While not entirely a soda, plants across the US are loving Terracycle for their range of plant foods made entirely from organic waste, composted by earthworms and packaged in used soda bottles.
Who: Terracycle, based in Trenton, NJ was started in 2001 when Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer, Princeton students at the time set out on their dream to change the way business operates.
What: The plant food they sell comes in a variety of flavors, including those suited to the tastes of roses, herbs, regular lawn, orchids and an array of others. The one thing they have in common is the worm poop base and reused soda bottles as packaging. They also sell other useful products, including planters, made entirely of recycled plastics and hand-painted by inner city artists. Regardless of the novel idea and eco-friendly appeal, reviews we have seen indicate that this product really works fantastically.
More: The process by which these earthworms (the most common species used are: “Red Wigglers” and “Red Earthworms”) make the compost is known as vermicomposting. The worms’ digestive systems convert the waste which they eat into nutrient rich food for plants. This natural form of compost and plants foods is said to be friendlier on the environment than chemically produced fertilizers, which consumes a fair amount of natural resources in its production (natural gas, potassium and phosphorus).
The Terracycle team is a great example of social entrepreneurship – they are supplying the market with plant food which works really well, while at the same time employing people in Trenton, supporting local artists to paint the flower pots, preventing plastic bottles from going to waste, recycling organic waste which would otherwise end up in a landfill, and they are generating money for their owners.
