Recycling the dream

BY TRENT EDWARDS, CALGARY HERALD AUGUST 13, 2010 BE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT

BluPlanet Recycling owners (from left to right) Devin Goss, Scott Rand and Nathan Weiland.

Photograph by: Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald

Ever fantasized about starting your own company? Of course, as the boss you'd give yourself time off to pursue your passions. And, since this is your dream, your business would help the planet and a few of your favourite causes.

Devin Goss, Scott Rand and Nathan Weiland are living that dream. The trio own BluPlanet Recycling, a company that sets up and administers weekly recycling collection programs for condominium buildings in Calgary (403-835-2557; bluplanetrecycling. ca).

In business for just over a year, they've earned contracts to collect recyclables from 4,000 condominium unit owners in the city, and pick up about 25 tonnes of materials every month.

"It's going to allow me to live my dream lifestyle, while at the same time working at a business that benefits the community," Goss says. "I love to travel."

While there are at least half a dozen companies in the city that offer weekly recycling collection for condo owners, BluPlanet is one of just two that pick up unsorted recyclables. Making the recycling chore easier for the condo owner, this "co-mingled" recycling has allowed BluPlanet's clients to divert up to 60 per cent of their building's solid waste from the landfill.

At a monthly cost of $4 to $5.50 per condo unit, BluPlanet charges the highest fee in town. But Goss points out that the company's no-sort recycling collection model has been so successful that some clients have been able to reduce their solid waste contractor's collection fees by almost as much as the cost of BluPlanet's fee.

This niche, along with a high level of customer service, is what convinced Goss and Rand they could abandon their successful careers and set their own life agendas. Rand was president of the condo-owners' board at Xolo Condominium in Mission, and knew what his fellow condo owners were looking for in a recycling company.

Still, the men did their homework before making the jump.

"We researched for four months before deciding we could do it," Rand says.

Rand, a rower in the 2008 Paralympic Games, left a design-engineering career in the oil and gas industry. Goss left his job after eight years in the financial services industry. Weiland, who joined BluPlanet as a partner in January, splits his time between managing the RNS Kitchen & Bath company he owns with his family and BluPlanet.

All three of the company's owners are keen to help others reduce their impact on the planet. While many of their competitors only recycle a few kinds of the most valuable recyclable materials, such as refundable bottles, Blu-Planet recycles the same materials the City of Calgary does for single-residence homes through its blue-cart recycling program.

The trio is excited about their company's potential role in helping the City of Calgary achieve its goal of diverting 80 per cent of solid waste from municipal landfi lls by 2020.

Goss says Calgary will need the multi-family residential market -- nearly 150,000 residences in the city -- to buy into recycling in a big way to reach this ambitious goal.

"We divert a higher percentage of solid waste than any other Calgary recycling company," Goss says.

At the end of each financial year, BluPlanet buys carbon credits from businesses such as tree-planting companies to offset any negative environmental impact caused by company operations.

Philanthropy is another focus. The company donates all its profits from beverage container refunds to organizations such as the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an average of $1,000 a month to date. But once the company reaches its planned expansion goal of servicing 10,000 condo units, Rand says BluPlanet's beverage container refund profits will be funnelling at least $5,000 a month to local women's support groups and Paralympic charities.

"Supporting our local community is one of the main goals of the company," Rand says. "And women have been really supportive of our business. They're usually the ones that call us."

Apart from the altruistic side of the business, the BluPlanet partners thrive on the freedom they have chosen by deciding to share the reins of a small company. In early September, Goss begins an eight-month vacation with his wife Andrea Tambay to travel through Southeast Asia.

"Nobody's there to say no," he says with a laugh.