A 7-year-old boy founded a waste recycling company and has already earned $10,000 for college

From a very young age, a Californian boy named Ryan Hickman began to show a thorough interest in a very unusual hobby — waste recycling. It all started with a love of sorting, later turned into a passion for recycling, and now, at the solid age of 7, Ryan heads his small but very proud business, which is called Ryan's Recycling Company ("Ryan's Waste Recycling Company").

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Ryan got acquainted with the recycling process at the age of three, when he and his father went to the recycling center for the first time to hand over their garbage. "He likes to sort almost everything, and he really liked throwing bottles into the receiver," says the boy's father, Damion. — He seems to have received a couple of dollars then and was very excited about it. Of course, after that he had to sort his change, and the more sorting, the more fun."

After this first experience in the field of environmental conservation, there was no stopping him. When they returned home, Ryan told his father that he wanted to start collecting, cleaning, sorting and handing over the neighbor's garbage. Then he and his mother personally distributed to all the neighbors special bags for garbage to be further processed in order to begin implementing the grandiose plan of the young entrepreneur.

Now, 4 years later, the project of this ambitious young man, started from absolute zero, is a huge success. His company covers five districts and serves 40 customers, whose garbage Ryan sorts into eight containers in the backyard of his house.

The boy and his parents visit the recycling center every few weeks, on weekends, handing over discarded plastic, paper and glass.

Since the launch of his startup, Ryan has donated more than 22 tons of garbage and 200,000 cans and bottles for recycling, as well as donated over $ 1,600 to charity. The rest of the money earned — and this is a very impressive amount of $ 10,000 — is set aside for college and stored in a special savings account.

In addition to his already very impressive achievements, Ryan was recently appointed the young ambassador of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, an organization very close to his heart. And even created his own line of charity T-shirts.

Of course, being a young man with numerous altruistic interests, he never forgets about his main love — recycling. "He himself has a great passion for this business and loves to infect others with his passion," says Ryan's mother, Andrea. — He has definitely infected us. We cannot pass by a jar or bottle lying on the ground without picking it up."

Ryan — well done! Be like Ryan.