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Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle Is Redefining Green Business [Paperback]

Tom Szaky (Author), Paul Hawken (Foreword)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 18, 2009
The amazing story of what Inc. calls "The coolest little startup in America."

While a freshman at Princeton, Tom Szaky co- founded a company that recycles garbage into worm poop, liquefies it, then packages it in used soda bottles, creating TerraCycle Plant Food. Five years later, this all-natural, highly effective fertilizer is available in every Home Depot, Target,Wal?Mart, and more than 3000 other locations. It's a thrilling entrepreneurial success story-and just the beginning of what makes Revolution in a Bottle fascinating.

Szaky argues for a new approach to business, an "ecocapitalism" based on a "triple bottom line." Every business, he says, should aspire to be good for people, good for the environment, and (last but definitely not least) good for profits. He shows how the first two goals can help the third.

Many companies brag about being environmentally-friendly. But no one does it as effectively as TerraCycle. Now they're also reusing garbage to create new products, from bird feeders to tote bags, and even engaging major companies like Kraft and General Mills to sponsor their waste streams.

In the spirit of TerraCycle, this book will be printed on 100% recycled materials.

About the Cover:

This may look like a book jacket, but it's actually your very own upcycling container. Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle, is dedicated to eliminating the concept of waste. His firm works with other companies to collect and reuse nonrecyclable packaging and upcycle it into eco-friendly affordable products. And they want your help.

One such company is Bear Naked(r), an all-natural food and lifestyle brand that has partnered with Terra-Cycle to operate the Bear Naked(r) Bag Brigade. This free program makes a donation to a school or nonprofit for every bag a participant collects. Now you can join in by using your book jacket as an envelope. See the back flap for instructions-it's easy. Then fill it with a used Bear Naked(r) granola bag and drop it in a mailbox to become a part of TerraCycle's eco- revolution! Bear Naked(r) will even donate $1 to plant a tree in American Forests, up to $5,000. Offer expires 12/31/09 or after the first 25,000 copies are sold, whichever comes first.


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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy.

Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  • Paperback: 189 pages
  • Publisher: Portfolio Trade (February 18, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1591842506
  • ISBN-13: 978-1591842507
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,028,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
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12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Hype in a bottle?, April 10, 2009
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This review is from: Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle Is Redefining Green Business (Paperback)
This was an interesting book and in many ways Mr. Szaky's mission is an inspiring one. That said, the book itself is light on content and heavy on irrelevant details. I think it would be enough if we all agreed that Tom Szaky is a really cool cat and then that was the end of it, freeing him up to deal with the real issues that are at stake here. Instead, be prepared to have your nose rubbed in it for the duration of the read.

Mr. Szaky's business model is an interesting one and he should be commended for what he has accomplished. One does wonder, however, if he is simply offering a cheap get-out-of-jail-free card to industries whose behaviors could and should be aggressively regulated by the state.

The cover of the book is cleverly designed to be folded and taped into a mail-in envelop that the reader can use to send his own collection of detritus to Mr. Szaky to be upcycled into a prom dress or a napsack or whatever. Unfortunately, the publisher saw fit to make sure that the book was supplied with two covers so that the reader could participate in the revolution without defacing the book itself, thus duplicating the environmental impact of this particular book cover and nullifying the underlying argument. This might be an appropriate metaphor for much of the environmental movement in the U.S. today--easy choices that look good and feel good but that don't, in the end, make a very significant dent in the underlying problem. Hopefully Tetracycle does better than this in their other business practices.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Read in One Sitting / One of the World's Top Young Entrepreneurs, March 9, 2009
This review is from: Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle Is Redefining Green Business (Paperback)
I read Revolution in a Bottle in one-sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are a number of other books written by young entrepreneurs, and characteristics that make this one unique are:

1. Tom's company truly has the potential to redefine what a consumer product is and its impact on the environment.

2. Tom's story is an example that successful companies aren't built overnight. Tom spent years of his life ardently focusing on the growth of the company and seeing it through times of near-bankruptcy. This book really gives a clear picture of what it takes to start and grow a company.

3. Tom's story is very entertaining. From gun shots into his house, near bankruptcy, coming up with his business idea from a marijuana plant, etc., this book is definitely a page-turner.
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9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "More Like A Tree, Less Like A Fire", March 30, 2009
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This review is from: Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle Is Redefining Green Business (Paperback)
Not since John A. Roebling made steel cables for the Brooklyn Bridge has Trenton, NJ fulfilled its motto: "Trenton Makes, The World Takes"... That is, until now.

Enter Tom Szaky and his recently formed, rocking fantastic eco-products company, TerraCycle, charmingly chronicled in "Revolution In A Bottle--How TerraCycle Is Redefining Green Business." In 2002 as a drop-out from Princeton Szaky formed TerraCycle to make a liquid plant food derived from organic liquid waste and packaged in reclaimed plastic bottles. Now TerraCycle innovates dozens of new products each year: vinyl LP wall clocks, milk-jug flower pots, wine-barrel composters, juice-pouch pencil bags, food-wrapper shower curtains--all made from waste, all marketed through major big box channels like WalMart, Kroegers, and Home Depot, all making practical sense as alternatives for materialism's detritus otherwise headed for landfills. Nearly 100 years after Roebling spun the steel cables that turned Trenton into an industrial powerhouse, Szaky seeks nothing less from his own Trenton base to turn the world to a new era of green business.

He might just succeed. I had the pleasure to serve as TerraCycle's first chairman. In avuncular roles as cheerleader, coach and curmudgeon, I was a first-hand witness to Szaky's uniquely captivating blend of creativity, chaos, charisma and commitment. This talented young business leader, more comfortable in T shirt and backward baseball cap, packs more savvy and sense than men in suits twenty years older. From shoveling you-know-what (literally) to rigging bottling machines to dumpster-diving for cast-off furniture to designing products to winning orders from WalMart, he does it all with a merry, impish charm that is infectious. Tom Szaky's young odyssey as eco-entrepreneur is a rollicking good tale.

Among the several insights Szaky has learned along the way, I was struck by one in particular. A true eco-company must be "more like a tree, less like a fire". Though his own imagination blazes with brilliant energy, Szaky is also firmly rooted in common sense. Being "eco-friendly" alone is not enough. No business can succeed in Szaky's view unless it delivers the best product at the best price for the customer. Getting product on the shelves at WalMart is a great achievement. Getting products off the shelves at WalMart is an even greater one. Unfortunately Szaky doesn't let on whether TerraCycle itself is achieving such sustainability. But we all hope it does, for the sake of propelling this futuristic business leader to yet new horizons of need--and for the sake of a materialist culture crying out for the kinds of eco-innovations he and his company can conceive.

With the authentically green endorsement by natural capitalist legend Paul Hawken, Revolution in a Bottle by Tom Szaky makes an inspiring read by a another natural capitalist in the making. Go TerraCycle!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
worm project, worm gin, worm poop, vermicompost tea, branded waste, juice pouches, plant food company, drink pouches, sponsored waste, graffiti guys, preconsumer waste, discovery selling
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Home Depot, Capri Sun, United States, Honest Kids, New Jersey, Clif Bar, Enlightenment Begin, The Art of Public Relations, New York City, Carrot Capital, Honest Tea, Hard Times, The Big-Box Approach, Chips Ahoy, Eco-friendly Product Every Week, Seventh Generation, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Daniel Pope, Martin Stein, British Columbia, Gary Hirshberg, Stonyheld Farm, Kraft Foods, Nassau Street
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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