Built to Work: Episode 15: Tim Ridderbos - Circular by Shapiro
- Marissa Watkins
- Mar 18
- 28 min read
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Welcome to Built To Work the podcast that gets its hands dirty dives into the grid and uncovers the heart of what makes the blue-collar world tick I'm Colin your host and I'm sitting down with the people who keep our world running From those tackling the tough jobs no one else dares to do to the HR professionals working overtime to find the labor force we desperately need Whether you're in the trenches or behind the scenes this podcast is for anyone who values hard work determination and the stories that build the backbone of our workforce So grab your gloves your coffee or your clipboard It's time to get to work Welcome to another Built To Work podcast I'm here with Tim Ritterbos Tim thank you so much for being here with me to chat Yeah man Happy to be here Yeah So I'm excited to talk to you You know I was able to swing by your guys' office a couple weeks ago We got to spend some time together Learn more about you guys learn more about you and I was like "Hey this Tim guy He's a cool guy I need to talk to him some more." So
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so Tim you are with Circular by Shapiro- Yep and your role you said was the VP
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or VP Just just vice president Yeah Vice vice president of Circular Business Development so we're a 121-year-old company
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we started back in 1904 so if you think about that we're we're headquartered in St Louis so the World's Fair was going on
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so back when
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you know this company started they were introducing the ice cream cone the X-ray and the Palace of Electricity which was basically a building with lights
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so that's
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Yeah basically the time period in which
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the company got its start and we really focus on
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recycling and sustainability and circularity programs for large industrial manufacturers Okay So what does like a circularity program look like when you say that I mean I can kind of get an idea that it's gonna be around recycling and reusing but is
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what do what do you guys define that as Yeah So at the end of the day right it's how do you keep material in the economy for as long as possible in its highest and best use as possible Okay
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you know so a lot of what I've done is is really think about things
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maybe in a different way than we've thought about them before
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and and along with the whole team at Shapiro of course But really you know as we go to our customers and we try and expand our offerings to 'em
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you know we're really looking at how do we how do we almost dumpster dive right And look at what's going in their trash what are they throwing away- Yeah
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and and is there something better that they could be doing
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with those things right So obviously in our industry we focus very heavily on recycling but we do a lot of business cases too to basically say "Hey look You're paying X amount of tons
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dollars per ton to landfill this You're paying X amount for every pickup
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but this cardboard this wire this you know plastic actually has marketable value so how do we actually turn that into a re- into a revenue stream for you?"
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Okay and so we we do a lot of those programs as well
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we've also got our
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master alloys division
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which takes in
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scrap right scrap metal and creates
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ingot with certified chemistries
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so that
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our customers that we sell all that off to don't have to buy
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you know base materials and put it into their furnaces right We're trying to give them a pre-packaged unit
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with material for them to use for you know whatever they're making Okay Gotcha gotcha Yeah
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and as I was learning more about you guys' company you guys have quite a few locations in various parts of the country and your different locations kind of do some you know perform different operations Can you give me like a brief rundown on on what you guys do in your different locations 'Cause it's pretty diverse Yeah Yeah so we've got 9 facilities It it doesn't look like your traditional scrap yard
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we're we're really more like a recycling center where everything is under roof We do have one steel yard still but everything else is under roof
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more like a warehouse We're really focused on non-ferrous
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but you know in addition to metal you're gonna see plastics in our facility You're gonna see cardboard in our facility
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actually one of our facilities has a breakdown line
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for one of our large customers that we deal with on a national level
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so you know we're actually taking in their whole units we're breaking 'em down for 'em
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you know so we're we're providing some additional services too in addition to you know just the general recycling I guess in addition to that
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one of the things that's been good for us over the past few years is because we deal with industrial manufacturers
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we're thinking about supply chain and the flow of material in a different way
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so we have really spent a lot of time trying to build partnerships with other recycling companies across the United States Mexico and Canada
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so if if I'm dealing with an industrial manufacturer and they say "Hey we've got a a facility out in Timbuktu,"
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you know hopefully I've got a friend out there that can help
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you know with whatever material that they've got
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help 'em process that and and keep it out of the landfill And then
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lastly we've got an innovation center
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down in Seymour Missouri which is near
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Springfield-Branson area
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And that's where we do some R&D on some of the
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unique products
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that we offer to our customers Okay Awesome Awesome I need to get you in touch with the
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guys at
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Missouri S&T Have you been in touch with them at all No Tell tell me more Okay So Missouri University of Science and Technology it's about Well it's pretty much halfway between St Louis and Springfield That's where I went to school They have they're building a an advanced materials lab
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it's all engineers It's like 95% engineers 5,000 students
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but they're starting to work with with manufacturing companies looking at advanced manufacturing techniques with some materials so maybe your R&D lab could tie in with them They're they're investing millions of dollars into some new facilities They're getting all sorts of equipment I actually spoke on another podcast with
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Dr Richard Billow that's
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kind of heading up that department
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for them They're building this big thing they're calling the Protoplex
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like advanced manufacturing like additive manufacturing basically And
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I don't know like like microscopic laser welding
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Wow they're working a lot with
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Springfield
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Remanufacturing Group down there SRG Holdings like on cracked blocks Like how can they laser apply laser weld in like to repair cracked blocks Lots of stuff That's like really stuff that I'd never you know I haven't heard of I'm not advanced manufacturing but stuff that's like really only being done at the high high levels of like military grade you know that sort of stuff That's really cool
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yeah I mean and and I think that's where it's all going right I mean you know I think the rate of change and technology and and innovation is happening so much faster today that you know I think a lot of the things that we that we just take for granted in the manufacturing space I mean it's something that we think about you know Yeah At at at Schapiro it's like man you know we we assume it's gonna continue being like this We assume that there you know I mean for example right we love we love aerospace Yeah
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you know that that's that's a big customer base for us but you know I mean if you take a 300-pound ingot and you you know put it in a CNC machine and you end up with 95% scrap rate like you know is is that is that the way that they're gonna be manufacturing those pieces in another 20 years right Yeah I mean you see the advent of a ton of 3D printing and other stuff I mean it's
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you know- Yeah it's it's really interesting just to see how things change In fact
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you know I've got some friends in in family that work
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you know one of the big aerospace manufacturers and
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you know during COVID everything kind of shut down in that space but the one department that was getting blank checks
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throughout that entire time was
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you know the department that was researching 3D printing of parts right
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So so I I I I would love an introduction
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to your contacts there and see this advanced manufacturing facility That's that's really really interesting Yeah So that 3D printing is what they were calling additive manufacturing instead of
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but yeah Very exact very small you know printing 3D you know I don't know what they're printing but yeah Super accurate and then to your to your point yeah there's a whole lot less waste
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Which kind of hurts the scrap industry a little bit but you know
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the the world's changing sometimes but thankfully it's not- Yeah well and I think that's it right Like you can you can you know I think with a lot of this bury your head in the sand or say "Oh it's not gonna happen or it's not gonna happen for another decade or 2."
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But you know I think I think there are gonna be some things that change right And we need to be- Yeah you know out ahead of it I mean shoot you know I've got
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a good guy for you to talk to you at some point
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is a gentleman named Anthony Buchbaker from Spartan Scanning Solutions Do you know him I'm not I don't know him no Okay So I'll I'll put you guys in touch
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he's building now
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you know the system that does digital twins right
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so he he'll take a drone it'll fly it all around your shredder or your recycling facility
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you know look way high on on different different pieces your your your stacks your catwalks everything He'll have you know very very detailed 3D renderings
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a digital twin of your facility And it's so accurate that he can he can basically fly this drone through your place and the drone using AI will sense
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you know different parts that might be unsafe So if you've got a handrail that's bent or if you've got like a you know something that's
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a plate that's missing bolts this system is actually accurate enough to fly around see that this is missing bolts or that that's bent or that this safety piece is not in a place where it should be and it'll ping you and tell you "Hey here's the 37 different places all around your plant-" Wow "
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that could use some attention from a safety perspective." And do that all via drone without having you send send your safety guy up in a harness and and looking at all this stuff It's crazy And probably do it with more accuracy and obviously just a ton more speed So you know I mean as as we think about this industry as a whole like yeah I mean things are things are changing quick and the way we've done things you know for the last 100 years is not gonna look like the next 100 and you know probably not gonna look like the next 10 Yeah It's it's it's changing rapidly So there's there there's a lot The the whole labor
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landscape is changing too which is you know where where I play quite a bit and you know okay well some of these jobs we were doing
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know AI may be taking those right Some robotic picking or something like that
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but on the- but on the flip side there's- more people are focusing on desk jobs inside jobs white collar jobs that that there's still this- there's even more demand now for people that we can fill just saying "Hey you guys need some laborers you guys need some operators Somebody that's experienced like that," and
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it's it's amazing to see how how it's all changing and and it's moving Everything's everything's moving and it's moving faster and differently than it has in the So Yeah Well and so so you're saying that you're seeing a less- you're you you you anticipate less demand for pickers and that sort of thing and and you're seeing more moving actually towards the the the white-collar jobs I'm seeing yeah so I'm see- you know you see more people that don't want to do these these hard these dirty jobs
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And so yeah you're seeing a reduction in the pickers right Because okay they can make you know all these different sorting machines and every- Eddy currents and everything like that and you know robotic pickers Especially when it comes to like MRF facilities A lot of those have made really big investments and eliminated the picking lines completely
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you know there's still a lot of picking lines obviously after shredders but what we're seeing is okay there's a reduction in pickers but we're seeing a much
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we're seeing an increased demand in you know semi-skilled positions that are having a really hard time filling like operators for instance Right Material handler operators- Yeah or maintenance because nobody wants to do those jobs because everybody wants to go know go to college right now or they're looking for more of like a trade job where they can go get certified Like hay a lot of people are going into HVAC because there's a big need for that
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so from the labor standpoint it's like okay yeah there's a reduction over here but every person I talk to is needing these same 2 to 3 positions Yeah Yeah So how can we- Well and and I think that's- That's like the opportunity right Like- Yeah you know if I could go back and you know talk to 17-year-old Tim and be like "Hey do you want to go to college for 4 years," or "Do you wanna" Like I was a carpenter right Like all through- Okay high school and college every summer you know I was swinging hammers in St Louis building houses doing renovations-
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that kind of stuff Like I mean they you know and and I've I've still got friends that are in the industry and it's like people who who have skills right who know how to build or fix a fix a AC unit on the side of your house or you know do plumbing or electric or or anything else and I mean certainly you know the material handler the machine operators- Yeah Like like all those people it's like there there is gonna be so much opportunity for somebody who knows how to swing a hammer or run a machine or fix the AC unit
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you know in the future 'cause I think for the longest time in this country we were you know trying to steer people away from all that stuff but- Yeah
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you know I I think some of the people that that I know who are who are incredibly successful now you know of you know HVAC businesses they're doing construction I mean my construction friends you can't you know For the longest time if you wanted them to do a job for you like sorry you're out you know 18 months right Yeah You know they're they're they're completely booked out And so yeah I mean I I think and especially in this industry right like we've gotta continue to let people know that there are those kinds of jobs that there's an incredible amount of security in those types of jobs and that you know we are gonna have opportunities for people who wanna you know get their hands dirty so to speak Like I I love that stuff Yeah You you know And and and it's a good place to build a career like that no I There's there are so many opportunities out there for for people like that so Looking at this industry it's
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the recycling the scrap industry It's a super unique industry Obviously when we were coming up through high school they were like "No go to college go to college." You know we didn't hear about this It was it was dirty you know it was kind of pushed to the side or there was you know some bad
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you know just stigmas around it So how did you get into this industry Yeah I would have never thought I'd be in this industry in in high school or college
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you know I got out of school I got into finance I didn't really like finance but I liked the movies like Wall Street and Boiler Room so I was like- Yeah "Well this could be fun," Right
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you know did it for a couple of years but it wasn't tangible enough for me
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I just you know it's like "Okay great You've got this insurance," or "You got this investment and you're gonna like it eventually someday." There there wasn't you know anything that I could really see out of it and at the end of the day you're not You know and and this is just me personally like I wanted to like actually create something do something with my hands right
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'Cause I was a carpenter all through high school like I said So- Yeah
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I ended up cold calling the local Caterpillar dealership for like 6 months straight and just I I drove by them every day on the way to work and I'd "Hey just let me sell equipment Let me run around in big tractors and talk to people and drive a truck and wear jeans and-" No " you know
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you know do that." So eventually I bugged them enough that they let me in
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and I had an incredible job
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as a territory manager selling Caterpillar equipment all around St Louis And you know sold it to construction companies and landscapers
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all kinds of people and one of my customers was Shapiro Metals
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Okay And and so through the process I
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I swapped all their equipment from Bobcat over to Caterpillar
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so skid steers
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at all the plants and then
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one day
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You know and and and they were incredibly friendly Every time you'd go to the corporate office I talked to Bruce Shapiro I talked to Rick Dobkin who you know always had these screens and charts and the markets were going up and down for metal-
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and I was like "Oh tell me about that," and he'd always share it with me and then
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Bob Alvarez came in
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as
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as the president there and you know he just had a had a a warmth about him and he was always very friendly so we'd spend some time together He was one of those guys that you could obviously tell wants to invest in others.And so
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we signed a deal for a few more machines and he tapped me on the shoulder as I was leaving the office and he said "Hey come on back and we'll talk." And
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and so the rest is history So I got recruited by Shapiro
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you know and it it wasn't really anything like I had thought right
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I mean the the industry's got that Sanford and Sons
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you know just scrapyard you know it's it's always the bad guy in the movie that you gotta get rid of-
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rid of a body or get rid of somebody right Well obviously you go down- Yeah to the scrapyard of course
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Yeah absolutely You got a couple pit bulls guarding it right That that's it right You know and so
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you know and you don't really think about how that plays an important role in our economy And so you know so I jumped in with both feet I was
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got very lucky The the head sales guy left about a week after I got in
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and so they said "Hey Tim I want you to go see this customer go see this customer this customer." And I became the
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director of national accounts
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so I took care of our multi-location customers and did that all across you know US Canada and Mexico
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and it was just a lot of fun Like I I loved being able to go like I'm I'm a kid that grew up watching how it's made in mega factories so this was like- Yeah the perfect job Like I got to go into a factory where they're building cars or where they built the engine block for my wife's
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my wife's car I get to see where they're making rockets and airplanes and this part goes on you know a Blackhawk helicopter right Like that's really cool
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and so I loved it and I've been at it ever since So about- Awesome 8 years now in the industry Awesome All right So very winding route to get into the industry Not not a direct line nope But now it's now it's got its hooks in me so I'm I'm- Yeah I'm stuck I love it Don't wanna leave it no No So as you look forwards in your career and and what's coming within the industry obviously you guys are working with your circular program circular brand
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what are your you know what are your goals when you're looking forward It's like what are you guys I know what the company's goals and what they're trying to achieve but what are what are you trying to achieve I've been playing in the space of storytelling
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the last couple years Okay Working
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with different people to try and tell the stories of this industry
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And tell the stories of sustainability and tell the stories of recycled materials
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and that's been an absolute ton of fun It's you know I think I think this industry is in this interesting spot where for the longest time it you know stayed in the shadows right You know and whether that's from a from a technological standpoint for for people who are into tech and introducing tech now
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to this industry at at a really high level
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I think there's a huge opportunity there And I think there's also this huge opportunity to storytell for for brands for manufacturers for the companies in our industry that make it possible for the economy to function
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you know and and I think you know also this industry has been doing all the stuff we hear about today that everyone's trying to get in on before it was cool
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Right You know this this is the original sustainable business This is the original business that's that's helping make the planet better together This is the original business that's cleaning the oceans and you know saving the polar bears You know wha- whatever you wanna say right Yeah
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you know and so now I think we've got this really important opportunity to grab the narrative to make it our own and to show how this industry really is a critical piece of our economy
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you know I was I was at a conference last fall
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put on by Jim Keefe of Recycling Today
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it's called the Corporate Growth Conference And basically the the whole point of this conference is to look at how this industry is changing from an investment standpoint and the the number of of
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investments the amount of money that's flowing into this industry because it's being seen as critical infrastructure
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is really just going through the roof at this point And so- Yeah I guess that's a long drawn out story to basically say in my career and what I see for the future is helping shine a light on the cool people the cool companies like you mentioned advanced manufacturing Yeah Like who who are the people that are doing really interesting and incredible things that at the end of the day like help us all Because everything that you have in your house- everything that you can touch the car that you're driving like it's all impacted by this And and that's great Like you and I talk "Yeah recycling it's great." Or you know- Yeah maybe I like Michael Goldstein posts maybe he likes one of mine You know that that's great right At the same time like how do we get that beyond you know other recyclers other other scrappers other recycled materials professionals-
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right Like how do you how do you get that
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message further down the line so that you know my daughter just grows up knowing you know why it's good to you know not throw a can in the landfill but make sure that we try and keep the $1.6 billion worth of aluminum from cans you know out of the landfill right Why is that important Why is that important for the economy and for for nature right You know I'm I'm a big I guess I'll also say too like I'm a huge outdoorsman right
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You know my motivation for this is because I want clean air I want clean water I wanna go fishing
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and have there be trout in the water I wanna go hunting and I want there to be elk on top of the mountains in Colorado
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Yeah you know I want my daughter and her kids
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to be able to enjoy the same beautiful nature that I've been able to
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and so you know I think as we think about where this industry fits in the economy
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you know we we really are the forefront
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of trying to make sure that we we keep the resources that we've been blessed with here
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Yeah as as good and as clean and as pure as possible Yeah No that's a great way to put that I mean all that's all that's awesome and I love the aspect of of storytelling and- Yeah and that needs to be talked about more for what we do in this industry
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in the scrap and recycled materials industry but more specifically I think on the scrap side because when we started growing up recycling kind of became a thing right Everybody got their first recycling bin "Hey recycle your cans Recycle your you know your your Coke bottles," or whatever they are
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but as I've gotten into more and more scrapyards and the more I see they've been doing it for forever and they've been doing it with some of the really big producers of waste like you know the industrial customers the industrial clients that you guys will serve where every month they're shipping tons and tons and tons of stampings or millings or whatever skeleton plate that then needs to be processed You know when you get a call from a farmer or a contractor and they've got 50 pieces of heavy equipment that need to be torched up so they can be recycled instead of just rusting away in the field I feel like they generate so much that it's like "Okay well they took it to the scrap yard They don't see that as recycling." They see it as "Okay well you're getting money for it," as opposed to having to take the can to the curb every you know on on trash and recycling day Yeah
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it just it's- so much of that was surprising to me how much how much of the industrial
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customers generate Yeah That that really- Well and that's that's what's cool about it that that and they've been doing it for forever It's not like- Right "Oh they're not they're not the ones getting the the the cool posters and stuff like that." They've been doing it for forever 'cause l- I mean honestly there's a monetary incentive to do it
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but they're generating so much more recyclable materials right And all the crushed cars too So it's just amazing Well and and you can take that so many different ways Like on the one hand right from the storytelling aspect like you know a- and again like I love mega factories and How It's Made and and everything else growing up Like you've got fire melted metal you've got crushers and shredders and big machines and you know I mean it it's exciting and it's raw and it's cool to watch a school bus go down the throat of a shredder right Yeah Like how cool is that Like that's- The coolest that's awesome So you you've got these incredible stories and then say "Hey it it gets made into this." Like
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you know the the first story that I did
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kind of semi-professionally
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and I say semi-professionally because
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there there was no money in it but we had- Yeah a lot of fun
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was was last summer when we
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me and my film crew visited a company here in St Louis that takes plastic right that otherwise doesn't have a place to go-
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and they recycle it into railroad ties So instead of cutting down a tree- Yeah and soaking it in toxic creosote
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they take in all kinds of plastic from you know car seat take back programs to what MRFs are able to collect to all kinds of stuff we're selling them stuff now
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that you probably have in your shop right
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you know once it reaches the end of life like we're selling some of that stuff to them And
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he he makes railroad ties out of it all so you don't have to chop down the trees That's so cool It's it's like this incredible story that has a business case that's economically viable because you gotta have your sustainability story and you know have something that makes sense from a financial aspect Yeah Otherwise it's just subsidy and that's not gonna work long term right Yeah
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and that's that's super exciting to be able to tell a really neat story like So like I was saying this
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part of the scrap you know industry my first experience in it since I've only been in it for a couple years so this metal right here behind me right So I had an old barn on my property We demo'd it and we built a new one but I ended up with a ton of scrap metal out of that barn as well as some from the other
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barn that we built 'cause they sent us too much And so I went into a scrap yard for the first time as a customer when I did that and that was just a whole new experience
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but but for me that was kind of eye-opening going as a customer It's like how does how does this work right And and you know there's people that are out there and that's their whole thing right They're going out and they're collecting refrigerators
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you know washing machines stuff off the curb
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just just scrapping stuff out to help this economy keep going But you know I got these barn panels here behind me but what what will they become at some point once they get recycled?Derek Yeah Well and- and like that's an interesting way that you described that right Because you're- you're- you're- you're- you're a tough guy right You've got a farm you- you got a business you know you're- you're- you're tearing down barns you're building barns and it's- it's different to go to a scrap yard for the first time right Yeah It- it- it might be a little intimidating Well what if you're you know somebody who's got no skills like that and- and- and just lives in a completely different world and maybe you got yeah- Yeah your little kid's you know old bike that you know is- is beyond repair and it needs to go somewhere right Like I- I think that's a big thing that we need to think about too in this industry is what face are we putting on for people who have material that we would like to buy that's really good for us and probably don't care much about you know pricing Yeah You know how do we- how do we make it more accessible to more people In fact
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and I'm not even gonna try to attempt to say the name because
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this place is in Copenhagen but there is a new waste-to-energy facility right You know taking trash burn it turn it into energy Yeah
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that's been built there that literally if you saw a picture of it you would never guess that it's a waste-to-energy facility In fact it's got a
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ski slope that's been built on top of it It's got a greenway for walking paths- Nice
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0 over top of it The entire top of it's covered in green The- the outside's got a really beautiful kind of architecture finish to it And it's like this thing looks like a piece of you know modern art
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you know
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something that's been designed very beautifully within- within the city of Copenhagen but
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it's- it's a waste-to-energy facility And- Yeah you know how do we you know again as we move into the future present ourselves as an industry
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you know to- to the millions of people out there that we would like to be bringing us material- Yeah
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as an industry right you know
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you know in a way that is just more accessible and- and- and easier to- to digest for somebody who's maybe not used to- to a big scrap yard right Other than what they see in Breaking Bad you know So Yeah I- I you know the only one that- the one that pops into my mind is pr- I don't know one of the- like the Transformer movies or something like that right They're all just like lounging on- on old cars and stuff like that Yeah But you know I think about it I- I do I go into the scrap yard right That's one that's down the street from me And
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down the street in the country t- is relative terms it's like 20 minutes away But the closest one to me And you go in and it's dusty and it's gravel and you go you know you go across the scale and there's heavy equipment and there's piles of metal and- and you know it's not the best customer-facing side I mean for the regulars it's no big deal but you know- Right I- I wasn't worried you know I was like hey now that we're in this industry so I'm like I took my son with me right No big deal Like we sat in the bed of the pickup truck watched them you know take the grapple and clean everything up out of the- out of the trailer and it was really cool experience right I was like okay here's how we get paid for it and stuff like that
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but man if I could
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if I had an unlimited budget and some space to build a- a customer f- you know quote customer friendly you know
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you know scrap yard in you know right in the outskirts of the suburbs or something like that you know concrete everywhere nice experience that would be
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that'd be- that'd be a really cool opportunity to- to kind of change the face of how people interact with that Well the- the interesting thing is too the market is developing kind of that middle interface There's a company called Resin
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that has just dropping their first 2 collection units and it's a- it's basically like a you know a shipping container Uh-huh It's got solar panels it runs you know off the sun and
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it works based on an app on your phone so you have- Okay to be a- a- a certified user And you know they could set it at your neighborhood pool or you know at your work or at your school and you can basically put in
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and this one's specifically for
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collecting either P-E-T bottles or aluminum cans
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but you can put them into the chute Basically it'll take a picture of it to make sure that it's actually what you say it is
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It'll give you a credit based on the image that's been scanned
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and then you know shred it up and it goes into a- a trailer right to be removed from there But basically then you get a point system within this app
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you know that you're either tracking points
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that- that convert into dollars for yourself or you know it could y- y- if- if you want to be you know more of a ph- philanthropist it- you could donate it to a local charity or- or whatever But you know I mean so- so it's interesting too to see some of this
[00:00-35:27]
some of this technology being implemented in different ways to- to make that experience a little easier and- and you know a little more decentralized than- than an actual scrap yard too Yeah So it's it's
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the the market's coming up with some interesting things to help motivate
[00:00-35:27]
you know motivate some of that collection Yeah You could drop one of those in a suburb-
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and people wouldn't really think about it too much right Kind of Like you know Ripple Glass has done a great job right They'll put up their big containers and they look all pretty and stuff like that Nobody thinks about it when it's in the grocery store parking lot Yeah Yeah
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you know as opposed to you know big old you know baler with a grapple on it -
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something like that People kind of shy away from that yeah I- So My
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my neighborhood we we don't have cardboard recycling
[00:00-35:27]
and so every Friday is trash day and every trash can is just filled up with Amazon boxes Like man there's part of me that just If I got a little baler in my garage and just like you know bring bring it over here I'll I'll make a truck load in about 3 years We'll get it out of here so Yeah yeah exactly right No
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we live out in the country
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as you know so
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some of that just stuff is a firestarter at the end of the day There you go There you go But hey it's the reuse part of the of the recycling So- It counts It counts It counts It's it's really good We we heat off of a wood stove
[00:00-35:27]
during the winter so a lot of those Amazon boxes go to
[00:00-35:27]
to help them start the fire in the winter That's really cool man Yeah That's really neat Yeah So put you on the spot with one more question I wanna be cognizant of your time
[00:00-35:27]
share some of your you know one of your coolest experiences or memories from the recycling industry if you could right Since you've been in it for 8 years now
[00:00-35:27]
Yeah you know I I think at the end of the day it's just the education part of it right
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I've got this customer and I I use this example all the time so if you've seen one of my talks then I'm sorry you're gonna hear it again But you know I've got this customer that had a roll-off and they're a big industrial manufacturer Fortune 500 you know listed company They're huge
[00:00-35:27]
and I went to a new site and they were throwing all of their coppers together in this roll-off
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the roll-off
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had the wrong spelling of the word metal on it
[00:00-35:27]
so it wasn't really a You know there there wasn't a lot of attention paid to this recycling program
[00:00-35:27]
so they had number one number 2 all their wire in it
[00:00-35:27]
the wire that wasn't getting thrown away i- in the trash was Some of it was going into this box and and the radiators and and you know that roll-off had probably 8 inches of water
[00:00-35:27]
you know in the bottom of it right Which you know y- you just start as a as a scrapper recycling materials guy you kind of just start start shaking a little bit Like "Oh man this is not good."
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in in We went through this process of 'Cause the customer's there to build whatever their product is right
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Like they're they are there to make the product and that's it Well at the same time they're making other products which is all the recyclables that leave the facility and and how do you help them optimize it without you know affecting obviously their their priority number one So it was this process of just education It was this process of building that sustainability story with the business case
[00:00-35:27]
you know and and helping educate all the people on all the shifts
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which which is something we do a lot at at Shapiro- Yeah is is is we really try and do customer education
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in fact I I did it once
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over 3 shifts in
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in in a different language through a translator
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which was- Wow which was pretty exciting
[00:00-35:27]
but you know we we went in we educated this customer and helped them separate their coppers into different bins and we labeled them and they ended up making about $80,000 extra a year Wow Just by You know they're throwing it all in one place anyway so you set up a couple different places and they just throw it here versus there
[00:00-35:27]
you know they made $80,000 a year just on that little separation program
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it was something that made it up into the boardroom The the the the bigwigs were all very happy about it The guy we were working with we made him a hero- Nice
[00:00-35:27]
which was important and even the guys like who who led the program on the ground got little bonuses
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you know because the company was happy that they were doing the right thing with all this copper So it was
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you know I I think any time you can help somebody do better
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both from a sustainability standpoint and show them that there's money in this business if you do it right if if you're a manufacturer or any- anybody who's who needs to recycle for whatever they're doing if you do it right like it makes more sense to do it right You just have to make it easy And so any time you can connect those 2 things and everybody's happy
[00:00-35:27]
you know that's that's that's the stuff that I absolutely doing That's awesome
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that's great That's what the industry's all about So
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Yeah Tim thank you so much for your time Always a joy to talk to you If you guys wanna get a hold of Tim look him up on LinkedIn He's all over the place there Look him up with Circular by Shapiro thank you so much Tim I appreciate it It's been a pleasure talking to you My pleasure Anytime man
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