California Recycling Firm “Hires” 7-Year-Old Recycling Superstar

CarbonLITE, which processes 2 billion plastic bottles annually at its bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Riverside, Calif., has “hired” 7-year-old Ryan Hickman as an (honorary) employee, complete with his own employee badge, shirt and hardhat. Ryan then received an orientation tour of the 220,000-sq.-ft. facility, which manufactures post-consumer food-grade PET resin.

Ryan already runs Ryan’s Recycling Company, which to date has recycled approximately 232,000 bottles and cans, earning about $15,000.

“Ryan is an exceptional young man committed to making a difference in protecting our planet – and who knows, maybe he will be the CEO of CarbonLITE one day,” CarbonLITE Chairman and CEO Leon Farahnik said in a statement.

Ryan lives in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, Calif. He also sells his company T-shirts online and donates all of the profits to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (in Laguna Beach, Calif.) – nearly $4,700 so far.