It’s been awhile since we’ve sent a ‘shout-out’ to our friends at Terracycle, and what better day to do so than the same day we congratulate two other inspirational green entrepreneurs (a.k.a ‘The Method Men’).
The above YouTube video is a number of months old, but it’s definitely worth watching – especially if you are not yet familiar with Terracycle. But definitely don’t watch if you are offended by the term ‘worm poop’! LoL
Another great video I highly recommend watching is found at ‘HP Enterprise TV’ (thanks to Linton for the heads-up at Hugg.com). You can access it >>HERE<< (you MAY have to scroll through the videos – keep your eye out for Terracycle on the top row).
Some interesting tidbits gleaned from the vids:
Terracycle currently growing 400-600% per year (according to Tom Szaky they are the ‘fastest growing lawn & garden company in America’)
[Not surprisingly] they are already shopping around for a much larger facility than their current headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey
This year they launched 10 new products, and they are hoping to double that in 2007
Every aspect of the business is handled ‘in-house’ (no marketing agencies, no printing firms etc etc)
Szaky has his sights set on taking out Miracle Gro and becoming America’s #1 fertilizer! (wow)
Very very cool! I just can’t get enough of these guys.
Be sure to check out the Terracycle website as well. It looks as though they’ve added a fair amount of new content since the last time I was there.
Caught a cool post on the Ecorazzi blog yesterday. It seems the founders of Method, Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, will be sharing the PETA’s ’2006 Person of the Year Award’. For those unfamiliar with the PETA (yeah I admit it, I had to look it up) they are the ‘People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals’, and they are honoring the Method duo for their refusal to test any of their products on animals (they also will not do business with any supplier that does). Aside from that, remember that all method products are created using natural, biodegradeable ingredients (none of which are animal-derived). Cool!
Steve and I are both big Method fans, having tested out their products and just generally being impressed with their approach. That being said, I actually didn’t really know all that much background info about the company or its founders. Needless to say, I’m even more impressed now that I’ve read a little more!
Here is the interesting blurb from their ‘About Us’ page:
They met in high school. They were roommates in San Francisco. And one morning, in December of 1999, they had an idea. It was early, and Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry had set out on a quest for fresh snow. From San Francisco to snow is about four hours, so they had some time to talk.
Eric had experience in style and branding, and he mentioned that he was thinking about introducing design to the home care industry. And he just so happened to have met a talented local graphic artist willing to work for deferred pay. Eric also admitted that he had kind of a lot of cleaning products under his bed.
Adam was no ordinary friend. In fact, he was a chemical engineer from Stanford University with a degree in environmental science. As soon as Eric began to talk, Adam realized that he could use his expertise to create naturally-derived, biodegradable formulas for the beautiful products Eric had in mind. And method was born.
Anyway, congrats to the men of Method. Keep up the great work!
