Nonprofit Recycle Across America (RAA) is excited to announce that nine-year-old recycling phenomenon Ryan Hickman, has become a volunteer spokesperson and is endorsing the RAA society-wide standardized recycling labels. The standardized labels are designed to eliminate recycling confusion and contamination — a serious and costly issue for the industry and the environment.
Ryan established his own company, Ryan’s Recycling, when he was just three-years-old, and since then, he has been able to recycle 500,000 cans and bottles. Ryan has become an international advocate for recycling and has been interviewed by Ellen, CNN, National Geographic for Kids, and many other outlets.
The timing of this partnership comes at a time when U.S. recycling is facing crippling challenges that can be directly traced to public confusion at the bin and subsequent ‘garbage’ thrown in with recyclables. When asked why he chose to volunteer with Recycle Across America, Ryan said, “I think it’s super important that we take care of our planet, and we all can make a big difference when we work together. That’s why I’ve partnered up with Recycle Across America– to help everyone understand how to recycle right!”
Ryan has already begun appearing in RAA’s public service announcements (Family Circle Magazine, February 2019) and is about to help launch RAA’s national outreach initiative, “Let’s Recycle Right – FIX IT.” The program is designed to provide concerned citizens with action steps they can take to fix the national confusion with U.S. recycling.
Thanks to generous donations from supporters of the standardized labels, RAA has been able to establish the Ryan Hickman Grant so that labels can be donated to K-12 public schools. Ryan will be encouraging his peers to fix recycling by implementing the standardized recycling labels in schools across the country.
There are already millions of standardized recycling labels in use in national parks, airports, stadiums, schools, businesses, and on residential carts across the U.S. Mitch Hedlund, the founder/CEO of Recycle Across America, said, “We are honored to have Ryan join us and our supporters! He is a special recycling hero on a mission to protect the environment. Ryan routinely encounters contaminated recycling bins and knows first-hand that the standardized recycling labels are key to fixing that problem — which in turn, will fix the industry. Despite being only nine years old, he is having a global impact on recycling. We’re so grateful that he approached us to help this mission!”