The article in the url below profiles an innovative recycling entrepreneur, Tom Szaky, and the business he founded, TerraCycle (http://www.terracycle.net/):
“Tom Szaky, an eco-entrepreneur in his late 20s, who gave up his studies at Princeton University to pursue his dream of a zero-waste, worm-excrement-based business.”
Initially an entry to a business plan competition at Princeton, Szaky’s idea was to:
“… use worms to turn the university's cafeteria waste into an excrement-based fertiliser.”
Packaging for the product was:
“… re-used and relabelled 20 oz plastic drinks bottles.”
Eventually attracting the attention of Home Depot and Wal-Mart, TerraCycle took off:
“… with sales up from $70,000 in 2004, to $1.5m in 2006.”
Importantly, Szarky’s business strategy rejects the price premium that many associate with CSR:
“"eco-capitalism" will only work when it delivers goods that do not require the buyers to pay a premium.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther/The adventures of an eco-entrepreneur
By Jonathan Birchall
742 words
23 April 2009
USA Ed1
10
