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Meet Eddie Lott of Recycle Revolution in West Love

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Eddie Lott.

Eddie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started Recycle Revolution in 2008, while I was finishing my undergraduate degree in Political Science at UTD, interning as Assistant Campaign Director at the Texas Campaign for the Environment, selling camping equipment at REI, and tending bar (and washing dishes!) at bars in Lower Greenville and Exposition Park. It was a busy time! But I was passionate about our Mission and super motivated to create something that I could put my whole head & heart into.

I’d spent four years in my late teens and early 20’s backpacking, working, and living in Central & South America, and the way people valued resources in those parts of the world was something that really stayed with me and is still with me to this day (I spend about half of my year each year guiding trips in Brazil, where I am currently). When I’d come back to Dallas to finish my degree, though, the municipal recycling rate was at around 9% and most of that was due to metal & cardboard diversion. Small businesses in Dallas weren’t recycling then. The City’s (“blue bin”) residential program was still in its infancy. Conscientious consumerism, “buy local,” “buy recycled,” “farm-to-table,” and so many of the other “ah-ha!” moments that we’ve experienced collectively as a community and a society in the past decade hadn’t occurred yet.

Looking back, I think I felt a lot of weight to make something good out of the experiences I’d been privileged to have had to that point. I wanted to make something a business, a place that was capable of giving back and making positive change. It sounds cheesy, but I think I just wanted to make the world a better place, and I felt that my life had prepared me for that. So that’s half of the story of how we came into existence. The other half is my mom & dad, who believed in the idea of Recycle Revolution enough to finance it, nurture it, and ultimately (in the case of my mom, Maria, our GM since 20114) take over and lead it.

There are a million things I’m skipping over here. But I think it’s important to note that today, the residential recycling participation rate (meaning the number of homes who have a blue bin) in Dallas is, I believe, over 90%. That’s a big change from 9% when we started. The first 8 or 9 years were so, so tough. We got by on belief and the fun we had together as an organization. We began composting in 2011 with the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Dallas and didn’t see another compost company in Dallas until 2018. Today, there are like 4 or 5 companies that off residential compost collection, I think. That’s pretty amazing growth for an industry and a really cool thing to have witnessed first-hand. I’m proud of my mom and everyone who’s ever been a part of RR. 🙂

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?\
Struggle has been very real. First of all, we are a service provider. We don’t offer a product. People can’t put recycling or compost on their faces or in their hair or on their bodies. You can’t buy it and let it represent you. It’s something you have to care about, commit to, and ultimately (in our case) pay for. So that dynamic has always been a challenge.

Throughout our existence, as a company, we’ve been faced with the question of why we charge for what we do. To me (someone who has thought about this a million times through), it’s crazy! We’re paid to make sure that products are responsibly stewarded back through the resource ecosystem. It’s part of conscientious consumerism. We’re paid to dispose of something in a way that is less harmful economically, environmentally, socially, etc. than landfilling, incineration, etc. I’ve always thought the existential question being asked should be, “why do waste companies charge to throw stuff in the local landfill?”

When I think of specific struggles, though, I think the first few years, including our first year (2008). The Great Recession was tough, and traditional recyclers (think: scrapyards, i.e. places who pay for recyclables) were closing due to the markets. I had to drive the truck, make the pickups, wash the bins, make sales, do our marketing, etc. There were just four of us, the work was defeating due to our lack of people & equipment, and sales were hard to come by. Also, I can’t underscore this enough: very, very few businesses recycled! No one understood why we would charge for it. It was a tough birth story for a business, I think. But I know that its also what has helped us with other challenges (like, ahem, COVID!) throughout the years.

Recycle Revolution – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Recycle Revolution is an independent, non-landfill recycling and compost collection service and Community Drop-Off Center in Dallas. We provide one-stop-shop recycling and compost collection for North Texas’s most environmentally-responsible businesses and residents and also operate the state’s most comprehensive Community Drop-Off Center. We built our company by offering North Texans a responsible alternative to landfilling at a time (the early 2000’s) when local recycling practices were virtually non-existent. Today, we divert a larger array of materials from local landfills including food waste. Styrofoam, glass, electronics, and many more than any other company we know of.

Historically, we’ve been known for our commercial services, but in the past few years (since our move to West Love), our Community Drop-Off Center had become increasingly vibrant, with hundreds of visitors each month coming from as far as Fort Worth (and beyond!) to responsibly dispose of their food waste & Hard-to-Recycle Materials. More recently, we launched a suite of services for residents, including the relaunch of our BLue Bucket compost collection program (which we’d discontinued in 2013), as well as our Yellow Bucket program (for Styrofoam, plastic bags, e-waste, and dozens of other Hard-to-Recycle Materials), and our Zero Waste Program.

We’ve worked very, very hard since the day we were founded to foster a culture of recycling and composting in North Texas, and I believe that our patrons, Clients, and peers recognize that. I think comprehensive (i.e., we take a lot of different materials!) and responsible (in the social/environmental sense) are the two biggest things we’re known for across the board, but I think our Center has helped us so much to develop a reputation as friendly, fun, and personable. As a collection service (where fun matters less!), I’d say our reputation in the industry is built on our responsiveness, accountability, and reliability. Maria (our GM & my mom) is incredibly passionate about our Mission and equally passionate about ensuring that our service is delivered in a way that we are all proud of.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Eddie is currently in Brazil and unfortunately, doesn’t have much of a signal. I (Sarah) am helping him get this all filled out based on responses to another form that he had filled out but wasn’t able to submit. On the form that he had filled out instead of the “Success” portion of the Interview, there was a portion called “Lessons learned.” Here I have transferred what he had filled out for “Lessons learned.” If you need this “Success” portion filled out, please feel free to let one of us know and we will get right on it! Thanks! 🙂 I have a lot of regrets about isolated decisions I’ve made for RR over the years investments that came up short for one reason or another, ideas I should have pursued harder, relationships I should have studied more carefully, etc.

I think in the early years of the company, I overworked myself, where the company would have been better off if I had been or found a stronger manager, a better delegator. Especially back then, when RR hadn’t yet proved its value in the market. I relied so much on passion, charisma, and DIY-type thinking to convince employees to stay and clients to come on board. While there is some short-term value in that mindset, it can lead to inefficiencies, super long hours (!) and ultimately, burnout.

I should have thought harder about our marketing plan. As a former environmental activist with a political science degree, my door-to-door “you should work with us because recycling is good and landfilling is bad!” strategy was admirable in its ambition and commitment to change, by not nearly as efficient as studying the market realities, targeting businesses who were ready to take action there and then, and coming up with a unique action plan for that group. That, I’ve learned the hard way. There are so many other things I’ve learned. “Don’t hire someone because they’re interesting” is one I learned the day I removed myself from all future HR activities.

Pricing:

  • $40/month – Blue Bucket Program (weekly pick-up of uneaten food products for composting)
  • $40/month – Yellow Bucket Program (weekly pick-up f Styrofoam products, plastic bags, and dozens of other common Hard-to-Recycle Materials HaRM)
  • $60/month – Zero Waste Program (weekly pick-up of Blue Bucket + Yellow Bucket)

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