“I love the fact that I can make money and help the planet at the same time. But making money is number one and that drives everything else. It’s just been a blessing really to find a model where it really clicks together in that way.” – Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO, TerraCycle
KissMyCountry had the opportunity to talk with Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, which manufactures products from non-recyclable waste. It’s a fascinating and exciting company that reflects the energy, creativity and commitment of Tom Szaky and his team. Enjoy this frank and information-filled conversation with a true business genius who is committed to saving the planet. This is Part 1 of a 2-part interview. In Part 1, Tom talks about his early years as an entrepreneur and the growth of TerraCycle into a company with endless possibilities.
Enjoy!
In April, TerraCycle will have over 60 products featured in the front of all 3500 Walmart stores nationwide – alongside the original products that provide the packaging for their upcycled items. Don’t miss this unique chance to see the creativity of TerraCycle in action. To learn more about the company, take a look at KissMyCountry’s recent review of Tom Szaky’s book, ‘Revolution in a Bottle’.
Lexy: Tom, it’s an honor. You’ve done what many dream of – starting a company at a young age and making it a huge success. ‘Revolution in a Bottle’ talks about the challenges you faced, and how you simply kept going despite setbacks. It’s a great story. But lots of college freshman have an idea, and lots fail. Why did you succeed when so many do not? Is it really as simple as not giving up?
Tom: I did fail actually earlier on. I started six businesses that all failed before TerraCycle. I think it’s most likely when you start a business especially as a young person – and maybe as an older person, but definitely as a younger person you’re just going to fail. The trick is just doing it again and again and again. And doing it as long as you’re excited about it, doing it as long as it’s something really interesting and exciting. But failure comes first and it comes big.
Lexy: TerraCycle has created a huge network of people, many of them schoolchildren, connected to the company through your Brigades. They collect the trash you upcycle and earn money, but they also learn about business and work in the meantime. What do you want schoolchildren to learn about business by being part of your Brigades?
Tom: I think that they can make a difference. The big thing with the environmental movement and green in general is that it almost feels like it’s too big for an individual, especially a child, to really make a difference. Who knows how much of a difference whether it’s a juice pouch or a candy wrapper that’s going to be saved from a landfill, but it is a difference. I think that ability is something really important. Having the product that they’re literally helping to build end up in major significant retailers all across the country really shows them that they are a part of a process. And I think that’s the beginning of getting excited about potentially building a process like this on your own, whatever it may be.
Lexy: You’ve built a great base of loyal TerraCycle supporters through this program. Do you have any plans for keeping your Brigades connected to TerraCycle as they grow older?
Tom: Sure. If you look at our total demographic each waste stream we collect has a different type of consumption and a different type of collection. If you look at certain waste streams like juice or candy or chips that’s primarily schools, and we are now into over 40,000 schools and that’s a pretty big number. With that said we also have coffee waste streams, it’s all offices. Depending on the waste stream it completely depends on where people collect, and I think that what will happen is that as an elementary school student you get older and when you get to high school maybe you’ll start collecting energy bars, maybe it’s yoghurt. It all depends not so much where people are but what they consume is what they end up collecting. And as long as they can keep in that mindset of collecting, we win.
Mr. K: You’ve said you’re not an environmentalist, which some might find surprising. What do you mean by that? How is an EcoCapitalist like yourself not an environmentalist?
Tom: The way I’m not an environmentalist is that my consumption is representative of the average. I think that at this point the average does care a little bit more about the environment than it used to. The average does maybe look at an organic product a little bit more than it used to before. That is how I view myself because my goal is to change the average. I love the fact that I can make money and help the planet at the same time. But making money is number one and that drives everything else. It’s just been a blessing really to find a model where it really clicks together in that way. But I think that if you come to it without money as your primary goal then you risk not being able to scale because you need profit to be able to scale pretty quickly. And if you don’t have profit then you may end up in the position that a lot of non-profits are in which are doing fantastic work but don’t have the ability to become a global entity.
Mr. K: Tom, you’re a very creative entrepreneur. You’ve built a unique company and brought a lot of new ideas to the CPG world. Many people admire you for good reason. But who are your heroes and who do you draw inspiration from when it comes to business?
Tom: That’s a good question. Some of the people who I look up to are obviously the guys in the space that have succeeded whether it’s Ben Cohen from
Ben and Jerry’s or Gary Hirshberg from
Stonyfield. These guys have built a couple hundred million dollar businesses and that’s amazing. And they’ve built it within a twenty or twenty-five year span. And then also the big thinkers in the green space like
Paul Hawken who wrote ‘Natural Capitalism’ – that was a really inspirational book for me when I began. These are the types of things that I really like seeing and draw good energy from.
Mr. K: Lots of people talk about upcycling but you’ve brought it to new levels at TerraCycle. Of your many products which one or two are your favorites?
Tom: I’ll absolutely tell you. The important thing of course is you know I’m a 28-year old male so that’s my mind set and how I look at these products. It all depends on who you ask. The things I really like are the bag we make for Target called the ReTote which is 
the first time plastic bags have been really put into a new product and upcycled and that was a really exciting one. For me the material in there is something I really like. Our first plastic product we’re launching hits the shelves in April and that’s something I’m looking forward to. Usually on our web site or in general we do a lot of branded products. But with the volume of waste we’re collecting we can’t do that all – the amount of juice pouches we collect are over a million a week just from consumers - and there’s not enough demand in the world for that many juice pouch tote bags. But we’ve been able to turn a lot of these waste streams into plastics and so you’re going to see a cooler launching very soon that’s made from 100% chip bags and that’s a very exciting piece as well that we’re very jazzed about.
Lexy: You’ve also been a pioneer in Sponsored Waste, another great concept and an example of your skill at partnering with CPG giants. What are some of your most successful Sponsored Waste relationships? Why are they such a success?
Tom: What makes a sponsored waste relationship a success is the brand really getting behind it, and then time. It’s sort of funny, you just need time. Without time it’s impossible to get scale. So if you look at some of our biggest programs which I would put synonymous with successful in this case,
Capri Sun’s a very big one. With Capri Sun we’ve donated almost a half a million dollars to charity just directly on that program. We’ve collected hundreds of millions of pouches, I think around 38,000 million in the US alone. And now that program has expanded into Canada, we have the Koolaid which is the Capri Sun of Canada and they’ve opened up, and we’ve also expanded into Latin America with Tang. In Mexico and Brazil we collect Tang which is basically the equivalent of Capri Sun. That program is almost our gold standard if you will for scale. It’s also been around for four years so that’s why time is important. Some of the programs that are coming up that I think will turn into that sort of program is chip bags with Frito Lay. That program has done incredibly well and is now also in Brazil with the biggest chip brand there called Elma Chips in Brazil but Frito Lay owns the company. What else? Mars with candy wrappers, that’s one that’s looking at that too. It’s basically ones where the brands really expand. On the flip side what I find the most interesting from a personal, maybe professional position are the really unique crazy ones. We’re now working with a feminine hygiene company to collect the tampon wrapper but also the used tampon applicator. That’s going to launch hopefully soon. That’s a pretty interesting one from a challenge perspective. We’re working with a big razor blade company on collecting used razor blades. Now you’re talking sharps, blood, all sorts of unique things that make it a little bit more challenging.
Lexy: Where do you see upcycling and Sponsored Waste going for TerraCycle? The possibilities seem endless. Do you see TerraCycle sticking with consumer packaged goods, or might you move into other areas like housing or automotive?
Tom: I agree with you for sure. It is absolutely endless. Our goal now is to expand into as many countries as possible. We’re now operating in five – the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the UK. I hope to open six or seven more countries this year. The main are going to be in Europe with Argentina the one exception. Either way we’re really focused on growth, scale and getting as many waste streams as possible. That’s our goal is to try to become the equivalent of recycling for everything – and at that scale – that is non-recyclable or hard to recycle. And so far, so good. That’s what we’re driving towards and everything is thumbs up. It’s different what TerraCycle is known for with the public and what actually happens. One example that surprises a lot of people is that this year we’re projecting that about only 15-20% of our total volume will be the branded type products, while 80% will be turned into plastics and more materials. They’ll still be turned into consumer products – like a TerraCycle trash can if you will. We are collecting the suits that people wear every day, and hair nets, beard nets that are disposable and thrown out every day. Medical waste is another one that we’re starting to talk about collecting disposable devices from hospitals. So there’s a huge opportunity on the industrial side too. It just may not be as talked about as collecting juice pouches from schools.
A very exciting program is coming up in April that will be a new direction for Sponsored Waste. In all 3500 Walmart stores nationwide, TerraCycle will have over 60 products featured in the front of the store. The upcycled products will be co-displayed with the original products that provide the packaging for our upcycled items. So tote bags made from Frito-Lay wrappers will be sold with bags of Frito-Lay chips and backpacks made from Capri Sun drink pouches will be sold next to boxes of the popular juice. One of the newest items will be purses and shoulder bags for teens and adults made from popular Mars candy wrappers like M&M’s and Skittles. This program is great because it helps to show consumers what we are doing. When parents go to buy stuff for their kid’s lunches they will see how we use the packaging and how they can get involved!
This is Part 1 of a 2 part interview with Tom Szaky, and we hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about Tom, his ideas about how to save the planet, and his plans for TerraCycle. We’ll take a pause here and pick up again on Thursday, April 1 to hear more about Tom’s strong support of America as the best place for entrepreneurs to flourish, his connections with other countries, and the places he loves. Join us!
Enjoy!
Tom: Sure. If you look at our total demographic each waste stream we collect has a different type of consumption and a different type of collection. If you look at certain waste streams like juice or candy or chips that’s primarily schools, and we are now into over 40,000 schools and that’s a pretty big number. With that said we also have coffee waste streams, it’s all offices. Depending on the waste stream it completely depends on where people collect, and I think that what will happen is that as an elementary school student you get older and when you get to high school maybe you’ll start collecting energy bars, maybe it’s yoghurt. It all depends not so much where people are but what they consume is what they end up collecting. And as long as they can keep in that mindset of collecting, we win.
Tom: The way I’m not an environmentalist is that my consumption is representative of the average. I think that at this point the average does care a little bit more about the environment than it used to. The average does maybe look at an organic product a little bit more than it used to before. That is how I view myself because my goal is to change the average. I love the fact that I can make money and help the planet at the same time. But making money is number one and that drives everything else. It’s just been a blessing really to find a model where it really clicks together in that way. But I think that if you come to it without money as your primary goal then you risk not being able to scale because you need profit to be able to scale pretty quickly. And if you don’t have profit then you may end up in the position that a lot of non-profits are in which are doing fantastic work but don’t have the ability to become a global entity.
the first time plastic bags have been really put into a new product and upcycled and that was a really exciting one. For me the material in there is something I really like. Our first plastic product we’re launching hits the shelves in April and that’s something I’m looking forward to. Usually on our web site or in general we do a lot of branded products. But with the volume of waste we’re collecting we can’t do that all – the amount of juice pouches we collect are over a million a week just from consumers - and there’s not enough demand in the world for that many juice pouch tote bags. But we’ve been able to turn a lot of these waste streams into plastics and so you’re going to see a cooler launching very soon that’s made from 100% chip bags and that’s a very exciting piece as well that we’re very jazzed about.
