"Trashy TV" has a whole new meaning.
Television show "Human Resources," will make its debut Friday on the Pivot network and will focus on a socially-conscious recycling company, which is not the typical content for a reality show, The Associated Press reported.
The "reality docu-drama" will take a look at what it's like to work at TerraCycle, a Trenton-based company founded in 2001 by then-20-year-old Princeton University student Tom Szaky.
TerraCycle collects hard-to-recycle items, anything from potato chip bags to cigarette butts, and converts them into colorful consumer products, AP reported. It also donates a portion of its proceeds to charity.
Szaky hopes the new show will inspire a new generation to become socially-conscious business entrepreneurs.
"A lot of people have said the show is like a 20-something socially-conscious reality version of 'The Office,'" Szaky told AP. "I'm a big fan of content with a purpose; there isn't much TV out there like this."
According to AP, Szaky is confident the show will have wide appeal. He sees it as part of "trying to accomplish different ways of getting our message out."
A trailer for the first episode shows quick-cut edits of droll and jokey asides from employees who embrace and mockingly disdain TerraCycle's workplace culture. AP states the tireless, Budapest-born Szaky, now 32, is a main draw, offering a frenetic tour of the graffiti-walled, recyclables-filled office and preaches about a trash-less future and his goal to "eliminate the concept of waste."
Szaky says with its "superhero socks" theme days, Nerf gun fights, dogs roaming the office and yoga breaks, a green company that is successful and socially-conscious can be a lot of fun.
"The main point is to get more people to know about TerraCycle," Szaky tells AP. "The second is to really inspire young people to look at becoming entrepreneurs for socially responsible reasons."
Szaky says the company is committed to staying in Trenton and bringing a "Silicone Valley vibe" to the city that once boasted "Trenton Makes, The World Takes." Those words can still be seen on the Lower Trenton Bridge, but has since fallen on hard times with the large-scale flight to manufacturing, AP states. Szaky says the company's other 22 offices around the world are located in similarly economically depressed areas.
Szaky wants people to feel inspired when they watch the show and to realize they can make a difference, one cigarette butt or discarded juice box at a time, AP stated.
"If people like the show, send us your garbage- totally free," Szaky said, adding that TerraCycle's website offers free pre-paid shipping labels for people to mail in their trash.
Executive vice president of original programming at Pivot, Belisa Balaban, told AP the network was immediately impressed with TerraCycle's employees and mission.
"We knew they were a perfect fit for Pivot, perfectly aligned with everything we want to do, to create positive social change through entertainment," Balaban said.
"TerraCycle is an amazing company that's doing amazing things," Balaban said. "It's a funny place to spend time at, a place with great bold characters who are unique individuals and extremely passionate about what they do."
The network will air 10 episodes in the show's first season.
