Meet Ryan Hickman | Entrepreneur/Enviromentalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ryan Hickman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ryan, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
When I was about 3 years old, my dad took me to our local recycling center to recycle a few bags of cans and bottles. I thought it was really fun and I decided to ask all of our neighbors to recycle with me. My dad made me some business cards and I handed them out to everyone I met. Soon I had dozens of houses recycling with me. We’d give them bags and they would fill them up and call us to pick up on the weekends. I saved all the money I got from recycling and then I started donating to support the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

After a few years, I had hundreds of customers and my story went viral when I was seven years old. I started traveling around the world speaking at events and going on tv shows. In 2020, I partnered with our favorite recycling center (OC Recycling) to start a mobile pick up service where we pay residents for their cans and bottles. Today, we have over 13,000 customers recycling with me in Irvine, Corona, Riverside, Rancho Santa Margarita, Costa Mesa, Orange, North Tustin, Laguna Niguel, Ladera Ranch, Coto De Caza, Trabuco Canyon, Rancho Mission Viejo, Las Flores and more cities soon!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m pretty passionate about recycling and cleaning up the planet. I’m proud that millions of people have followed my journey and I’ve been able to inspire so many people to take care of the planet and to show that you can be a kid and make a difference. I’ve recycled over 2 million cans and bottles on my own over the past 12 years (I’m 15 now) through Ryan’s Recycling and Recycle From Home has recycled nearly 16 million cans and bottles (keeping them from the landfill) and paid our customers nearly $800,000!

I’ve learned many lessons along the way like the constant need to be marketing to get new customers. I also have learned that many countries or even cities in the USA don’t have the same recycling options that we do here in California. I’ve learned that many people don’t think they can make a difference on their own but I explain that small actions can make a huge difference when we all do our part. I’m constantly learning about business operations (my dad handles day to day operations while I’m in school) and I hope to be able to have our recycle program in all cities in California someday.

In addition to my business, my nonprofit, Project3R organizes beach clean ups nearly every weekend and we have an amazing education component of the organization that provides in class learning for taking care of our oceans. We have an amazing team of volunteers and youth leadership board. I invite everyone reading this to come join us for a beach clean up.

I get a lot of fan mail and messages from all over the world so I think it’s important to be a positive role model. I know there are a lot of kids that look up to me so I try to show them that day to day actions make a difference and kids like us can lead the way with taking care of the environment.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d take them to Donut Hut in San Juan Capistrano to get a donut each morning and we’d head out for a bike ride to Doheny Beach or go Kayaking. I’d probably take them to Laguna Beach to see Wyland’s gallery and to visit the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. We’d most likely end up going to a Ducks game or an Angels game. We’d have to eat at Olives Branch in San Juan Capistrano and go to Lucky Dog Gelato in San Clemente.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to say thanks to my mom, dad and grandma for supporting me and of course all the people who recycle with me each week. I’d also like to give a shout out to our volunteer staff and youth leadership board at my nonprofit, Project3R. Without them, I couldn’t accomplish what I have with all my beach clean up events and recycling efforts.

Website: https://www.ryansrecycling.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryans_recycling/

Twitter: https://x.com/ryans_recycling

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ryansrecycling/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanHickmanRecycling

Other: https://www.recyclefromhome.com

Image Credits
Damion Hickman