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What if waste isn’t an inevitable byproduct of modern life, but a design flaw we can solve? In this conversation, Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, joins host Kevin Bayuk to explore how businesses can rethink waste and build systems that move us toward a circular economy. More than two decades ago, Tom founded TerraCycle with a mission focused on Eliminating the Idea of Waste®, growing the company from an early vermicompost venture into a global platform that recycles some of the world’s hardest-to-process materials.

Tom reflects on how his passion for entrepreneurship and environmental problem-solving led him to question the traditional purpose of business. He explains why TerraCycle treats profit as a signal of health rather than the goal itself, and how that perspective has shaped the company’s approach to waste. The conversation highlights TerraCycle’s work tackling difficult waste streams, such as cigarette butts and toys, by building partnerships that make recycling possible where it previously wasn’t. It also explores TerraCycle’s reuse platform, Loop, designed to make refillable packaging as convenient as disposable products for consumers, brands, and retailers.

More broadly, Tom reflects on how infrastructure, new business models, and everyday purchasing decisions can help shift the economy away from waste. Listen in and learn what it would take to redesign our economy so waste is no longer inevitable!

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What You’ll Learn:

Discover how Tom’s passion for entrepreneurship led to TerraCycle and its mission focused on Eliminating the Idea of Waste®. [0:01:48]
Find out how TerraCycle funds and develops recycling solutions for difficult waste streams like cigarette butts and toys. [0:07:22]
Learn about TerraCycle’s Loop platform and how it enables reusable packaging systems designed to rival the convenience of disposable consumption. [0:16:06]
Understand how TerraCycle stays committed to purpose by aligning profit with its mission to eliminate waste. [0:20:30]
Learn how TerraCycle is scaling its impact through infrastructure, acquisitions, investment, and community programs that turn recycling into local benefits. [0:24:59]
Explore how TerraCycle focuses its strategy on circular economy solutions and Tom’s long-term vision of the next economy. [0:28:38]

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Memorable Quotations:

“Instead of profit being the purpose of business, maybe it is a critical and important indicator of health.” — Tom Szaky [0:02:57]

“The garbage industry is the least innovative industry in the world per dollar of revenue it enjoys, by far, because it is so undesirable.” — Tom Szaky [0:05:50]

“95% of the objects in our lives, and growing year over year by percentage, are not recyclable. Not because they can't be, but because they cost more to collect and process than the results are worth.” — Tom Szaky [0:09:38]

“Maybe next time you shop, think about your shopping decision this way: ‘Whatever you buy, two more will appear tomorrow, and whatever you don't buy, one less will appear, and might you shop differently?’” — Tom Szaky [0:35:33]

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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Tom Szaky – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomszaky/

TerraCycle – Website: https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/

Loop – Website: https://exploreloop.com/en/shop/

Eliminating the Idea of Waste® – https://www.terracycle.com/en-CA/pages/how-terracycle

Outsmart Waste: The Modern Idea of Garbage and How to Think Our Way Out of It

– Book Link: https://www.powells.com/book/outsmart-waste-the-modern-idea-of-garbage-and-how-to-think-our-way-out-of-it-16pt-large-print-edition-9780369381156?condition=New

The Future of Packaging: From Linear to Circular – Book Link: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-future-of-packaging-from-linear-to-circular-tom-szaky/94c77b4157a8efe6?ean=9781523095506&next=t

Kevin Bayuk – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbayuk/

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