Ryan Hickman – Ryan’s Recycling Company
Ryan Hickman knew at three years of age that he was passionate about recycling and making the planet a better place. He found his calling when his father took him to a local recycling center with a few plastic bags full of plastic bottles, and recalls his excitement and fascination with the recycling center. Since then, he began actively encouraging his neighborhood to begin recycling with him, giving them bags each week and returning to collect what they gathered and deposit it for them. That’s what led Ryan to founding Ryan’s Recycling Company at just 14 years of age. He is also a co-founder of a business called Recycle From Home, in which a fleet of vans pick up and pay people for their cans and bottles right at their doorstep- eliminating the hassle of having to deposit it themselves.
After his company kicked off, he has recycled over 2.5 million cans and bottles, and has extended his entrepreneurial experience to start a non-profit called Project3R, in which he’s begun leading classroom education programs to teach kids about taking care of the ocean. On top of this, he leads community beach clean up events ranging from Los Angeles down to Ensenada.
Ryan’s goal is to change the way people recycle, and make it easy for everyone to make the world a better place. He showed his innovative skills in making it simpler for people to contribute to the wellbeing of the planet and providing incentives for it, and proves that you don’t always have to go from 0 to 1 to make the world a better place. Sometimes, you just have to have the heart and mind to find a creative way to make your 1 to n idea better than the other options out there.
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Not only does he run this service as a business, but the fact that he has nonprofit operations in the form of community cleanups is really interesting!
I like this post because it shows a young entrepreneur who took something he was passionate about and turned it into a successful business at just 14. In addition, it is interesting to see how Ryan took advantage of an industry that many people have overlooked and not only turned it into a business, but also started a non-profit to benefit society.
I like this post because it provides a great backstory for Ryan and really shows his development over his early years. I also like this post because it is very encouraging to other young entrepreneurs who might be scared to get out of their comfort zone and chase their Entreprenurial goals.
I loved this post because you told his story, which is all a brand needs to have a strong base for a reputation to succeed. And yes, the recycling industry is often overlooked and left to the wayside, but Ryan took advantage of this and turned it into a non-profit that would benefit society.