Firm brings recycling concepts to schools

By Lauren Otis / Staff Writer
   LAWRENCE — “I was never really into recycling,” said Max Giaccone, 17, a senior at the Bridge Academy as he stood outside in the morning sun on Friday near the school’s array of recycling buckets and containers.
   But after the school became a partner with Trenton-based TerraCycle Inc., the company that makes innovative new products out of waste, Max admitted his knowledge, and appreciation, of recycling has grown.
   ”I definitely know what actually goes on, that they do help, and it goes on to a better use,” he said as he survey bottles, cans, used yogurt containers and juice pouches destined for TerraCycle.
   ”It’s a good cause,” said fellow Bridge Academy student Josh Rosenblum, 15. “We are making something good out of things that you used to throw out,” Josh added.
   ”I think it’s really helpful,” said Sydney Barton, 15.
   Sydney, Josh and Max all serve on a TerraCycle “brigade” at their school, participating in a new program announced this summer whereby TerraCycle receives used packaging of Kraft Foods products and turns them into colorful and stylish pencil cases, back packs, shoulder bags, totes and more.
   ”It’s taken off. Every store we put this into has sold out,” said Tom Szaky, 26, TerraCycle’s cofounder and chief executive officer.
   Mr. Szaky noted that packaging like that used for Kraft’s Capri Sun juices and Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies is not recyclable by traditional means and calls what Terracycle is doing “upcycling.”
   ”Upcycling is about taking non-recyclables and turning them into something else,” he said. “That is the big revolution.” Yogurt containers, while not recyclable, can be cleaned and redecorated by TerraCycle, and reused as seedling pots at garden stores.
   ”I think it’s an extension of the direction we have already been going in,” Mr. Szaky said of the consumer bags TerraCycle produces from used packaging. TerraCycle’s signature product has been “worm poop” fertilizer, created by worms from food waste, packaged in reused soda bottles and sold at large retail outlets like Home Depot.
   As a freshman at Princeton University Mr. Szaky co-founded TerraCycle in 2001 with fellow student Jon Beyer. He readily admits that the inspiration for using worms to create fertilizer from food waste came as he was seeking innovative ways to fertilize his crop of marijuana plants at the time. Mr. Szaky, currently a resident of Princeton, dropped out of Princeton University in his sophomore year to run TerraCycle.
   A seven-member design team in TerraCycle’s Trenton headquarters oversees production of the newest products, although they are actually physically sewn in Mexico, Mr. Szaky said.
   The cases and bags range in price from $2 up to about $15 and are sold at major retailers like Walgreens, Target, Safeway and Walmart, Mr. Szaky said. They will soon be available for purchase on TerraCycle’s Web site as well, he said.
   Originally, TerraCycle approached Kraft simply to obtain permission to use its packaging because so many of the used packaging it collected was made by Kraft, Mr. Szaky said. “The moment we approached them they said we want to give you permission and we want to do much more than give permission, we want to make this big,” he said.
   The formal partnership with Kraft will greatly increase the number of collection sites TerraCycle can open and operate across the country, according to a TerraCycle release. Collection brigades like that at the Bridge Academy receive a nominal payment, often several cents, per piece of packaging they collect for TerraCycle.
   ”TerraCycle’s model of rewarding ‘brigade hosts’ is a novel way of collecting packaging waste that would otherwise have been sent to landfills,” said Kraft Foods Senior Director of Sustainability Jeff Chahley in a statement issued in the TerraCycle release. “It’s so cool to see trash turned into merchandise that’s unlike anything else on the market,” stated Mr. Chahley.
   At Bridge Academy, Max, Josh and Sydney said they might like to own one of TerraCycle’s wrapper bags, but they are tough to find in stores. The products do seem to sell out fast, said Bridge Academy science teacher Jen Ferri, who works with students on the school collection brigade.
   Bridge Academy art teacher Sarah Bernotas first told Ms. Ferri about TerraCycle and their willingness to partner with schools. The program was inaugurated at the school — a grade 3-12 school for students with learning disabilities with a current enrollment of 68 — last year, and “it’s been very successful,” according to Ms. Ferri.
   In addition to the school collection program on behalf of TerraCycle, Ms. Ferri introduced recycling and related environmental issues into the curriculum too. “The kids learned about it in their environmental science class. Everyone’s bought into it full force,” she said.
   Of TerraCycle, Ms. Ferri said “they’ve been great, we’ve really developed a nice relationship with them.”
   Mr. Szaky said the upcycling partnership with Kraft is just the beginning. TerraCycle is talking with Disney about upcycling 35 mm film and old DVDs, and to General Mills Corp. about reuses for used cereal box liners, and fruit snack packaging among other products.
   Mr. Szaky said TerraCycle is launching new products on a weekly basis as a result. “It’s pretty wild,” he said.