The world is now at war with garbage
According to a survey by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, 840,000 of the 990,000 new companies and industries will be closed in three years. The startup success rate is only 15%. It means that only 2 out of 10 people can succeed even if they start their business with the money and retirement allowance that they have collected all their lives. In this challenging start-up environment, there is a start-up that has the most advantage of environmental protection and profit generation.
It is the global eco-friendly company TerraCycle. Tom Jacky, a student at Princeton University, started in 2001 by making and selling natural fertilizer using food waste and earthworms. Today, the company has grown into a waste recycling business with more than 200 million consumers with offices in 21 countries. There are many existing recycling companies, but why is the Toxic TerraCycle attracting attention? It's because they created a new business model to ensure sustainability.
First, TerraCycle created a sustainable profit model through collaboration with various companies. In the process of collecting and commercializing waste, companies that work with TerraCycle provide part of the production costs while providing packaging for the products. As a company, it is an effective marketing tool and an effective way of acquiring an eco-friendly corporate image. Therefore, the company has no choice but to actively cooperate with the TerraCycle.
Sustainable business that saves the environment and sales
Next, TerraCycle is focused on expanding the recycling ecosystem. Garbage to be recycled is collected from various groups, such as schools and businesses, and a certain amount is donated to welfare institutions designated by the group according to the amount of garbage. They also develop a game app called 'Trash Tycoon' as a program that allows potential children to participate in the recycling ecosystem. TerraCycle received a good response by designing an activity to increase students' understanding of the cycle and going to schools and donating recycled toothbrushes to make flowerpots.
Finally, TerraCycle is flexible in their business models as business environments change. Loop, an eco-friendly commerce platform that adds recycling ideas to the subscription commerce- a recent trend in the consumer market- is a paradigm of this type of business model. Loop is a business that regularly delivers, collects, and cleans recyclable containers to businesses with a large number of disposable containers, while also offering a shopping platform for ordering food or products in multi-use containers. The rapid following of the keyword 'recycling' into the latest trends continues to develop the TerraCycle business.
The good purpose of environmental protection is important, but if it were difficult to earn money, the company would not have been able to secure sustainability. However, under the banner of environmental protection, the interests of corporations, customers and governments are in line, creating a structure that enables cooperation, participation and support. It is important to remember that if a consensus and a virtuous circle of social issues are formed, there will be another opportunity for startups with a good will.
TerraCycle official website: https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/