It was only my 3rd week on staff at the facility and my job was essentially to help manage the widely different needs of the different participants. Some participants couldn’t eat on their own, some needed their diapers changed, others had seizures on a regular basis. When I told another staff member about the guys in the back and how absolutely remarkable their skills were, she responded, “We’re here to deliver services – not to recognize talent.”
A few months later, I quit. I took the four guys from the back room and we started a paid employment program. A recycler gave us workspace in a little warehouse, discarded computers, and paid us 5 cents a pound to take the computers apart. Our work had a positive environmental impact. More importantly, having a paid job and a comfortable work environment gave the guys a sense of purpose, productivity, and camaraderie.
In a matter of a few months, the four guys improved mentally, emotionally, and physically. Not one of them had a seizure after we started the program. By the end of the first year, we hired two more employees and our experiment was successful. However, the recycler we worked with was acquired and our workspace and supply of electronics were cut off. We were stalled. The program was not sustainable without electronics to disassemble.
I accepted the fact that the experiment was almost over. It was then that things started to happen. One day, I spotted a box truck with “Blue Star Electronics” printed on the side. I stopped by the building and thought, “What do I have to lose?” Tony Fagnant, the building owner, explained that the truck belonged to a renter who left town and skipped out on his lease. The renter left the truck and a warehouse of used electronics. I told him our story. The next day, the Fagnant family offered the Blue Star truck, the stockpile of used electronics, and … their own personal investment in the business.
Many people think that successful businesses or ventures are well thought out and planned carefully. In reality, it is often a series of small actions that result in big changes. We had a proven concept and I went in and asked what the truck was all about. The Fagnant family helped turn it into a real enterprise.
On a conference panel some years later, I was asked what was my greatest asset when I started Blue Star Recyclers. I had to admit, it was ignorance. If I had known everything I do now, I wouldn’t have done it. Good thing I didn’t know anything because we now employ over 50 people in 5 locations, we have recycled 26 million pounds of electronics, and we’ve produced over 30 million dollars of positive economic impact and taxpayer savings.
