Terracycle: From Trash to Cash
You know you’ve got natural entrepreneurial characteristics when you can turn trash into cash; which is exactly what Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer. The two Princeton freshmen (2001) entered their innovative idea into an business plan contest which eventually grew into the one-of-a-kind company known as TerraCycle today. The eco-conscious company collects all sorts of unrecyclables–various packaging material, old pens, dead cell phones, potato chip bags–and turns them into items such as school supplies and gardening tools.
TerraCycle defines itself as a business venture through the following qualities:
- innovation: existing products but unique production, a new market–for “upcycled” products–is established
- high risk factor: whether consumers’ were willing to purchase goods made of garbage was undeterminable
- outputs>inputs: combines various inputs at to create a products which have more value than its inputs, generating profits
- substantial wealth: Terracycle is expected to pull $20 million in retail sales in 2010
TerraCycle was named one of the 100 most innovative companies by Red Herring Magazine, one of the 100 Brilliant Ideas by Entrepreneur.com, and received the Environmental Stewardship Award from Home Depot. Its innovative operations divert 3 billion pieces of garbage from landfills and into new consumer products making it a great example of an entrepreneurial venture.