Episode 97: Ryan Keeps On Recycling – Meet this 11-year-old Changemaker (Transcript)
March 1, 2021
[00:00:00] Liz Bothwell: Hi everyone, welcome to Waste360's NothingWasted! Podcast. On every episode, we invite the most interesting people in waste recycling and organics to sit down with us and chat candidly about their thoughts, their work, this unique industry and so much more. Thanks for listening and enjoy this episode.
[music]
[00:00:11] Liz Bothwell: Hi everyone. This is Liz Bothwell with Waste360 and I'm thrilled to have Ryan Hickman who's CEO of Ryan's Recycling with us today. Hi, Ryan.
[00:00:22] Ryan Hickman: Hi.
[00:00:24] Liz: Ryan, I'm talking with you today because you're one of our 40 Under 40 award winners, our youngest, but also you're our first Changemaker Award. That's so exciting because you've done such great stuff already at such a young age. We really wanted to talk to you and see how you're doing, and how you're doing it.
[00:00:47] Ryan: Yes, I'm excited.
[00:00:50] Liz: Me too. Can you tell me about how you got started with Ryan's Recycling?
[00:00:55] Ryan: My dad just took me to the local recycling center for the first time. I loved it. I saw the recycling was helping the environment, and I just wanted to keep recycling.
[00:01:04] Liz: How old were you?
[00:01:05] Ryan: I was three and a half.
[00:01:07] Liz: That's crazy.
[00:01:10] Ryan: Now I'm 11 and a half actually.
[00:01:13] Liz: I think you've been in this industry as long as I have now. [laughs] Tell me how it all started, he took you to the recycling center and you realized how good it was for the environment, and then did you say, "Hey, dad, I want to keep doing this"? How did it keeps going?
[00:01:31] Ryan: Yes, pretty much.
[00:01:33] Liz: That's awesome. I know you've been doing such great things with your Mammal Center and all of that, but before we get into that, I know you keep track of how many cans and bottles you've collected, tell me.
[00:01:46] Ryan: I recycled about one million, maybe about 300,000.
[00:01:52] Liz: Oh my goodness. Last time we spoke to, I think it was half a million. You've been so busy, Ryan. [laughs] Has COVID changed anything with the way you and your dad are collecting now?
[00:02:06] Ryan: Yes, we're collecting a lot more because everybody's staying home, they're drinking more. Let's say an average customer calls me about every month and a half for white kitchen bags. Now the calling is every three weeks with like 10 white kitchen bags. We have to wear masks at every customers'. If they're outside, if they're not outside and they just need those stuff out, we'll just hop out, go to the truck.
[00:02:35] Liz: That's great. You're really seeing a difference because in the industry, we heard it was up by 25% or something, but you're seeing it firsthand. That's amazing. Ryan, now that we're almost a year into this, it's still a lot of bottles and cans more so than last year?
[00:02:54] Ryan: Yes.
[00:02:57] Liz: Are you and your dad making more trips?
[00:03:00] Ryan: Yes, definitely. Usually, before COVID, we would probably take one to two trips to the recycling center. A couple of weekends ago, we almost had to take four trips in a day.
[00:03:13] Liz: In a day?
[00:03:14] Ryan: Yes. The next day we took two more trips.
[00:03:20] Liz: [laughs] That was a busy day and weekend.
[00:03:24] Ryan: Yes, I know. I think we recycle probably like 20,000 cans.
[00:03:33] Liz: That is a lot for a weekend. That's crazy.
[00:03:36] Ryan: [inaudible 00:03:36] bottles.
[00:03:38] Liz: Still, that's a lot. Sorry, that's my dog, Zeus. I might show them to you so it stopped barking. Zeus, come here, bud. Do you want to meet Ryan? Come here.
[00:03:52] Ryan: I don't think he approves of you talking to me. What type of dog is he?
[00:03:59] Liz: A French bulldog.
[00:04:01] Ryan: We want one so bad, a French bulldog.
[00:04:04] Liz: I'll send you pictures after. Because I have another one named Apollo, too.
[00:04:10] Ryan: I feel like we have a customer that has two dogs named Zeus and Apollo.
[00:04:18] Liz: Really?
[00:04:19] Ryan: Yes. I don't exactly remember which one, but I do remember that we have a customer with two dogs, Zeus and Apollo, too.
[00:04:27] Liz: That's awesome. That's the first I've heard of that. If you get pictures, send them my way. I love to hear that. How's school going for you?
[00:04:36] Ryan: Good.
[00:04:37] Liz: Are your teachers just so impressed by what you're doing?
[00:04:40] Ryan: Since I'm at a new school, they don't really know what I'm doing really, because I just went into sixth grade.
[00:04:46] Liz: You are in sixth grade now?
[00:04:48] Ryan: Yes. Only about two out of the six, five teachers I have, know what I'm doing.
[00:04:55] Liz: They'll figure it out fast. I'm sure.
[00:04:56] Ryan: Yes, they'll figure it out by next year.
[00:04:58] Liz: Definitely. [laughs] I bet they're going to have you talk to your classmates and other people about the good that you're doing for the planet.
[00:05:06] Ryan: Yes.
[00:05:07] Liz: I think so too. Are you still doing your beach cleanups?
[00:05:11] Ryan: Yes. We used to do it once a month. Now we're trying to do it every weekend because of COVID we're bored at home. There's nothing to do. We go to beach cleanups. It was quarrying for like a week here and right after storms, the beach is usually really messy.
[00:05:33] Liz: I bet.
[00:05:35] Ryan: