Making garbage useful with Tom Szaky of TerraCycle

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tom Szaky runs a recycling company, but he’d rather live in a world where recycling was obsolete...

Today, his company recycles everything from shampoo bottles and makeup containers to snack wrappers and cigarette butts. And through their recent Loop initiative, TerraCycle works with consumer brands to develop packaging that is actually reusable -- an even more effective waste-reduction tactic than recyclable packaging.

This week on How I Built This Lab, Tom recounts his entrepreneurial journey launching a worm poop fertilizer company from his college dorm room, then transforming that company into a multimillion dollar recycling business. Also, why Tom’s ultimate goal is to put himself out of business, and how our actual path to eliminating waste is radically reducing consumption.

This episode was produced by J.C. Howard and edited by John Isabella, with research by Kerry Thompson and music by Ramtin Arablouei. Our audio engineer was James Willetts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is my voice. It can tell you a lot about me, and I'm not changing it for anyone.
0:08.0	In NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths, you'll find a collection of NPR episodes centered on the Black Experience.
0:16.0	Search NPR Black Stories, Black Truths, wherever you get podcasts.
0:22.0	When I biggest challenges is staying organized to remember what I need to do and when I need to do it.
0:29.0	So I've been using Notion AI. It's a productivity software that's simple and beautifully designed.
0:35.0	And here's the coolest thing. It has the power of AI built right inside of it.
0:40.0	Notion AI helps you work faster, write better, and think bigger, doing tasks that normally take you hours in just seconds.
0:48.0	I've used Notion AI to summarize documents, write first drafts, translate text into other languages, and lots more.
0:56.0	Try Notion AI for free when you go to Notion.com slash built.
1:01.0	That's all lowercase letters. Notion.com slash built to try out the incredible power of Notion AI today.
1:09.0	And when you use our link, you are supporting our show. So please check out Notion AI for free right now at Notion.com slash built.
1:20.0	Hello and welcome to How I Built This Lab. So how much garbage do you throw away?
1:26.0	And how much of it is actually reusable? And I don't just mean recyclable.
1:29.0	Lots of things come in plastic packaging that says it can be recycled.
1:33.0	But how many products come in something that can actually be used again and again like a glass jar or a stainless steel container?
1:41.0	Well, not many. And so garbage piles up. And that's where today's guest sees opportunity.
1:47.0	Tom Zackie is co-founder and CEO of Terracycle. It's a recycling service that collects an assortment of waste and turns it into raw materials.
1:55.0	Materials that can be used to make other things.
1:58.0	Terracycle started back in 2001 actually as a fertilizer company.
2:02.0	Tom started the business during his freshman year at Princeton. When he and a couple of buddies made a surprising discovery,
2:09.0	after they took an interest in growing a certain type of plant in a basement.
2:16.0	Let's just say they're much more legal today than they were back then.
	...

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