With every passing year, more products and businesses are redesigned to be environmentally conscious from the development of reusable straws and cups to recycling campaigns and initiatives. While much of the focus for this effort to make the earth a greener place has focused on small items like water bottles and tin cans, companies like Recyclean, Inc. have bigger targets in mind.
Founder of Recyclean, Inc. Mike Goffman was inspired to find new solutions to recycle materials by his parents, who lived through the Great Depression and consequently learned the value of finding creative ways to use the resources available to them. He would often dumpster dive with his best friend as a child and sell his findings.
After decades of making it his hobby to find ways to be sustainable and decades of working in the construction and demolition industries, something clicked for Goffman. He decided to combine these passions to create Recyclean, Inc., a demolition company that offers eco-friendly demolition options through its deconstruction methods.
“With our founder, Mike, it’s a personal challenge and commitment for him to find an economically sensible way to divert as many materials as possible,” said Vice President of Sales Joshua White. “Our company follows that same mentality in constantly searching for a new way to keep as many materials out of a landfill as possible.”
Since its establishment on January 1, 2009, the company has been salvaging items and recycling raw materials via its deconstruction, green demolition, and selective deconstruction processes in the greater Chicago and Milwaukee metro regions.
Common items that can be salvaged through deconstruction include wood flooring, vanities, kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, and more. After the deconstruction of a building, Recyclean, Inc. will then donate these salvageable items to local and national reuse warehouses and 501(c)(3) facilities in an effort to help fuel a rapidly growing reuse economy.
Items that are not salvageable such as PVC, electrical receptacles, and lightbulbs are recycled. Over the past decade, Recyclean, Inc. has recycled over a million pounds of raw materials. These million-plus pounds recycled have helped keep materials that can find new life from becoming unnecessary waste sitting idly in a landfill.
“When it’s all said and done, the majority of our projects reach a landfill diversion rate of 95%,” White said.
Investing in a green alternative to traditional demolition is not the only benefit to choosing Recyclean, Inc. Choosing deconstruction instead of demolition often also saves customers money through an income tax deduction, for which most individuals are able to qualify.
Prior to White working at Recyclean, Inc., he and his wife, Jennifer, were customers who wanted to tear down a property behind their house to make their yard bigger about a decade ago. He and his wife learned about the deconstruction process and ultimately saved money on the project through the income tax deduction.
“When the entire process settled for me, my income tax benefit offset my entire cost of removal,” White said. “Instead of paying someone out of pocket to demo, I ended up paying Recyclean a little bit more to go through the labor-intensive process of deconstructing, packaging, shipping, and donating on my behalf, and then my income tax benefit paid for all of that. I thought, ‘Wow, I love this,’ and I invested about a decade ago.”
His appreciation of Recyclean, Inc. eventually led White to stop working as an executive for a trading commodity firm and join Goffman and his staff in the effort to salvage and recycle materials through deconstruction.
“Shortly after investing over the course of the last decade, Mike had built the company up to a certain level, and a few years ago, I made a big decision for my family,” White said. “I actually resigned from my firm, resigned as a W-2 employee, and I decided to come over to Recyclean full-time to focus on sales and marketing.”
White is not the only person who has found satisfaction in a career with Recyclean, Inc. In addition to reusing materials and saving money, Recyclean, Inc.’s deconstruction projects also create more jobs than traditional demolition. As deconstruction is a labor-intensive process, many hands are needed for the detailed work of compartmentalizing the house and sorting through its potentially salvageable or recyclable materials.
“As opposed to using a bulldozer or a backhoe to remove a house, we’re using people,” White said. “We’re offering people the opportunity to work, we’re working 12 months out of the year, and we’re pretty proud of presenting that type of lifestyle for our employees.”
These green demolition alternatives are available to owners of both commercial and residential properties, giving Recyclean, Inc. the opportunity to save or recycle a rich variety of materials. Whether working on a commercial or residential property, Recyclean, Inc.’s mission is to educate the world to think past the dumpster.
“Although we might be considered boutique or an emerging market, the reality is that municipalities throughout the country are adopting practices that are making regular demolition more like us than the other way around,” White said. “Places like Milwaukee, Baltimore, and Portland have requirements on certain properties to deconstruct at least a certain percentage of those properties as opposed to traditional demo.”
“Recyclean will double in size this year,” White continued. “We intend to continue that trend into future years. The fuel behind that is making the general, residential, and commercial customers aware that deconstruction is an alternative. Most are simply unaware that this is something you can do as a substitute for the traditional demolition model.”
Customers can keep up with any of Recyclean, Inc.’s deconstruction projects on their properties through daily progress snapshots and notes through the company’s custom software.
To learn more about Recyclean, Inc., visit https://recyclean.net/.If you have a property that you would like to demolish in an environmentally friendly fashion, contact Recyclean, Inc. through call or text at (262) 857-2012 or email jwhite@recyclean.net.