How I Built This with Guy Raz

Making garbage useful with Tom Szaky of TerraCycle

Aug 17, 2023

Tom Szaky, Co-founder and CEO of TerraCycle, aims to revolutionize waste management. He shares his journey from launching a worm poop fertilizer business in college to transforming it into a multimillion-dollar recycling enterprise. Szaky emphasizes the importance of reducing consumption over mere recycling and introduces the innovative Loop initiative, promoting reusable packaging. He candidly discusses the challenges of consumer habits and advocates for a future where recycling becomes obsolete through true sustainability.

43:43

Episode guests

Tom Szaky

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Quick takeaways

TerraCycle's Loop initiative promotes reusable packaging as a more effective waste-reduction tactic than recyclable packaging.

TerraCycle aims to transition away from its recycling division and focus on its Loop division as reusable models gain traction in the market.

TerraCycle emphasizes the need for a significant reduction in consumption as the ultimate solution to waste, highlighting the responsibility of businesses, consumers, and legislation in achieving a sustainable future.

Deep dives

Transitioning from Fertilizer to Waste Recycling

Tom Zaki, co-founder and CEO of TerraCycle, shares his journey of transitioning from a fertilizer company to a waste recycling service. Inspired by a friend who turned food scraps into worm poop fertilizer, Zaki became fascinated with the idea of garbage and sought to create business models that solve waste problems. TerraCycle collects various types of waste and processes them into raw materials for manufacturing other products. Zaki emphasizes the need to move away from the linear consumption model and towards a circular economy where materials are reused or recycled.

The Consequences of Ignoring Externalities in Business and Sustainability

01:15

The Lack of Market Solutions for Waste Disposal

01:35

The Transition to Reusable Containers: Implications for Businesses

01:22

Why Beverage and Food Companies Use Plastic Instead of Aluminum or Glass

01:11

Intro

3min

The Birth of TerraCycle

13min

Transforming Waste Into Opportunity: The Journey of TerraCycle

3min

From Fertilizer to Recycling: A Business Transformation

13min

The Economic Implications of Consumerism and Plastic Recycling Challenges

3min

Recycling: Challenges and Innovations

5min

Innovating Reusability: The Loop Program

7min

The Shift from Recycling to Reusability in Waste Management

4min

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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How I Built This with Guy Raz

Making garbage useful with Tom Szaky of TerraCycle

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Transitioning from Fertilizer to Waste Recycling

The Reusable Packaging Program

The Economics of TerraCycle

Challenges and Solutions in Sustainable Packaging

The Long-Term Vision: Shifting Consumption Patterns

The Consequences of Ignoring Externalities in Business and Sustainability

The Lack of Market Solutions for Waste Disposal

The Transition to Reusable Containers: Implications for Businesses

Why Beverage and Food Companies Use Plastic Instead of Aluminum or Glass

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts