Recyclops CEO Ryan Smith Episode 2

https://recyclops.com/
What if you could have your recycling picked up at your doorstep? Would you recycle then? 
Did you know over 34 million house holds are not able to get recycling service? 

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Transcript

Cory Connors: 0:15

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is a returning friend of ours, a friend of the community, Mr. Ryan Smith, the founder and c e o of Recyclops. How are

Ryan Smith: 0:26

you, sir? I'm good. Thanks for having me back. It's great to chat with you again.

Cory Connors: 0:30

It really is. I think you were one of my first like 15 or 20 guests. I, I don't remember how far back it was, but we just did our 200th episode and, it's an honor to have you back, so thank

Ryan Smith: 0:41

you. Wow. 200, that's big time, but no, it's good to be here. Feel like we chat more through TikTok comments than I r l and so it's good to, good to have some real life conversation

Cory Connors: 0:53

here. definitely. And, we'll definitely talk about TikTok and things like that, but let's catch the audience up with what is Recyclops and, what are you up to these days?

Ryan Smith: 1:03

Yeah, so Recyclops is a business that's built around this idea of sustainability, accessibility. So we saw solve hard to, solve problems, where access for sustainability initiatives is limited. And so we really look at two different categories where we step in. One is where there's a lack of access because of where you live. the other is a lack of access because of what the material is. So thinking about where you live. If you live in an apartment, there's a good chance you don't have recycling. Most apartments in the United States don't have recycling or if you, yeah, crazy right? Apartments. I didn't know that. And that's how I got, that's my first exposure into this industry was I moved into an apartment that didn't have recycling. And then as I got more and more accustomed, I thought at first I just thought like, man, I lived in, I moved into a dumpy apartment, which was true. but I learned that it wasn't just my dumpy apartments problem, it was a, citywide. Then I saw nation national problem, statewide national, and then even global problem apartments struggled to recycle. And that was my first exposure and how I, where I started this business. But then as I got more into it, I started seeing other problems. And one of the other big areas where we serve is this recycling deserts, which is places that are, kind of on the outskirts of urban centers or more rural areas that don't have recycling. And it's not a small portion of the population. We're talking 34 million households. Wow. It's like there's 130 million households in the us. There's like, and then you add the 16 million or so apartment homes, we're talking 50 million of the 130 just straight up don't have access. It's not that they're choosing not to, it's that where they live, there is no recycling collection. Maybe they can drive it 20 minutes to a drop off or an hour to a drop off, depending on the area, but what a pain. And so that's kind of the genesis of our business and we do a lot of that all over the country. And then the other piece is, kind of hard to recycle stuff. and doing that either direct consumer where we have someone signs up with a subscription, which we call Recycle Up Plus, or we have this other side, which is for brands. We do specialty program for brands where we pick up all sorts of stuff, either from customers homes or from warehouses, storefronts, you name it, we can.

Cory Connors: 3:17

It's an amazing thing that you're doing and it's a great point that you made about dumpy apartments. Oftentimes what I'm hearing in the industry is that sustainability is a luxury. Yeah. And that's, it's an unfortunate point that, but it's something that has to be made because I need people to hear that. If they have recycling available, they should feel honored and privileged and they should take advantage of it to the full extent of their capabilities. And if they don't have it available to them, they should reach out to a company like Recyclops to, to learn how to they could possibly incorporate something additional into their society. Yeah.

Ryan Smith: 3:58

Well I, that's something that's really struck me about this is that, re. Recycling access is discriminatory and that it's something that needs to be democratized, because you shouldn't have less access to recycling. As a whole, based on the color of your skin or based on your socioeconomic status, based on the fact that live in a more rural setting like that shouldn't suddenly make you not eligible to recycle. Like that feels crazy. It does. We've worked hard to fight that.

Cory Connors: 4:33

That's why I was so excited to have you on. Again, I think what you're doing is you're leveling the playing field and you're saying, Hey, this should be equal for all of us, and, so good for you and your team. I appreciate that. So let's talk about recyclops Plus. this is something very near and dear to my heart. I'm very interested in, this service model and, I have a story for you for, our service here locally that was similar, but I'd love to hear about it if you could tell us.

Ryan Smith: 5:00

Yeah. So Recyclops Plus is focused on hard cycle materials. right now our big focus, materials are. batteries, light bulbs, clothing. Yeah, things like, te PT trays. Yeah. Yep. Clam cell containers. So p e t trays. So like your, what your, tomatoes come in or your berries come in that, styrofoam. Those are all, parts of this service, and it's just this type of stuff that. You feel that should be recycled and some of it more problematic than others? Like batteries. Batteries can cause all sorts of problems when you put 'em in the waste stream. And in many areas, and I don't know if there's national, laws about it, but in many areas it's illegal, but like there's no solutions. What are you supposed to do? Hold onto 'em, whatever. and so we, basically have a subscription. You sign up, you pay. right now in most it's 15 bucks a month. And you can add-ons like styrofoams, a few extra bucks cuz it's so bulky and, challenging. And you pay that and then we come by your home, pick it straight up from your doorstep every other week. And it's been, right now we're just doing this in the, greater Salt Lake City metro where I'm based. And, I'm a personal customer, which is good. I've greatly appreciated the service personally. Yeah. But the intent is to expand it much beyond that. The problem is broad and we're good at, servings and customers everywhere. We don't need to just make this work in the biggest cities in the world or the greenest cities. Right. in the world, we can do this in places that, it may be hard for others to do it because we're pretty good at that. We're good at the, we're good at the hard stuff,

Cory Connors: 6:36

so that, that's awesome. Let's talk about the feedback you've gotten from your customers. some of the first movers who maybe are just thrilled to be a part of it. Can you tell us about that?

Ryan Smith: 6:46

Yeah. People are excited. people, the people who, and a lot of these people, they're, they, Are passionate and they recognize the problem before some, many people even listening to this podcast may not realize, oh, shoot, I didn't know I couldn't put my plastic bags in my recycling. Right. I didn't know styrofoam. It has the symbol on it. Why can't I put it in there? or the p e t, clamshell containers, trays, like, what do I, what about those? but the people who have, stumbled upon that information have known that. They are so excited because they feel bad. I know that like, that's how I started Cyclops, was I literally remember the moment where I had this idea, and it was when I moved into an apartment that didn't have recycling. I was a student, and I bought a, bottle of soda from a vending machine. And I went and, finished it on my way home, went to go put it in the recycling. When I got to my apartment, it was brand new there. It's like, oh, no one bought a blue bin yet. Sweet. I'll go put it in the recycling dumpster out. And there was none and I didn't know what to do. And throwing it away made me feel guilty and I just felt bad. and that's the way I feel about clamshell containers throwing away. And I know that I'm not alone with that or other, these plastic bags. And, but it, Without it, without convenient solutions. It's really hard. And that's what we've tried to do is create something convenient. And that's what, others have done in the industry. Rid well has absolutely, been dominant in the Pacific Northwest and just really paved the way for this, and really impressed and, with what they've done and think that they're, the impact that they're having in the world is incredible and love that. And we look at this, I'm a big believer that. that we're all in this together. That this isn't like recyclops versus anyone. It's recyclops with everyone that we have problems to solve here and there's plenty of opportunity for all of us to work together and solve problems better, and we don't need to go and, we're not enemies. So even if we offer similar services in different

Cory Connors: 8:46

markets, I agree. very important point that you're making because that's the kind of feeling I get in the world of recycling is a collaboration. Like, had a small recycler here, called Green Rhino, reach out to me and say, Hey, can you help us connect us with other recycling companies? And I said, yeah, of course. I'd never heard of 'em. And they saw one of my podcasts and so. I'm not gonna make any profit out of that meeting, but I'm excited to introduce them to other people because they will recycle more products. And this is the kind of thing that is, is so valuable. But I think that leads into that story about, recycler or ridewell. we had 'em here locally in, just outside of Portland, Oregon. We were so excited to be a part of it, like you said, and recycling clam shells and, flexible films and styrofoam and all kinds of things. light bulbs, batteries, the holes, shooting match. And then all of a sudden they called and said, we can't serve your area anymore. He said, what happened? Oh, the municipalities shut us down because we didn't go, they didn't go through the right channels, essentially. Right? And so after I understood that it made sense, but I also thought to myself, why don't they just let them keep going until there's. what we have now, which is called Recycling Plus, which is a waste management product. And, it's a similar thought process. it's been a little more difficult to use and, you don't have the cool flip top bo lid box, but, why do you think it, it was so important to the municipality to just shut it down?

Ryan Smith: 10:29

Yeah. I'm really frustrated when I see things like that because, And I understand at the same time, but you know, it, I feel like we were talking a minute ago about how we're all in this together and this kind of idea of a, an abundance mentality versus a scarcity mentality. And it's a scarcity mentality that shuts those things down. Yeah. And it's, as I see it, and as I understand it, it's people like, like the existing service providers, waste management. And in this case, going in and saying, Hey, wait a minute, this is our turf. Right? You can't do this cause it's our turf and rid saying, Hey, you weren't doing it. People want this. We've been innovated and waste management says, doesn't matter. we own this. Which I have, I struggle with because, okay, who owns the Amazon return? Right? You something broken that you get from Amazon and you send it back. is that, and Amazon's not gonna be able to fix it. It's gonna go, they're gonna have to deal with disposal or something, and there's cases where that, that will fix it, whatever. But in either case, like that's waste. That's being, we're accepting that being picked up from a curb because it has a label on it and FedEx or Amazon or whoever picks it up. Yeah. Or there's mail back batteries. you can do a subscription and get a bucket and you fill it with batteries and mail it and no one's. Going crazy, but rid, well, I think rid well had a little bit too much success for, yeah. for, other stakeholders, likings and, that's that. I guess that's what happens. And you hear when I entered this space, I heard a lot of people say, oh, the mob, or Oh, it's a dirty business, or this or that. I hear it all the time, still a lot less than they used to, but then you see stuff like this and you're like, man, that is dirty business. Yeah. Like, that's dirty business. Like shame on them. and I, at the same time, it's hard to argue they had a contract. Yeah. Their contract had that. So like is it shame on them or is it like No, they're a business and they're in business to make money and. They said, Hey, if Red World can do it, we can do it. We already, we put in the, probably hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars into winning this bid for this city. And it, very good point. Which hard to argue with it, even though I don't fully agree. I can see that side. And so I think that's where you start to have. You start to look at other ways to solve this, in that, ways that you do this or one you go either go and get permission, you say, okay, cool, well I guess we have to get permission, right? Or you make sure that you are up to date on the city code and on the contracts. You can do a public information request. Any contract the city has, you can look at it, and see, are we gonna cause problems here? is this gonna, is this gonna be an issue? Or the other way. And you see some, you see people like TerraCycle doing this, which I think is a great idea. Where they're actually going and partnering with the waste haulers directly. Yeah. In some cases they just, they've made a couple announcements recently about things like that, that I've read and that's another way to go and tackle this. And I think that, you run into challenges like this and you don't give up. You find creative solutions to solve it. And I applaud anyone who's, doing that and I'm sure confident rid doing that. yeah. But is the others doing it as well? I

Cory Connors: 13:52

think it, it's a lesson, and you're right, it's, It was a, whoa, what are these guys doing? They're everywhere, all of a sudden. And it's because there's this demand, or especially in the northwest, I mean, I've grown up with green living, environmentally friendly. This green that, compostable this recyclable that we were the first state to have the bo the bottle drop program. And this kind of thing is. Is important here in the Northwest, and I think that's why everyone is so excited about rid. Well, but then you're exactly right. Then the lo, the local hauler says, wait. That's my stuff, man. Like, but you know, I wish it would've been handled differently. Like, yeah. And by, I mean by Ridewell originally, I wish Ridewell could have done what you and waste and, and TerraCycle are doing and just saying, Hey. Let's make sure we can do this first and let's make sure it's appropriate and legal. And even in, in your, and in, in Terra cycles, point of view, you are helping the local community in a great way. So and so it was rid, well, they just didn't go about it the right way, which is super

Ryan Smith: 15:03

frustrating. Yeah. Well, and I hope that they'll, and part of it is you live and you learning and you don't know. Yeah. we've, I've. I have, done, we are, we're, we do rural recycling all over the country and I've entered cities without talking to the government. I've done it. Yeah. So I can't fault rid well at all, cuz I've done the same thing many more times than they have, frankly. Yeah. We're just in more geographies. and it's a, you learn, you live and you learn and we now, talk to the local government or like in the case of. Recyclops , plus we're touching a lot of municipalities in the area. And, one of the things we did, I'm on the board of the Recycling Coalition of Utah, and I'm on the board with Waste Management that helps with Republic Services and with the local player Ace Disposal, which are the three players that have all the Mun Mu municipal contracts that where Recycle Plus exists. And so I, from the very beginning said, Hey, we should partner. Let's do this. And they said, ah, go on your own. Do it on your own. And I said, sweet. But you know, it's not an explicit thumbs up from them necessarily. right. But, they could, they can always come back and try and fight things and, in some cases, who knows what the future holds. And I don't. But I don't think, I think that we're safe. I think that we've had the conversations we need to have, and we've built those relationships. And I'm, I know they're, Elite local leadership quite well in every case, and have forged those relationships so that we can work together and help each other.

Cory Connors: 16:32

And my, that's exactly the way to look at it. My thought is that taking this material out of potentially the blue bin, Is the best thing possible for the local MEFs. Okay. Because you are taking that step of sorting in advance and the MEFs that I've talked to have all been very upset by the. flexible films and soft plastics because it gets in the gears and it ruins the equipment. So if Recycle Ops Plus comes by and takes that out of the local area, I would think they would just be more profitable as a whole. and then you are more profitable because you have a clean. source of raw material that can be turned into TRX decking or other materials, possibly, low density polyethylene films again, in the future, depending on how you recycle it. but to me that's the mindset that I think that needs to be adopted by the hall versus, Hey, let's get this stuff out of this system so we don't have to deal with it.

Ryan Smith: 17:37

Right. Oh, I completely, well, it's so funny. Because I, when I started in this space 10 years ago, it's I'll, I've been in the recycling space for 10 years this summer. and I, one of the early things I did was I reached out to a local hauler in a new community. We launched and I said, oh, this is great. We're gonna save them money, everything. And we're talking regular plastic bottles, stuff that doesn't compact well in their trucks, that takes up space, has lots of air, all this. I'm like, man, this is gonna be great. So I reach out to 'em to say, Hey, Can we partner, can you help, spread the word about this. And I just got like effed out. Like literally they started screaming bombs at me and I was like, what is happening? Like, I got yelled at and I thought, what? it just blew my mind and I learned, I had mo several experiences like that and I learned, well, doesn't matter if it does save them money, doesn't matter if it does this. There's a very territorial aspect here. Oh yeah. And it is real. And I, I have nothing but. respect for rid well and think nothing, but frankly, good things about them. I am hopeful that they, you will take, the lessons learned here and be able to land on their feet and continue to thrive. because man, it, we need what they do. Yeah. and we need what we do, and we need what TerraCycle does, and we need what whoever else

Cory Connors: 19:00

is out there. You're all filling a niche and I think it's awesome to see, and I can't wait till five, 10 years from now when the, when it's all kind of sorted out and we see who does what, and I think it's an exciting time in the world of sustainability. what's the main, product that you get? re for Recycle Plus or Recycle Op Plus? Yeah.

Ryan Smith: 19:23

More than anything Plastic film. Yeah. Plastic film, so flexible plastic film that is, that's number one for sure. and then probably number two would be, the clamshell containers. we, it's funny cuz clamshells are actually, it's an add-on. You have to pay an extra dollar to participate in it. It's a dollar. Sure. You have a lot of participation, but even with it being, an add-on to the service, it's one of our most used. Most seen products there. So a lot of that. textile batteries and light bulbs. You just get 'em sometimes when you get clothes, you get 'em. Yeah. light bulbs and batteries. You get a little bit here. A little bit there. That's

Cory Connors: 20:00

awesome. Well, and I lo, I went to a local murf here called Far West Recycling. Yeah. And they were, part of the local, new changes here in Oregon are you can recycle batteries with your glass. you put a bag inside your glass bin because that's separated here. And they literally were going through and they were putting tape on the little circle batteries, the little lithium. Batteries. And he said, I said, what do you, why are they putting tape on those? And he said, if we don't and they get impacted, they'll blow up and start a fire. I said, what? He said, that's why we want'em in the glass bin and not in your recycle bin. So bad. Or in your, or in the waste stream. Because they have started, I don't know how many fires in, dump trucks.

Ryan Smith: 20:51

Oh yeah. every, anyone who. Has had much experience with, those dump trucks. Those garbage trucks or with a murf with any sort of processing facility has experienced a fire. We, we generally use the gig economy or we have a local operators who have franchises, who do collection with smaller vehicles, but we have. We have a couple garbage trucks, that we've inherited through a small acquisition and Oh, cool. In a previous life, early in the STA days of Cyclops, we did use garbage trucks. Oh wow. And I have had, even though I don't have that much experience with it, I've had multiple garbage truck fires and amazing batteries. Lithium batteries are the number one culprit. Because they're like, so

Cory Connors: 21:33

for people listening, can you describe those to us so we don't put 'em in the garbage bin?

Ryan Smith: 21:40

Yeah. So the most commonplace that you're gonna have a lithium battery is actually in an electronic, in electronics. So things like your cell phone. Yeah. and if you've ever. I remember in the olden days, olden, basically a decade ago when you could actually like see phone batteries. there were little, spare things, any sort of battery that looks like that, or even like, the batteries that are, for, like electric drill. Those are often lithium. And so that's really, kind of the ones to watch out for, most often. Is things like that. So really electronics, keep your electronics, your laptop, your your, phone. You shouldn't put any batteries in your cycling. Right. I mean, unless your city has rules that says you can like, let you know. Which there are some cities around the country that do. Yeah. but, Follow those rules. If they have rules about, if they, if you are allowed to put batteries in, there's, there may be a rule that you have to tape the ends of lithium batteries. It doesn't matter for like alkaline batteries, like the normal, like aaa, aa, you don't have to tape the ends. Those don't, right. Same issues. but yeah, those lithium ones, man, it is, it's crazy. I just saw a video yesterday actually of a lithium battery in a, laundromat, in a dryer. Wow. Left's in a pocket and it like, blew up the entire machine and like blew up the wall. Like, jeez, they're like bombs like crazy.

Cory Connors: 23:04

And that's n that's no joke. This is serious stuff that we need to educate the consumers on that are trying to do the right thing. I interviewed, Michelle from, what are they called now? Battery or battery? Something or another. They're a recycling company and, for batteries only. Yeah. and, she, she said they actually, they break 'em down and they turn the components back into either batteries or vitamins. Which I thought was amazing. Like what? She's like, yeah, they're full of iron and all the supplements that we need in our bodies. I'm like, that's crazy. So

Ryan Smith: 23:45

that's crazy. Can you imagine just eating the battery? No. No.

Cory Connors: 23:49

Don't do that. Don't kids don't listen to Ryan. he's kidding.

Ryan Smith: 23:53

So don't do that. That, that, that's scary stuff with, yeah. But yeah, that's crazy. You know what? and that's part of this, like this creativity. Yeah. Like that was someone's idea. Right? That wasn't like, that wasn't like the default, the de, the default was more like, Hey, can we turn some of this back into a battery? But they said, Hey, we have some of these materials that are left. Yeah. what do we do with these Right. And found good outlets for it. And like, that's how we make progress in this industry is, we build off of each other's ideas. We collaborate and we think outside the box. That's right.

Cory Connors: 24:27

Well, thank you, sir. This has been amazing. how do people get in touch with you?

Ryan Smith: 24:31

Yeah. if anyone wants to reach out, you can always reach out, ryan@recycleop.com. And yeah, we do, residential programs, we're opening franchises all over the country, both for regular recycling or for specialty like programs like recycle ops Plus. we work with brands for, we do everything from dirty diaper pickup, from doorsteps to, solar panel recycling from warehouses, you name it. Wow. And, yep, ryan@recyclops.com. find me on LinkedIn. Ryan Smith Clop and yeah, re clop dot com's the website. That's really where, you'll want to go to learn more about us and to look at opportunities, and I'm always happy to connect with people personally and really passionate about what we're doing and what's happening in this industry.

Cory Connors: 25:13

What's the kind of, what kind of person would need, what would a person need to sign up for a

Ryan Smith: 25:20

franchise? Yeah. I, this is something I love about our franchises. Yeah. But, most, if you're opening a, chick-fil-A or a McDonald's or whatever, you're needing to invest a significant amount of capital, both in real estate and in the f franchise fee. franchise fees are, 40, 50, whatever, thousand dollars. Yeah. the way that we do it is we charge. So if you're taking on an right today, and this is subject to change, we're, adapting and whatever as time goes on. But today, if you are opening up brand new area, where there's no customers, anything, then we actually don't charge an upshire up upfront franchise fee. We charge the royalty fee as you go. And, and you go on, and we don't have the smallest royalty in the business, for when it comes to franchises. but we don't, we're basically trying to lower that barrier to entry, make it easy for someone to get started and you can do well. I mean, someone can, easily make six figures doing this. we're not, these franchises aren't gonna make you a millionaire probably. I mean, maybe you could. I don't know. Never say never, but it's more like a good opportunity to, kind of be your own boss and create something. And, we manage, the back end and really help you get started. And, it's, it's a good fit. We have a bunch of franchises all over the country and it's been, we didn't always do it. It's been, something we started doing last year and it's worked. Fantastically well for us, for our customers and for the franchisees, so definitely want to do more of it.

Cory Connors: 26:50

It's amazing. I think with the onset of extended producer responsibility and these laws changing for higher post-consumer recycled material, these recycled plastics especially are gonna have su extreme value eventually. I think so it sounds like the right time to get into the recycling business, is what I'm saying. Yeah,

Ryan Smith: 27:10

no, we've definitely, it's. It's not shrinking. It's a growing business and whether you, invest in growth or not, it just comes to you and it's, it's exciting. And then if you invest in it, then it really comes. So

Cory Connors: 27:24

it's been fun. Well, that's awesome. If you're listening and you're interested and you sign up, let me know because I'd love to do a podcast with you about your story, about how you grew a recyclops, location. That would be amazing for a podcast. So, well, thank you Ryan. Really appreciate this, and, look, looking forward to episode three someday. Yeah, let's do

Ryan Smith: 27:44

it.

Cory Connors: 27:44

Thanks, Gordon. All right. Thank you.