Teenagers looking for their first job often lean toward fast food or big box retail stores to earn their first paycheques, but 15-year-old Ryan Easton of Mount Pearl scrapped that idea for a different one.
He opened Ryan’s Recycling in 2021 in his parent’s backyard — a business that has since exploded into an operation that befits its current location in a 10,000-square-foot storage yard, with a 700-square-foot scrapping facility, in the middle of Donovan’s Industrial Park.
Ryan, who is in Grade 9, scraps cars, recycles appliances, metal and e-waste, and rents dumpster services. He then sells the scrap to bulk buyers.
He picked up the skills to run his venture on YouTube.
“People are posting videos about how to do stuff, and I kept learning more, and more and more,” Ryan told CBC News.
His parents were supportive but initially unsure about what he was doing, like bringing home a microwave and meticulously breaking it down.
Now they’re all in.
Ryan Easton is the entrepreneur behind the e-waste kingdom Ryan’s Recycling in Mount Pearl. The CBC’s Krissy Holmes spent some time with Easton to learn about his business plan and how he’s helping the environment.
Viola Easton, Ryan’s mom, said it took a little while for the public to catch on.
“People are getting used to him now but it was really funny when he was at our house and he’d have people coming by selling metal, selling wire and that kind of stuff and they’re looking for my husband,” he said.
“And he comes to the door and my husband’s like, ‘Nope, it’s not me you want to talk to, it’s him.'”
The teenager has a vision for his business and is making smart moves to get there.
He said he reinvests every dollar, which led him to the warehouse and the storage yard.
Easton said she thought her son was getting in over his head, until he demonstrated his level of knowledge of the business. Between August and the end of last year he processed about 300,000 pounds in scrap steel, she said.
“His financial savvyness is pretty impressive, too. I don’t question his numbers anymore,” she said.
“I remember the first time he bought a load of copper wire or copper pipe or something it was, and he spent a couple of hundred bucks, and we went to another yard to sell it and I’m on pins and needles thinking he’s going to lose his shirt. He comes out and says, ‘I doubled my money.'”
But now inside his own facility at 17 Dundee Ave., Easton is planning for his third annual Earth Day free e-waste event.
That’s happening Saturday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. People can drop off their e-waste, including televisions, monitors, computers, laptops, big and small appliances, cars and car parts.
“Most people, if they have to pay for it they’ll just throw it in their garbage bucket and let it go on down to the landfill,” he said.
“You got to remine all those new materials again and it’s polluting the Earth.”
Easton has a few employees on his roster so far — his mom and dad and a couple of friends.
He’s also using his business as an opportunity to educate the public on what they should recycle.
“I’d like to keep growing it and get a couple of locations out of town because there’s not recycling out there, especially for electronics,” he said.
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