It began with taking out the trash. Zach noticed that recycling only got picked up once a week, while regular trash was collected twice. He started wondering: where does all of it go?

​

After researching landfills and learning that 300 million books are discarded every year, he launched Zach's Planet in 2017, a project dedicated to rescuing unwanted items and finding them new homes.

​

He started with stuffed animals. Parents were throwing away toys their kids had outgrown, and resale shops wouldn't accept them. Zach figured out how to upcycle them into pet toys, and began donating them to local animal shelters. The idea spread across the country.