Trenton, N.J.-TerraCycle Inc., a startup company founded by two Princeton students to market an organic liquid plant fertilizer in recycled plastic soda bottles, is rolling out a media campaign to respond to a product infringement suit filed recently by Scotts Miracle-Gro. “They have more attorney muscle so we’re relying on our public relations power,” TerraCycle spokesman Albe Zakes told Green Markets. TerraCycle, which is not to be confused with Terra Industries Inc. or Terra Nitrogen Co. LP, produces compost from worm castings, or “poop” as the company prefers to call it. Zakes says TerraCycle, which is located in an urban enterprise zone in Trenton, donates 5 cents for each bottle collected by schools, and since 2004 has used 2 million of them to package and sell its product through independent retailers and marketing giants such as Home Depot, WalMart, and Target. “We’re the only company in the fertilizer industry that uses recycled soda bottles in all different shapes and sizes,” he explained. “It’s an all natural fertilizer that’s liquefied with additional NPK which is low but at quantities the plants want to eat it. The microbacteria is literally alive in the bottle to enable plants to take more nutrients out of the soil.” But the suit claims the product too closely resembles Scotts’ Miracle-Gro, with a similar green and yellow label displaying a circle and a picture of flowers and vegetables on it. “The suit is primarily over false advertising (with) product packaging that’s similar to our Miracle-Gro,” stated Scotts spokeswoman Su Lok. “It doesn’t matter how big or how small. We take any claims about our product seriously and simply protect our brand.” She said that TerraCycle doesn’t have any edge in the recycling business since Scotts is one of the largest users of organic material, including in its products 3.2 billion pounds annually of wood and food and other such byproducts that would otherwise be discarded into the waste streams.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain