Jason Warrington

Boosting Positive Corporate Environmental and Social Impact

at TerraCycle

About Terracycle

Founded in 2005 by Princetonian Tom Szaky

Headquartered in Trenton, NJ with international offices in 14 countries

Mission: Eliminate the idea of waste by creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable and hard to recycle materials.

My Internship

Worked in the Executive Department

Supervised by CAO, Richard Perl

Reported to both Richard Perl and CEO, Tom Szaky

Projects: Insurance, Waste Portfolios, Points Program

Project 1: Waste Portfolio

Goal: Identify waste policies and infrastructure for dealing with waste in a given country to see how TerraCycle could operate within the system.

Purpose: Currently, not a lot of competition in this field. TerraCycle trying to capture as much of the international market as possible.

What I did: Research! Made a document summarizing my findings.

Project 2: Points Program

Goal: Institute new points program in as many countries as possible.

Purpose: TerraCycle aims to move away from just monetary reward for trash collection. Want to boost social/environmental impact that the company and customers have. Hope to boost collections.

What I did: Worked with country leads, Helped them tailor the presentations for perspective charities, Negotiated charity gifts, Created contracts and acted as a liaison between international and US offices, Put the gifts on the respective sites.

What I Learned

Interviewing/communication skills

Research synthesis/presentation skills

Legal aspects of doing business (ex. dealing with contracts)

How to coach/manage/motivate people

Website design (HTML)

Final Thoughts

Working at TerraCycle was a great experience.

Recommend it to those who are looking to get real world business experience.

This internship helped solidify my interest in pursuing a “green” career in the future.

Special Thanks

PEI

Richard Perl and Tom Szaky

Fellow Interns

All of you!