Ryan Hickman, founder of Ryan’s Recycling Company.Photos courtesy of D. Hickman.
N.R. Mallery, Publisher of G.E.T.
At 10 years old, a legendary boy is making his dream a reality with his own recycling business.
Ryan Hickman is the CEO of Ryan’s Recycling Company.
In Orange County, California, at just three years old, a little boy started recycling his neighbors’ bottles to help save the planet and ocean life.
“I saw that all the litter and plastic going into the ocean, and it’s hurting sea life, and I wanted it to not happen, so I started recycling, and I think it’s making a big difference.”
The truck is loaded (whoa!) and ready to take everything to the recycling cemter.
Ryan focuses on collecting plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans. He picks up recycling from friends and neighbors and sorts it. Then Ryan and his dad take the recycling to a redemption center, [pic] where Ryan is paid for the recyclables that he brings in.
The entrepreneur has earned thousands of dollars and at present has recycled over 673,000 cans and bottles weighing 104,000 pounds, all that have been saved from going to the landfill. His parents are saving the money for his college education, but Ryan wants to spend the money on a bigger trash truck. His original collection was done by a child’s electric truck [pic] that he drove throughout his neighborhood to gather bottles and cans with. Green Energy Times staff is rooting for another electric-powered truck. Perhaps, he will consider the new all-electric Ford F-150 that will soon be available. Ryan’s business is doing so well that he has donated $9,344 to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center thus far.
This young legend has been recognized for his outstanding leadership role in many media outlets and television shows around the country. He has received at least 26 accolades for his outstanding efforts since his story went viral in 2016. His father told us, “We’ve had a lot of amazing moments since Ryan started his business, but I think our favorite thing is the amount of email, letters and messages he gets every day from people all over the planet who want to know more about making a difference with recycling. Ryan said his favorite thing was traveling to NYC as a CNN HERO or going on the Ellen Show.” We just learned that Ryan was featured (November 8, 2019) on Good Housekeeping’s list of kids who changed the world!
You can read more at ryansrecycling.com.
The business is doing well. At ten, he has no thoughts of stopping!
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