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When it comes to saving the planet, one social entrepreneur has been fighting the good fight for over 18 years. Along the way, Tom Szaky founder of TerraCycle has established a formidable reputation for recycling the non-recyclable. Working in 20 countries, with major partners including consumer brands municipalities and manufacturers, TerraCycle has eliminated billions of pieces of waste from the landfill through various innovative platforms. And with another pioneering initiative just about to launch, it seems Szaky is just getting started.
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On this special Earth Month podcast, we speak with Tom Szaky who founded Terracycle in 2001 with a mission of eliminating the Idea of Waste®. His company achieves that mission through a variety of reuse, recycle, closed-loop and upcycle solutions. For example, they turn juice pouches into backpacks, granola wrappers into pencil cases and dental products into playgrounds, among plenty of other things.
In our conversation Szaky offers a primer on recycling terms and terminology, shares lessons on how to unlock scale and establish valuable corporate partnerships and gives us a glimpse into his latest initiative, Loop. The circular shopping platform delivers products in reusable packaging and then collects, cleans and refills them – an initiative meant to appeal to the consumers desire for both sustainability and convenience.
Listen to Tom’s story here.