerraCycle has created approximately 200 products, all of which are licensed to manufacturers, instead of being manufactured by TerraCycle itself. It began with the production of fertilizer made from

vermicompost Vermicompost (vermi-compost) is the product of the decomposition process using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and ...

, which is produced by feeding organic waste to

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wo ...

s. The worms' excrement was then liquefied into " compost tea" by mixing it with air and warm water in large vats. It was packaged in reused plastic water bottles. The spray bottle tops were rejects from other companies. Residue left over from the vats was used in

potting soil Potting soil or growing media, also known as potting mix or potting compost (UK), is a substrate used to grow plants in containers. The first recorded use of the term is from an 1861 issue of the ''American Agriculturist''. Despite its name, lit ...

and seed starter products. The company diversified its production into

upcycling Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality, such as artistic value or environmental value ...

around 2007 and began creating products from other waste items such as making coin pouches and tablet cases from retired

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

bags. Various products are produced from pre-consumer waste and

, including messenger and tote bags. Plastic

packaging waste Packaging waste, the part of the waste that consists of packaging and packaging material, is a major part of the total global waste, and the major part of the packaging waste consists of single-use plastic food packaging, a hallmark of throwawa ...

, that is not upcycled, is recycled into a raw material that can be used in plastic products, including playgrounds,

plastic lumber Plastic lumber is a plastic form of lumber made of virgin or recycled plastic (PL or RPL, respectively.) It is mostly made of plastic and binders such as fiberglass or rebar; not to be confused with wood-plastic composite lumber. Widely employe ...

, plastic pavers, bike racks, park benches, and garbage and recycling cans. Its recycling programs enable individuals or groups to collect specified waste materials in exchange for donations to a selected cause or school. Users sign up via the firm's website, and shipping and donation costs are generally covered by a sponsoring company related to the specified recycling program. The waste materials, typically non-recyclable, are either refurbished, upcycled, or recycled.

Corporate affairs

Headquarters

TerraCycle's main headquarters are located in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. The headquarters were purchased by TerraCycle in the summer of 2004. Its renovations were done by TerraCycle's internal design team, led by employee Tiffany Threadgould, and its walls are painted annually by local

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

artists at "Graffiti Jams".

Marketing

The TerraCycle company

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

is a green infinity symbol with two arrows pointed toward one another. Szaky designed the logo during a lecture at Princeton. In 2007,

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, where O.M. Scott began selling lawn seed in 1868. The company manufactures and sells consumer lawn, garden and pest control products, an ...

charged the company with false advertising and

trade dress Trade dress is the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers. Trade dress is an aspect of trademark law, which is a form of intelle ...

violations in TerraCycle's choice of colors, claiming they were similar to its own products. In response, TerraCycle started a media campaign known as "suedbyscotts.com". Scotts dropped the case after TerraCycle agreed to recolor its packaging to orange and green, and remove pictures of fruits and vegetables on its labels. TerraCycle was the subject of a National Geographic

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

series named ''Garbage Moguls''. The pilot premiered on Earth Day, April 22, 2009. The show featured the company's team searching for solutions to various waste streams. In 2014,

Pivot Pivot may refer to: *Pivot, the point of rotation in a lever system *More generally, the center point of any rotational system *Pivot joint, a kind of joint between bones in the body *Pivot turn, a dance move Companies *Incitec Pivot, an Austra ...

launched ''Human Resources'', a reality TV series providing a behind-the-scenes look at day-to-day operations at TerraCycle's headquarters. It also partnered with game developer Guerillapps to make a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

-based

flash game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on co ...

known as '' Trash Tycoon''. In 2021, TerraCycle agreed to update its labeling after settling a lawsuit accusing it of misleading product labeling. It was alleged that the company did not disclose the limits to the quantity of packaging that would be recycled.

References

{{Authority control 2001 establishments in New Jersey American companies established in 2001 Companies based in Trenton, New Jersey Horticultural companies of the United States Recycling industry Waste collection