Two Princeton students started Terracycle back in 2001. It started as a business model to sell organic plant food with no waste (recycled packaging etc). The company is now a huge operation that collects all sorts of product waste (cookie wrappers, drink pouches, cell phones) and turns them into new useable products. A great site for school kids especially since they would gather the materials (chips bags) then once they have a certain amount they send it in using the free postage, and 2 cents for each wrapper goes to the non-profit of their choice (could be their own school). It appears that brands/companies have to agree to this – so only certain wrappers are accepted (for example Nabisco is one of the collaborators). So, certainly there is some advertising involved. That’s part of the company’s M.O. though, they’ve labelled it “eco-capitalism”. The site is a good educational tool too. They give a simple overview of our current system of capitalism and 20th century indutrialism then give their theory of eco-capitalism instead. An interesting site overall. We bought a birdfeeder from them last spring and decided to look up what else they made- they’ve become quite a large enterprise.
I am hoping this will inspire my business majors as well!
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