How one young man went out of his way to make his community a better place

Every once in a while, you hear a story about someone going out of their way to make their community a better place and you can’t help but smile. In this case, the smiles start with a young man named Tyler Reid.

In the spring of 2016, Tyler was taking in a movie at Fresh Air Cinema in Stanley Park when he noticed some fellow moviegoers throwing their empty drink containers in the garbage instead of the recycling bins provided by Return-It. Tyler saw a great opportunity to not only help keep his community clean, but also make some money on the side.

And so, Tyler’s Recycling Company was born, collecting containers every week at Fresh Air Cinema and recycling them at his local Return-It Depot. Over the summer, Tyler collected over 115,000 drink containers, totalling nearly $6000 in deposit refunds, a portion of which he donated to the Semiahmoo House Society, a Surrey-based non-profit that helps people with disabilities integrate into the community and find employment opportunities.

Why Semiahmoo House? Tyler has a learning disability himself, and he figured donating part of his recycling profits would be a great way to give back to the organization that has done so much for him and others in his community.

“Tyler’s got a good heart,” says Kevin Reid, Tyler’s father. “He liked the idea of recycling, being his own boss, making some money, and picking things up that shouldn’t be left around.”

Return-It and Tyler share the goal of making sure all drink containers are recycled properly to keep them out of landfills. We thank people like Tyler who are helping make BC a better place to live.