An Interview With Monica Sanders
Even a small amount of recycling counts.
We recycle large amounts of by-products, but we also recycle from customers one drum of material. The consolidation of these small amounts adds up. In some cases, these efforts help to make a manufacturer able to declare they are zero landfill. It may cost a bit more to recycle that one drum, but the cost is a small price to pay to tell your customers that you are a zero-landfill company.
According to the University of Colorado, “Those who are most affected and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions — both globally and within the United States.” Promoting climate justice is an incredibly important environmental responsibility that is slowly becoming more and more recognized. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to promote sustainability and climate justice. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Wright.
Mike Wright is the CEO of Wisdom Environmental and has extensive experience in developing solutions for the recycling and reuse of difficult-to-recycle by-products generated by manufacturers. For the past 18 years, Mike has worked with manufacturers throughout the United States, helping to provide recycling solutions that have diverted millions of pounds of waste from landfills and created solutions that contribute to the Circular Economy. Mike continues to create innovative solutions by modifying existing and developing new technologies to convert waste streams into valuable commodities.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana and graduated from Indiana University. I love the outdoors and spend my free time hiking, fishing, and skiing.
Everyone has a cataclysmic moment or marker in their life which propels them to take certain actions, a “why”. What is your why?
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial drive, and after college and getting my first job, I realized very quickly that to do the things I wanted to do and explore my ideas, I would need to own my own company. The moment was at lunch with a friend of mine the summer after graduation from college, where I realized that I had too many things I wanted to do and my career path would be more than linear, so I quit and started my journey.
You are currently leading an organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change?
When asked “what do you do?”, my normal answer is that I own an industrial recycling company. The complexity of what that means would take longer than we have here to explain, but my and my company’s goal is to change the paradigm of how people view recycling and reuse. There is so much more to recycling than what people think. Our goal is to educate our clients, get them to embrace and understand the Circular Recycling concept and to sign on and participate in the Circular Economy.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
I was at a conference where there were several manufacturers in attendance, and I introduced a CEO of one company to another CEO of another company that I knew. After five minutes of talking about what we all did, we were able to take a waste stream from one CEO’s company and use it as an ingredient for the other CEO’s company. They both were standing in the same room next to each other but didn’t realize the beneficial relationship until I introduced them and made the connection. I wonder how many times that happens at these types of conferences, where a simple connection benefits their companies but also can divert millions of pounds of waste from a landfill.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
Over the years I’ve had several mentors, but it started with the support of my parents. As I’ve moved through my career, friends and business associates have all given me something, whether it be good advice or an opportunity. One of my mentors used to tell me: “you know what to do, just do it- you don’t need my help.” She gave me the confidence to realize I had the tools and the skills; I just needed a bump to go to the next step.
Thank you for that. Let’s now move to the central part of our discussion. Let’s start with a basic definition of terms so that everyone is on the same page. What does climate justice mean to you? How do we operationalize it?
Climate justice to me means that we all should stop and listen and take the time to investigate our own individual as well as corporate ability to make a change- in my case, regarding recycling that will reduce the negative effects on other people. We all have some level of ability to make a change, but we must take the time to educate ourselves and give these opportunities some attention.
The elimination of waste into our landfills reduces the amount of C02 produced and, by extension, helps the climate. The reduction of waste and reuse of waste streams into products reduces the downstream effects of things like plastics entering our environment. Our initial efforts, while we may not realize it, have lasting effects by removing the negative effects on the environment and people that may be a world away.
Science is telling us that we have 7–10 years to make critical decisions about climate change. What are three things you or your organization are doing to help?
My companies’ efforts are mainly based on the concept of reduce, recycle and reuse. Our efforts to provide companies with recycling services that reuse and recycle by-products result in less energy produced, less emissions from transportation and less use of land demanded by landfills.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you in your mission?
Yes. Government plays a major role in developing laws and regulations that promote recycling and reuse. Society and our communities need to choose products that use recycled products.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Businesses are doing a good job at recycling, but they need to keep up with the constant innovation that is occurring in the recycling business. Business pays for every pound of waste that is thrown away, and when those waste streams are recycled, that disposal cost goes away, directly contributing to the bottom line. Furthermore, if that business can use recycled products in the production of their products, typically they can lower their basis on raw materials. That also contributes to the bottom line. By adopting a sustainability directive that explores all the options and continues to explore, the cost savings stack on top of each other. Wisdom has many examples of the above, but a notable one is the recycling of something that was always thought of as a disposable item, such as dust collector filters. Wisdom created Wisdom Filter Clean, a service that cleans dust collector filters and extends the life of those filters. By cleaning your dust collector filters, you extend the life of the filter, pay up to 50% less than purchasing a new filter and reduce the amount of filters that are disposed of in a landfill. Wisdom has helped businesses save hundreds of thousands of dollars by simply adopting a sustainability directive and exploring recycling options beyond what items are traditionally thought of as “recycled items” such as cardboard and scrap metal.
This is the signature question we ask in most of our interviews. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice” and why?
1 . The world is a big place and our efforts have far reaching effects.
When we use a disposable plastic bottle instead of a reusable bottle, that plastic bottle has the potential to end up in a waterway through bad handling of the materials and find its way to the ocean via streams and rivers. The ocean connects us, and that very bottle may breakdown into micro plastics or find its way to a shore of another country. Moving our waste problems around the globe does not solve problems, it only contributes to the greater problem. We must be mindful of where our waste goes and make efforts to recycle and reuse our by-products, converting them into something that has value.
2 . Even a small amount of recycling counts.
We recycle large amounts of by-products, but we also recycle from customers one drum of material. The consolidation of these small amounts adds up. In some cases, these efforts help to make a manufacturer able to declare they are zero landfill. It may cost a bit more to recycle that one drum, but the cost is a small price to pay to tell your customers that you are a zero-landfill company.
3 . Know where your raw products come from.
Knowing where our raw products come from is a very important thing. Many products are sourced from countries that are contributing to the climate problems we face. Buying products from these countries may help to contribute to climate justice problems. For example, cobalt, a valuable commodity, is used in the production of high temp alloys and EV batteries. It is sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Condo (DRC) where child labor mines this material without any environmental protections in place. The mining of Cobalt contributes to a humanitarian crisis but also to the destruction of the environment. But Innovative technologies are being developed where we can extract Cobalt domestically from items like recycled batteries.
4 . Stay up to date with technological changes.
We tend to get used to the “way it has always been done” effect. This occurs even in the recycling business. The resulting effect of this mentality may use more energy and generate more emissions than getting the same or better result from the use of new technologies.
Wisdom tries to be on the edge of new ways to recycle; one waste stream known as spent steel shot dust (iron powder), generated from the abrasive blasting of steel using steel shot, traditionally was added to iron scrap that would end up in a steel mill. This was a recycling option for many years, but it used a very high level of electricity to melt this material and the markets were very unreliable. Wisdom developed a product that uses the spent steel shot dust as an ingredient to make a concrete, Wisdom SteelCrete, that uses much less energy. We use this to make precast concrete products.
5 . Don’t focus on one thing. Adopt a holistic approach.
The reduction of waste sent to landfills yields a benefit to the environment, using the simple metric that disposal costs money and energy. Equipment at a landfill uses lots of diesel fuel. Keeping waste out of a landfill and recycling the by-products into new products typically uses less energy, and less raw materials are needed. Follow the path down the supply chain and you begin to see a massive benefit to the global reduction of waste and emissions.
The adoption of a holistic approach to recycling is to look beyond what you’re currently recycling and see what other things you can add to your program. Manufacturers tend to focus on one thing, like scrap metal by-products, but they still have a dumpster full of waste that may have potential to be recycled. Step back and challenge your company to say, “we want to eliminate our dumpsters going to a landfill and to look at all of our waste streams.” Wisdom picks up multiple recycling streams on the same truck that were once thrown away next to the metal scrap box.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I think breakfast with Elon Musk would be fantastic! His innovative ideas align with Wisdom’s approaches to recycling and the participation of our clients in the circular economy.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
They can visit www.wisdomenvironmental.com and follow our LinkedIn page.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org
How Mike Wright Of Wisdom Environmental Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.