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YP in the Biz

June 14, 2016

Most conferences I attend these days go out of their way to recognize “young professionals” and/or bring us “experienced professionals” together with the “young professionals.” At last week’s WasteExpo, Waste360 sponsored the “40 Under 40.” Nominations were solicited to identify the “next generation of leaders in the waste and recycling space.” The result was 40 professionals, from public, private, and nonprofit sectors, who are “shaping the future” of the industry. The 40 were recognized through Waste 360 and in various promotional activities at WasteExpo.

At the Federation of New York Solid Waste Association’s recent Solid Waste and Recycling Conference a fun “EP DOWNLOAD TO YP UPLOAD” event was hosted to bring together young professionals and experienced professionals for networking.

A couple years back, BioCycle opened its conference with “Millennials On The Move In Climate Resiliency.” This opening session was a great way to set the tone for the conference, bringing experienced professionals and young professionals together throughout the conference on panels, as participants, and through networking.

I am particularly intrigued by the number of young professionals in composting and reuse. Both of these facets of materials management foster entrepreneurial opportunities that seem particularly suitable for younger professionals in a still struggling economy.

YP_soil-food_Gainesville CompostChris Cano, with Gainesville Compost, was one of the plenary speakers at BioCycle. Mr. Cano started his company while still in college. Today, Gainesville Compost is a “pedal-powered” community compost network in Gainesville, Florida. Using bicycles as their means of collection, employees pick up food scraps from Gainesville’s restaurants, cafes, bars, and residences. The collected food scraps are taken to a distributed network of partner composting sites at urban farms, restaurants, churches, and other organizations. The company markets the resulting product, a blend of compost and vermicompost, as Soil Food. The company also sells the “Can of Worms” to promote home vermicomposting.

YP_canofworms_Gainsville Compost

Also on the BioCycle plenary panel was Michael Lemon of Biogas Researchers (“BR”). Mr. Lemon co-founded the non-for-profit business with his father, Jim Lemon, in 2013. BR is working to promote biogas development and use through education, research and other charitable activities. Its goal is to increase the amount of methane-rich biogas that is captured and beneficially used at landfills, wastewater treatment plants, farms (dairy, swine, poultry, and beef) and other biodigester facilities across the United States. Biogas researchers works to identify the range of energy, environmental and other opportunities that may be available at places and projects where the production and/or consumption of biogas currently exists or could exist in the future.

A recent news article, Garbage entrepreneurs are turning food waste into a business, profiled other young entrepreneurs looking to make a business in the growing food scrap management world. Fueled by the desire to do something good and make money at it, many aspiring entrepreneurs, the article noted, are going into food scrap collection and processing.

YP_Tons diverted_Compost CrusaderMelissa Tashjian is a part-time waitress, and full-time compost entrepreneur. Ms. Tashjjian started Compost Crusader, LLC, with a small dump truck collecting food scraps and other organics in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her customers include local restaurants, schools and hospitals. She hauls the collected materials to a farm in Racine County for composting. Starting two years ago with just a handful of customers, her client number has grown to more than 55 and her small dump truck has been replaced with two larger garbage trucks. With the business growing and making money, she’s been able to reduce her waitressing hours and hire employees.

YP_Bootstrap compostCo-founders Andy Brooks and Igor Kharitonenkov started Bootstrap Compost 2011. The company uses bicycle trailers, the T (Boston’s subway system), hand trucks, and other vehicles to collect and transport food scraps from houses, apartments, dorms, co-ops, condos, cafes, offices, and restaurants around Boston. They also offer collection at special events. Bootstrap partners with local farms to divert thousands of pounds of organic material from landfills every week. Their partner farms use the finished compost in their operations and also provide the company with compost to use for community garden projects.

In the world of reuse and upcycling, co-founders Stephanie Hansen and Renee Hansen started Spinfish Event Solutions, a company marketed as a “waste diversion and rescue service.” The company provides consulting services to event organizers for diverting unwanted custom event materials and waste through charitable donations, refurbishments, freecycling, upcycling and other means. Diverted materials include: furniture, wine bottles, corks, jars, printed promotional materials, t-shirts, chip board, bottle caps, vinyl banners, exercise equipment, custom decor pieces, vinyl, foamcore, and promotional giveaways. The company works with clients to set up collection points and arranges for nonprofit organizations and businesses to pick up the items.YP_doormat_Hipcycle

Renee Hansen also founded Hipcycle, a leading online store for upcycled goods. Their mission is to “help address the global waste problem through upcycling.” The website carries hundreds of upcycled products, along with positive messaging about the benefits of upcycling.

Nice to be working with and learning from a growing number of young professionals in the field!

By Experienced Professional, Athena Lee Bradley

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