WASTE OUTPACED: At 19, Tom Szaky ’05 began a grass-roots empire built on worm poop. Szaky’s fertilizer, made from worm waste and packaged in used soda bottles, led Trenton-based TerraCycle to enter the global recycling industry. TerraCycle estimates that since 2007 it has kept almost 4 billion pieces of waste from landfills worldwide, primarily by finding ways to convert garbage into plastic pellets that can be used to make things like park benches and playgrounds.
![](https://paw.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_feature/public/images/content/Prince-OpenerSzaky.jpg?itok=zepqm7_g)
Ricardo Barros