The idea of Do Your Part (DYP) Recycling Co. was conceived by Kasey Lewis when she was driving back to Terrace from Vancouver after running a half marathon in 2006.
“I realized that people would pay me to recycle for them,” said Lewis. Back then, recycling was not as established in Terrace as it was in other cities. So Lewis and Heather Truhn – her former business partner – started DYP recycling as a small scale operation with one mini van and space in a garage.
To help spread the message the two young moms – back then in their mid-20s – went jogging from door to door in Terrace dropping off pamphlets announcing their recycling venture.
At first they had 35 clients sign up and within a couple months that organically grew to 200, says Lewis.
The community took well to the idea of recycling, says Lewis.
“We asked everyone to clean their products and put it in a bag outside on their curb.”
As the operations grew, they got a truck to collect the recyclables and after six months they went on to get a warehouse in town.
The first two years they took the items they collected to Prince Rupert or Kitimat and then eventually started shipping it to material recovery facilities in Surrey and Calgary.
Today, DYP Recycling Co is the largest processing facility in the northwest and has 10 full-time staff.
“We handle almost 200 tonnes of recyclables a month,” said Lewis. This also includes contracts with industrial and residential projects in northwest, including Brucejack mines, LNG Canada and the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine among others.
On Saturday, May 15 the company celebrates its 15th anniversary and looking back, Lewis feels that the concept of recycling has caught on well.
“It’s a generational habit that children picked up as they watched their parents actively recycle products,” says Lewis.
And younger people now coming to Terrace are bringing a recycling commitment with them, she said.