Worried about the economy? We’ve got two words of investment wisdom for you– worm poop. Also known as black gold or compost, Tom Szaky has turned the stuff into a million dollar business and a pinnacle of innovative green entrepreneurship.

The CEO and co-founder of TerraCycle, Inc., Tom produces the worlds first products made from and packaged in waste. Winning the Home Depot Environmental Stewardship award twice, and named by multiple organizations as the most eco-friendly products in mass distribution, it’s also one of the fastest growing private companies in America and has been labeled by Inc. magazine as the “Coolest Startup in America — The ultimate growth company, built on garbage, run by a kid, loved by investors.”

The company is an exemplar of a new economy that wastes not and wants more, using creative thinking to solve major problems within the environment and production chain and makes a huge profit doing it.

After an “aha” moment at Princeton, Tom started created Terracycle’s signature worm poop plant food out of Princeton food waste. Packaging the stuff came of the mother of invention, necessity.

“We packaged the worm poop used soda bottles, which crystallized the “made and packaged with waste” idea. We used soda bottles because we had no money. This was the central lever behind one of our biggest innovations. We realized that this was actually the best way to do it. I was not a big environmentalist, I just wanted to use waste as an economic driver.”

Then, taking the route of many a genius, he dropped out to dedicate himself full-time to starting TerraCycle, Inc. The company has gone on to strike deals with everyone from Capri Sun and Kraft foods for “trash” and Wal-Mart, Whole Foods and Home Depot where he distributes a growing line of products that are “upcycled” not recycled from waste. That means anything that’s trashed is fair game.

“First we identify a waste stream, then we figure out what we can make from that material. This is our strength — creatively solving the “what the hell do we make from it” issue. If a retailer bites, we are in full production in a matter of weeks.”

What started as two students setting out to change the way people do business has realized a dream: a company could be financially successful while being ecologically and socially responsible.

We’re excited to see Tom will speak at The Feast Conference on October 16th in NYC, so come see what he has to share too!