Finding Treasure in Trash 
 
 San Juan Capistrano 6-year-old starts his own recycling business, aspires to drive his own garbage truck one day 
 
 By Allison Jarrell 
 
 If there’s one thing 6-year-old Ryan Hickman loves, it’s sorting. So when, at the ripe age of 3, his parents, Damion and Andrea, let him come along to return some water bottles at a recycling center, he was thrilled to help. 
 
 “He likes to sort pretty much anything, and he liked putting the bottles in the machine,” Damion, said. “He probably got two or three bucks, and he was so excited about it. And of course then he got to sort his change, so that meant more sorting.” 
 
 For an average 3-year-old, that probably would have been the end of the story. But when Damion returned home from work the next day, Ryan was waiting for him in the driveway. He told his dad that he wanted to show him his new business—or “bidness” in toddler talk. 
 
 “I asked him what it was, and he kind of waved down the street and goes, ‘tah-dah!’” Damion recalled. “Ryan and Andrea had gone around giving all the neighbors trash bags—he wanted everyone to start saving cans for him.” 
 
 That was the beginning of Ryan’s Recycling Company, established in 2012 in the family’s San Juan Capistrano home. A first-grader at Ambuehl Elementary School, Ryan has already earned more than $8,000 by collecting cans and bottles from about 40 “customers” in five different neighborhoods. His biggest client is the El Niguel Country Club. 
 
 Of course, being a 6-year-old entrepreneur comes with some hurdles. Ryan’s parents, grandmother and aunt all help drive him around to collect his recyclables and often make multiple trips to pick up a few carloads at a time. The family’s backyard acts as Ryan’s sorting facility, where he has about eight large trash cans that he sorts containers into—bottles and cans, plastics and glass, they all have their place. Ryan’s family visits the recycling center every third Sunday, and on the weekends he can often be seen sorting to prepare for those visits with his work gloves on and sporting a blue CR&R hat. 
 
 The young businessman said even though he has to dump the occasional “yucky liquids” from some of the collected containers, it’s all worth it—every nickel goes into a savings account and toward his dream of owning his own garbage truck one day. Since he’s got about 10 more years until he can learn to drive, Ryan figures that gives him at least a decade to earn the $70,000 needed to purchase a used truck, or $120,000 for a brand new one. 
 
 “Ryan’s one of those really unique kids who has a passion,” said his first grade teacher Suzanne Devaney. “He just sees things that need to be done and he does them.” 
 
 Since the company’s inception, Damion, who does graphic designing, has created business cards for Ryan as well as Ryan’s Recycling T-shirts, which sell for $13 apiece. All the proceeds from the shirts are donated to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center—so far they’ve contributed about $1,000. 
 
 In a YouTube video posted last July, Damion asks Ryan if other people should start recycling to help save the earth. 
 
 “Mmm … no,” Ryan says nonchalantly. “I got it all handled.” 
 
 His answer has changed a bit since then. Ryan said he thinks people should start recycling not only to earn some extra cash, but “because it helps the world, too.” He worries that birds at the beach may eat the trash and “get sick or die.” 
 
 “He’s very passionate about it, and he likes to get everybody else passionate about it as well,” Andrea said. “I think he’s rubbed off on all of us now. You find yourself walking past a can on the ground and needing to pick it up instead of walking away and leaving it there.” 
 
 For more information on supporting Ryan’s Recycling, visit www.dhdwear.com/Ryans-Recycling. To see Ryan talk about his recycling efforts, search for “Ryan’s Recycling Company” on YouTube. 
 
 Ryan’s story is featured in this year’s Green Issue, a special insert packed with information on products, events and practices for a more eco-friendly life. Click below to view the annual guide. 

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 In 2012 at the age of 3, Ryan went along with his dad to the local recycling center and cashed in a few small bags of cans and bottles and decided that recycling was in his future. The day after going to the recycling center, Ryan notified his mom and dad that he wanted to give empty plastic bags to all the neighbors and maybe they would save their recyclables for him. Not only did the local neighbors save their cans and bottles for Ryan but so did their friends, families and co-workers. Today, Ryan has customers all over Orange County, CA and he has a passion to recycle that is amazing. His goal is to recycle to keep cans and bottles from reaching the ocean where it’s harmful to the environment. Ryan spends a part of every week sorting thru cans and bottles from his customers and getting them ready to take to the recycle center. 
 
 In 2016, Ryan’s recycling story went viral and ever since he has been featured on web sites, television and radio stations around the planet. He’s a 2017 CNN Young Wonder, he’s appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show, The Pickler & Ben show and was interviewed by Maria Menunous on Sirius/XM Radio as well as Ryan Seacrest’s syndicated radio program and featured on the KFI AM 640 Bill Handel show. He’s a multiple time WE DAY speaker and has been featured on NBC, CNN, CNBC, PBS, FOX News, Amazon Prime’s SELF MADE series, Australia’s Channel 7 Sunrise morning show, Huffington Post, Voice of America, AJ+, UpWorthy, NOW THIS!, 60 Second Docs, KBS, USA Today, Univision, Good Morning America, and ABC World News. Ryan has been recognized internationally for his recycling efforts and Ryan was awarded the “2017 Citizen of the Year” by his hometown of San Juan Capistrano and he was recognized by the Orange County Register as one of the 100 most influential people of 2017. Ryan was selected in 2018 by MSN in their top 15 kids changing the world and was featured in TIME Magazine for Kids and National Geographic as well as being featured as a WHIZ KID in OC Family Magazine. 
 
 Thank you to everyone who have sent Ryan inspiring emails and supporting his passion. Ryan is hoping to raise as much awareness to saving the planet through recycling and saving for his future college education (or saving for a full size trash truck) and he is a Youth Ambassador at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. All proceeds from his company logo t-shirts go to help support their volunteer efforts. Ryan is also a proud brand ambassador for the recycling and sustainability efforts of Sand Cloud, Busch Systems, Recycle Across America and Valet Living. 
 
 People ask all the time what kind of items that Ryan recycles. Ryan collects and recycles plastic and glass beverage bottles as well as aluminum cans. Ryan and his dad take them in by the truckload regularly to the local redemption center where they are unloaded, sorted and weighed. If you’d like to help Ryan and help the environment at the same time, contact him here to schedule a pick up. Thank you to all of Ryan’s friends around the world, his customers and family who have supported his ambitions and hard work recycling. 

 Photo Gallery of Ellen DeGeneres Ryan Hickman, 7, of San Juan Capistrano, was recently invited onto "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about his business, Ryan's Recycling Company. Photo: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros. Ellen DeGeneres Ryan Hickman, 7, of San Juan Capistrano, was recently invited onto "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about his business, Ryan's Recycling Company. Photo: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros. Ellen DeGeneres Ryan Hickman, 7, of San Juan Capistrano, was recently invited onto "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about his business, Ryan's Recycling Company. Photo: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros. Ellen DeGeneres Ryan Hickman, 7, of San Juan Capistrano, was recently invited onto "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about his business, Ryan's Recycling Company. Photo: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros. Open as list Close List VIEW GALLERY 
 
 The Capistrano Dispatch 
 
 Remember 6-year-old recycling entrepreneur Ryan Hickman from our Green Issue last April? With the help of his family, Ryan founded his own startup, Ryan’s Recycling Company, at the ripe age of 3 in San Juan Capistrano. 
 
 When we interviewed Ryan for our April 8 cover story, he had earned more than $8,000 from recycling bottles, and he hoped to eventually buy his own garbage truck. 
 
 Today, Ryan, who’s now 7, has earned over $10,000 from recycling more than 200,000 bottles. Ryan’s story caught the attention of multiple news outlets, and he was recently invited onto “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to talk about his company and the importance of recycling. His segment aired Monday, Jan. 30. 
 
 After sharing with Ellen why he recycles—to protect animals and the environment—she surprised him with a personalized battery-powered kid-sized recycling truck and a $10,000 check from Shutterfly to help fund his business. 
 
 For more information on Ryan’s Recycling Company, visit www.ryansrecycling.com.
– A 7-year-old boy in California already has $10,000 saved for college—and not a penny of it came from his parents. "I've recycled 200,000 cans and bottles," Ryan Hickman tells ABC7. He got "hooked" on recycling at age 3 after a visit to a recycling center. "He really loved the actual act of putting all the cans and bottles into the machine and getting the money for it," his father says. Ryan then started asking friends and neighbors to save their recyclables for him. Today, he runs Ryan's Recycling out of San Juan Capistrano with customers across Orange County, according to his website. With help from family members, Ryan picks up and sorts plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans and cleans out "yucky liquids" to prepare them for recycling. His parents then take the recyclables to a recycling center. "The recycling money I'm saving for a garbage truck," says Ryan, who was also gifted $10,000 and a miniature recycling truck on a recent appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, per the Capistrano Dispatch. But his parents stress that the money is actually being set aside for his education. Not all of the money coming in is being kept for Ryan, though. He also sells T-shirts with proceeds donated to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach "for the sea lions to get food and medicine," Ryan says. His advice: "If you don't recycle, start recycling"—and the reason is simple. "It helps the world," Ryan tells the Dispatch. (Apple's recycling program brings in $43 million in gold.)