Green Jersey

TerraCycle’s Tom Szaky in Princeton Thursday

On Thursday, Princeton’s Labyrinth Books hosts Tom Szaky, the cool, young CEO whose business is garbage.  

Szaky, CEO and co-founder of Trenton-based TerraCycle, is at the forefront of a new generation of eco-capitalists. His TerraCycle Plant Food, fertilizer made from worm waste and packaged in old soda bottles, is available at the country’s biggest chains; bottles are topped with companies’ unwanted spray-bottle triggers and packed in mislabeled cardboard boxes. TerraCycle, based in Trenton, now sells dozens of other products too and is turning a handsome profit — all from stuff people would have otherwise thrown away.

In his book “Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle is Redefining Green Business,” Szaky tells the story of his business, which Inc. magazine three years ago dubbed “the coolest little start-up in America.” His (free) talk starts at 5:30 p.m. at Labyrinth, 122 Nassau St. in Princeton.

Go to the jump for a recent Star-Ledger video.