The young entrepreneur’s inspiration for “Ryan’s Recycling”
was fueled by a visit he and his father paid to a local recycling center when
Ryan was 3 years old.
“He likes to sort pretty much anything, and he liked putting
the bottles in the machine,” his father, Damion Hickman, told local newspaper
The Capistrano Dispatch. “He probably got two or three bucks, and he was so
excited about it. And of course then he got to sort his change, so that meant
more sorting.”
When the toddler returned home, he and his mother
distributed plastic bags among his neighbors so Ryan could collect and dispose
of their cans and bottles, his website states. Friends, family members, and
their co-workers soon joined in and, lo and behold, an entrepreneur was born.
Ryan devotes a portion of his week to sorting and cleaning
the bottles and cans he collects, and every few weeks, he takes them to the
recycling plant. (Ryan's family lends a helping hand—and even more importantly,
a car.) Over the years, his family thinks he’s recycled around 200,000 cans and
bottles. He's also saved approximately $10,000 for college—although if Ryan had
it his way, he says he would use the money to purchase his own garbage truck.
For Ryan, recycling is a win-win situation: It helps the
environment, plus you can earn some extra cash, he says. It’s hard to argue
with that kind of logic.
Ryan is “very passionate” about recycling, “and he likes to
get everybody else passionate about it as well,” Ryan's mother, Andrea, told
the Dispatch. “I think he’s rubbed off on all of us now. You find yourself
walking past a can on the ground and needing to pick it up instead of walking
away and leaving it there."
Want to support Ryan’s Recycling? If you live in Orange
County, you can schedule a pick-up online. If you don’t, Ryan’s Recycling
T-shirts are available for purchase. They cost $13, and all proceeds are
donated to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California, where
Ryan serves as a youth ambassador.
