Terracycle makes great products

How about some speakers made from chip bags for your MP3 Player or lap top???
I am loving this messenger bag may out of capri sun drink pouches!
About a year and a half ago, I posted about terracycle. I love the whole concept of Terracycle. I wish they where on the stock exchange!
TerraCycle is offering a whole slew of great products made from Chip Bags, pop bottles, juice pouches. They take upcycling of Plain old consumer waste and make new products out of it. They have all the products featured on their website, terracycle.net. The President/CEO/Founder of Terracycle, Tom Szaky, Founded the company that does everything they can to totally use every part of the garbage they use into something useful. They offer groups (and individuals) money for collecting these items that they then upcycle into great products. They started out bottling worm poop in Used Soda Bottles. But today they partner with people and companies that make a huge range of products. Some of their product ideas come from people. If you have a suggestion for a terracycle product, go to their website.

Radiator Charlie and his mortgage lifter

Wow – Eco-capitalism has been around for a long time! Talk about ideas for peak oil employment!
Being a guy who never gets tired of good stories from the More experienced members of society, I love the story of Marshall Cletis “Radiator Charlie” Byles, the originator of Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomato,
From Gary Ibsens Tomato Fest:

"Developed by M.C. Byles in the 1930’s, this heirloom tomato remains very much in demand in the Mid-Atlantic states. Mr. Byles, affectionately known as "Radiator Charlie" earned his nickname from the radiator repair business he opened at the foot of a steep hill on which trucks would often overheat. Radiator Charlie, who had no formal education or plant breeding experience, created this legendary tomato by cross-breeding four of the largest tomatoes he was able to find and developed a stable variety after six years of pollination and selection. He then sold his heirloom tomato plants for one dollar each (in the 1940’s) and paid off the six thousand dollar mortgage on his house in six years. It is said that each spring, gardeners drove as far as 200 miles to buy Charlie’s seedling tomatoes. The large, slightly flattened, pink-red fruits that range from 1 pound to more than 3 pounds, are meaty, very flavorful and have few tomato seeds."

Here is a good radio interview From Living on Earth - Featuring Jeff McCormick with Ed Martin, the grandson of Radiator Charlie- and the story of and his “Mortgage Lifter”.

All the poop thats fit to print

Picture- Freund's Farm Market
Yes, you may groan now- this is yet another post on poop.

I am a plumber, so poop IS my business!

Continuing the discussion on compostable starter pots for your veggies, after reading the comments, Abbie made a comment on poo pots, an episode on Dirty Jobs. I googled "poo pots", I eventually found the video on you tube from the dirty jobs series(discovery networks asks that their videos not be embedded so the link is the best I can do). I also found a link to where poo pots or "cow pots" are sold. What we have here is another example of eco-capitalism. Just like Terra Cycle worm poop products, this here farm takes cow manure, and has figured out how to make a money making product from this. The important thing is also, as "E" pointed out, that peat is mined and processed and probably wont be around for ever. I know there is a big concern over that in England. So that makes poo pots even more important because they should be able to be made as long as there are farm animals making manure. I also found this link, for a tool to make your own starter pots, but I personally think using a small bottle or such will work just as well... just follow the instruction on the link at the end of yesterday's post. So sorry about another poopy post, I just think that anybody who figures out another use for shit and makes money at it, should be rewarded! As for me, I think I will make starter pots out of newspaper or toilet rolls next winter, but I will probably order a dozen poo pots to see how much better they are!

When life gives you shit make $$$$

Ok. I am not one to say crap about making money. What about Eco-Capitalism? I think the green movement would have a bit more credibility if more companies jumped on the green bandwagon. Now I am not saying companies that say something is green- like Brita saying how green they are when Brita North America will not start a recycling program for their filters. They do it in Europe. Maybe we should call that eco-stupidity. To me what they are saying is at Brita is quit buying all those nasty bottled waters or you do not care about the planet. I put that in the same vain as in the 90’s before everyone had a computer, the computer company that put out the commercial that said if you don’t buy a computer, you don’t care about your kids- when the cost of a computer was extremely prohibited.
There is a company that makes a product 100% from garbage. Terracycle would get my award for Best Green Company 2008, and they would take the award for best packaging. They take vermicomposting to the next level. They have created a business out of garbage. And worm shit. And they are able to play at the big box store level. The company's flagship product, TerraCycle Plant Food™, is an all-natural, all-organic, 'goof-proof' liquid plant food made from waste (worm poop) and packaged in waste (reused soda bottles NOT RECYCLED- REUSED)!That’s right folks- they take garbage, feed it to worms, take the worm poop, and make a worm poop tea, bottle it in used pop bottles, and sell it. The founder got the idea from a friend who was vermi-composting and feeding the castings to plants in the basement (I knew I should've paid attention in plant biology 101!)
Terracycle gets it! They are making money. From garbage. Somebody call my investment manager and tell him I want to invest in worm shit!