Has anyone ever tried Terracycle plant food? it's organic worm poo.. The really cool thing about it is the worms are fed on waste paper and junk, and then the plant food is packaged in recycled 2 liter and 20 oz bottles. :-)

worm casings are said to be good food for plants. Here is a site all about worm composting.

http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html

Scotts Sues Small, Eco-friendly TerraCycle (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117979361996510232-LL)

A Growing Dispute: Fertilizer Start-Up Uses Web as Defense

By GWENDOLYN BOUNDS

On March 7, TerraCycle Inc., a small Trenton, N.J., company that makes all-natural fertilizers from worm droppings, learned it was being sued by industry giant Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.

Small companies live in dread of such lawsuits, which even if they win, can often be their undoing because of legal costs and distraction for management. So instead of just relying on legal counsel, TerraCycle is also trying to harness the power of the Internet to elicit public support, boost sales and raise legal funds. Its core weapon: a blog called www.suedbyscotts.com.

"The Internet is the one place that if we can possibly win this, it will be there," says Tom Szaky, TerraCycle's 25-year-old co-founder and chief executive. He hopes to get enough public opinion on his side that Scotts will drop the suit. But if that doesn't happen and TerraCycle loses everything in the lawsuit, Mr. Szaky says, "We are out of business."

Among other things, Scotts claims that TerraCycle's packaging -- with its yellow-and-green color scheme, brand name in the center and photos of flowers and vegetables at the bottom -- infringes on the trade dress of Scotts's Miracle-Gro brand. Scotts also accuses TerraCycle of falsely advertising that its products are superior to others, including Scotts's. In addition to requesting that TerraCycle destroy existing labels and signage at issue in the suit, Scotts asks that all gains, profits and benefits generated from the alleged infractions be awarded to Scotts -- a move that might wipe out TerraCycle. Last year, the four-year-old TerraCycle had revenue of $1.5 million (it's not yet profitable), while 139-year-old Scotts had $2.7 billion.

The battle comes at a time when TerraCycle is making significant inroads into mainstream stores -- landing space in Wal-Mart, Home Depot, ShopRite, Target and CVS among others -- as interest in natural gardening products surges.
...
In many cases, TerraCycle's fertilizers made from worm feces -- known as vermiculture compost -- sit right next to Scotts Miracle-Gro brands. Miracle-Gro's Organic Choice line is booming too; consumer purchases were up 211% in Scotts's first two fiscal quarters of 2007 versus the same year-earlier period.

On its blog, TerraCycle disputes Scotts's claims and paints itself as an underdog. A comparison chart titled "David vs. Goliath" includes pictures of each firm's headquarters (TerraCycle's modest low-slung building in Trenton vs. Scotts's pillared entrance and manicured grounds in Marysville, Ohio) and notes on executive perks (for Mr. Szaky, "unlimited free worm poop"; for Scotts Chairman and CEO Jim Hagedorn, "personal use of company-owned aircraft.") The site shows pictures of both companies' products, with TerraCycle noting its own are packed in recycled soda bottles.

Also posted is TerraCycle's legal response to the lawsuit, accusing Scotts of falsely advertising the quality of its own goods and seeking cancellation of Miracle-Gro's green-and-yellow trademark. To bolster its claims, TerraCycle posts photos of other gardening products that use green-and-yellow packaging. TerraCycle asks for online donations to defray its legal costs and has links to where visitors can buy products.

While TerraCycle's bid for Internet donations hasn't yielded much fruit -- about $515 so far -- overall company sales for the four weeks since the online campaign launched surged 122% from the immediately previous four weeks. Last year, the company's sales increased 31% in the same period. Meantime, TerraCycle's main Web site, which averages about 1,000 visitors a day, has spiked to as high as 13,000, according to the company -- and 2% to 4% of the visitors to suedbyscotts.com click the "purchase online" or "store locator" links.
..
She [Scotts spokesperson] notes that Scotts, founded in 1868, and Miracle-Gro, founded in 1951, were once start-ups, too. They merged in 1995. "When people are referring to the David-and-Goliath aspect of this lawsuit, people lose sight of that fact," she says.
...
On its suedbyscotts.com site, TerraCycle lists some 20 other intellectual-property lawsuits filed by Scotts in the past decade
...
Today the Internet has lowered the cost barrier and drastically sped up the means of such communications. Hundreds of bloggers have written about the TerraCycle lawsuit, as have some mainstream media outlets. Meantime, TerraCycle's Internet parry has helped morale on the packaging floor, where Mr. Szaky says workers were afraid they'd lose their jobs after reading about the litigation.
...
Changing packaging drastically now would hurt TerraCycle's sales momentum, says the company's general counsel, Richard Ober Jr. "There's the loss of customer recognition," he says, adding that the company still has a large number of the "All Purpose Plant Food" labels specifically mentioned in the Scotts lawsuit and "wants to use them."

Still, no amount of public appeal can help TerraCycle escape the realities of litigation. As part of the discovery process, Scotts has asked for extensive documentation from TerraCycle, including everything relating to any new products in development, contracts with retailers, strategic business plans, as well as details about "composition of the materials consumed by worms." To handle the requests, TerraCycle has hired outside counsel and Mr. Ober estimates legal costs, which so far have been less than $50,000, could run upward of $1 million.

"It's taking time from our scientists, and that will start taking its toll," Mr. Szaky says.

Write to Gwendolyn Bounds at wendy.bounds@wsj.com

How incredibly pathetic. :flush:
And if I recall correctly, this was started by Princeton students, and it involves high schools too. Don't you love how Scotts points out that it was once a start-up, too? Gee, I never would have guessed - I thought it just always existed!

I think they just want the "mysterious" wormy compost recipe!!

That ticks me off. GO, TERRACYCLE, GO!! :vebo: