Making garbage useful with Tom Szaky of TerraCycle

How I Built This · 17 Aug 2023 · 43m

What this episode covers

Tom Szaky, co-founder and CEO of TerraCycle, recounts his journey from a Princeton dorm room to building a multimillion-dollar recycling enterprise. He details the early pivot from selling worm poop fertilizer in reused soda bottles to solving the broader waste crisis by partnering with brands like Stonyfield and Clif Bar to collect non-recyclable packaging. Szaky explains the economics of voluntary funding for waste management and introduces Loop, TerraCycle’s reusable packaging initiative, which aims to make traditional recycling obsolete by enabling infinite reuse of containers from brands like Tide and Häagen-Dazs.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies: TerraCycle, Walmart, Home Depot, Stonyfield, Clif Bar, Honest Tea, Nestle, PNG
Products: Loop, Tide, Häagen-Dazs
Also: Princeton

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Making garbage useful with Tom Szaky of TerraCycle

What this episode covers

Most relevant to

Topics

Mentioned

Related episodes from other shows

195 - Women owned Sustainable Packaging conversation with CEO Heather Fritzsche

141 - Kieran White from Return Protocol formerly at Lasso Loop

The Waste Management Industry with Jeff Satwicz, Co-Founder of Bigbelly

103 - Sustainable Shipping Packaging with Saloni Doshi, CEO of Ecoenclose

Intelligent Dumpsters and Sustainable Waste Disposal with Ben Chehebar, VP of Hardware at RoadRunner Recycling, and Jason Gates, Senior VP of Strategy at RoadRunner Recycling