WeeCycle’s Story: Creating Community Through Recycling with Morgan Seibel

Hello and welcome to this episode of Conscious Design. I'm your host, Ian Peterman, and author of The Conscious Design Book. And today I'm excited to have Morgan Siebels. She's the executive director of WeCycle. They're helping recycle essential baby gear and get it to families in need who need it for their kids. Welcome to the show.

Thanks so much for having me.

Yeah. So everybody loves a good origin story is where I like to start. So what got you to decide you want to take on the challenge of recycling lots and lots and lots of baby gear?

Well, I guess the, the answer to that is nobody else was doing it. So WeCycle was started about 16 years ago, and our founders, Jamie Ritchie and Sunny Haydorn, had just become new moms. Moms and had all this baby gear that their children very quickly outgrown, and they looked to try to donate it and quickly found that most places don't take baby gear. And it was it was harder to give it away than they thought. And this was probably before the times of Facebook Marketplace and things like that. But they knew that how important these items were to new parents and how quickly kids outgrew things and how expensive. they were and just wanted to be able to get those items to families that could use them. So that's how the idea for WeCycle came about and how, how we decided to start.

Awesome. And, and how long, how long have you guys been going?

Yeah, since, um, 2008.

So you're 15, 15?

Yeah, 15 going on 16 years.

That's, that's a long time. That's a lot of, that's a lot of baby gear for sure.

Yeah.

Awesome. Well, I know we talked about you guys have a few different programs, but I would love for you to dive first into, because I know there's, as you mentioned, there's not really even like Goodwills and other donation places don't take especially car seats or I, we actually, we, we have kids and we struggle to do even just like a stool, like that would help your kid get up into the toilet to be able to use that. It's like simple, simple things or, or yeah, simple things you'd think you'd be able to get, get rid of for free, right? Donate.

Yeah.

What's, talk a little bit about that program and what you guys are able to do to be able to actually recycle those? Because I know you don't just— you actually sort through it and hand out, but then you— I think you also actually recycle in what most people think of.

Yeah, so we cycle. We take donations in from the community, um, on Tuesday mornings between 9 and noon, and then Thursday afternoons between 12 and 4 each week at our warehouse, um, and then one Saturday a month. And we take all different types of baby gear. We say anything and everything toddler for the most part. From cribs and car seats and strollers, and of course new diapers and wipes and things like that as well. But for our car seat recycling program, which I think is what you're you're asking about, is any car seats that we get in, we check them for expiration and for recalls. So most car seats do expire between five and ten years, and according to the manufacturers, that's because the plastics can lose their strength and integrity, especially from being in cars that get super hot and super cold. So like a climate like Colorado could particularly lead to this, I guess. So any car seats that we get that are either recalled or expired, or if they've been in an accident, we work with the Colorado State Patrol's office and Car Seats Colorado to be able to recycle those car seats. And they are broken down into all of their materials, so plastics and metals and fabrics and any of the pieces that are in the car seat that don't have a typical purchasing stream for their materials get ground down into a fine powder that is used to seal landfills on, like, to keep greenhouse gases in, is my understanding of it. So really, like, the whole car seat gets utilized in one way or another, whether it's being actually recycled versus In being used for something else.

Amazing. Well, that's awesome.

And then, of course— oh, sorry.

Go ahead.

I was going to say, of course, any car seats that we get in that do pass those tests of not being expired, not recalled, never been in an accident, we are able to pass those along to families that need them. So it's usually about half the car seats we get in we're able to pass along, and then half of them we do have to recycle.

Well, it's awesome. You have a, you have an actual path to getting rid of those and giving them a new life somehow. That's awesome. Now, you meant obviously there's a bunch of other products that you're able to recycle and reuse. Kind of overall, how does that— do you, are you able to recycle other things as well that aren't reusable? Or in a way, like, how do you handle however many it is that you guys get every year?

Sure, we, we do our best to try to recycle anything that we're not able to pass along. Um, so oftentimes, um, we get a lot of textiles in, whether that's like clothing or bibs or burp cloths, things like that, blankets. Um, and if they are stained or ripped or have missing buttons, um, anything that we wouldn't feel good giving, gifting to somebody, um, we work to have those, uh, recycled. So we work with textile recyclers to do that. This one was kind of a fun one. There was a recall on a certain type of nursing pillow, and so we still continue to get them. It was a pretty popular brand, and whenever we get those, it turns out while they're not safe for babies, they make really good cat beds. So we've found animal shelters that will take them. We've worked with electronics recyclers to recycle breast pumps. We used to have a volunteer that would come and bring— pick up cribs that we weren't able to give out because all of our cribs have to be manufactured in 2012 or newer. So if we would get any in that did not meet that criteria, they would take them to a children's museum and be able to use them in like the maker's lab and make all sorts of stuff with them.

Oh, nice.

So we try to not throw out as much as Little as possible, I would say.

So you guys, you really have to be aware of all— because I had no idea that that 2012 limit— what happened regulatory-wise on cribs?

So there's been a couple of changes in the last— well, I guess that puts us probably around 10 or so years ago, where the guidelines on spacing in between the bars of the cribs has changed and also labeling of the cribs. So every crib has a data manufacturer sticker on it that we're able to check and just make sure that it is within the timeframe since the latest rules have changed.

Got it. So you guys are really on top of all of that thing because you're having to keep track of what are the regulations, if they've changed, and you're— so you're kind of— you're also able to be that resource then for All of us other people that don't—

Yeah.

Don't keep track of all that.

We're on all sorts of recall lists. I just saw one come out yesterday. I don't know if you're familiar with those applesauce pouches.

Oh, yeah. Okay.

But some of the apple cinnamon ones have been recalled because something with the raw cinnamon, and I want to say lead. I don't know, I might be getting a little bit wrong, but I think that's what it was.

Oh man. So does— are you able to help? Because that's a— is that a food item then?

Yeah.

You're able to help with general recall then too?

Yeah. So really like any recalls that affect the products we would handle. So those applesauce pouches and baby food pouches fall under that. And then we do distribute a lot of infant and toddler formula. Other than that, we don't usually, we don't have a lot of food, but we are serving infants and toddlers their, their sources of nutrients in those capacities.

Right. Well, you guys are probably impacted by that, that giant recall on baby formula. Was it a couple years ago?

Yeah, you know, I'm— it's— yes, I'm glad you actually mentioned it because most people think it was like gone and done and it's not. So we—

Oh, it's still not done?

It's still not done. It's gotten better. And for like the average family that needs one can of formula at a time from a store, usually you can find the type that you need now, which was not the case during the height of everything. But as an organization, we've really lost our ability to purchase formula in bulk. So prior to the shortage, we were able to purchase from Costco, and we've explored purchasing direct through manufacturer, but the price buying it through Costco was significantly more affordable than buying it through the manufacturer directly.

Wow.

But Costco still has a purchasing limit of for, for formulas, 2 of the Enfamil yellow and 2 of the purple at a time. So that's been a huge struggle over the past couple of years to navigate. And of course, parents don't want to change the type of formula that their children are utilizing. And we're still seeing like sometimes store shelves only have the purple version of the Enfamil and then the next month they'll only have the yellow. So there's definitely still disruptions in that supply chain. that have not corrected themselves quite yet.

Yeah, I, I didn't realize. We don't have any infants right now, so I hadn't realized because it kind of died down. Like, it's not a topic that comes up really, but that's great because it's been— that was— it's been like 3 years, hasn't it?

I think it was probably about 2 years ago. Or 2.

Okay.

And yeah, I think the problem is it's like most People are not buying mass quantities of formula.

Right.

But we think it is because we're supporting right now an average of 2,000 children a week. So not necessarily all of them are on formula, but those under a year and that are not able to breastfeed for one reason or another rely on formula for their sole source of nutrition. But I don't think it's as newsworthy because It doesn't affect the everyday person that's going to the store as much.

Interesting. Yeah, that's crazy. I would never have guessed that they would've charged more either. Costco is cheaper, right?

Well, and it was, but yeah, we just can't buy it in bulk there anymore.

Right.

Tried real hard. So if anybody listening has any pull to some execs at Costco that would let us buy quantities of formula again, we would greatly appreciate that.

Yeah, I need to be able to distribute that out to people. That's crazy. Well, I'm glad I mentioned it because there's a whole— it's a whole thing.

It is. Wow.

Well, that's great. That's great that you guys are able to— hopefully you'll be able to order in bulk again and be able to distribute. But that's great that you guys are able to help with those recalls because I think that's one of the biggest Right. Things that you worry about is making sure that, you know, if a recall has happened, because there's, from manufacturers, I've gotten stuff, you know, 6 months later they finally find me.

Right.

And that's like, well, I've already eaten it, used it, whatever it was. Like, it's been a while. Yeah.

Sometimes you get eaten up. But we try to, try to make sure that we are really on top of those. And, and especially in the baby gear space, there are recalls I think more often than in many other industries.

Interesting. So you guys— so there's actually quite a few recalls going on for products then in that space. That's never good.

Yeah, we talk about them every week at our team meetings, so to make our whole team aware of them. And I would say each week there's at least, usually at least 1 to 2. A week. And a lot of them, like, are items that we wouldn't— we don't necessarily have, but need to just be aware of in case they come through.

Right. Well, kind of going back to your programs. So you guys have this recycling, and then obviously the ones that are good for use, being able to pass those on. But you guys also have a few other programs. Yeah, dive into those.

Sure. So our main program is called our Essential Baby Gear Program, and we talked a little bit about that. But essentially, that's the gear that comes in from mostly community members that are done with it, and it's new and gently used items. And then we distribute that out through a network of 60 nonprofit partners that we work with that are serving families of infants and toddlers in all different sectors of the community throughout Colorado. And then under the umbrella of that program, we have what we call our Mobile Baby Essentials events. So 2 to 4 times every week, WeCycle is going out into the community throughout the metro area and as far as Colorado Springs for these events. And we are partnering with food banks where food banks can give out food, and WeCycle gives out diapers, wipes, baby food, formula, clothing, and other items, just depending on the location and the need. And so each of those events serve an average of 200+ children in that 2-hour span. And we try to make them in convenient locations for families, often in food deserts, don't have access to resources. So we try to eliminate the financial barriers for families to accessing essential baby supplies as well as the transportation barriers that exist by going into different neighborhoods and having these pop-up events. So that was something that started in April of 2020, right after the world shut down. And we saw that a lot of our partner agencies were working remotely or not seeing clients in person. But we knew that the families we serve were in populations most affected by, by the pandemic and knew that they needed access, especially Especially to— we've been kind of calling them the essentials of the essentials, the diapers, wipes, baby food formula, and clothing. And so that's when we started these events, and we haven't looked back. We partner with a variety of organizations. We work really closely with We Don't Waste. They're a really cool nonprofit here, food recovery organization in Denver as well. We work with Food Bank of the Rockies. Care and Share down south, Broomfield Fish and Community Food Share. So we try to have a wide range of partner agencies so that we can really expand the reach of our services as well. So those are our Mobile Baby Essentials events. And then we also have our diaper bank. So WeCycle runs the largest diaper bank in Colorado. And this year we are hoping to distribute 6 million diapers and we have a network of 100 150+ organizations throughout the whole state of Colorado that are able to order supplies of diapers and wipes from WeCycle each month to be able to serve the families that they're serving throughout the state. And what else can I tell you about? We also have our Environmental Preservation Program. So under this program, that's where we operate our car seat recycling that we talked about. And then also our newest program is called our Clothing for All Program. And this program is super cool. We target a demographic of folks that could afford to buy new clothes, but we're asking them to choose not to and make that conscious decision to choose to live more sustainably and opt for gently used clothing for their kiddos. And I know we are just on video or audio right now, but when I'm giving a tour, I'm like, well, look, like I have had these shoes since 9th grade because I am 5 feet tall and have not grown. But my children wear shoes for one season and then they're done, and they all still have so much life left. So through our Clothing for All program, we invite people to come and shop for free for clothes, and we have events just throughout the year where we pop up in different places and, and offer clothing like that. So it's really cool because it's people that donate to WeCycle can then come back and get the next size up or, um, be able to just not perpetuate the problem of, of consumerism and everything needs to be new, um, and not using things to their fullest extent.

Hey, it's Ian here. So glad you're enjoying this episode of Conscious Design. If you want the full scoop on conscious design, what it is, how we do it, how you can do it, then check out our book. We wrote it so creative entrepreneurs like you can code social and environmental responsibility right into your brand's DNA. You can download the first chapter for Link is in the description. Enjoy the rest of the episode. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. I love that. And you— I know you guys are really— love what you're doing, and it's Colorado-focused. I would love to jump a little bit because we talked when you guys were kind of starting and, and getting things going. One of the things you tried to do was partner with other groups And, and do something like that. Is that, is that something that you guys are thinking about offering, allowing other people to basically expand your network outside of Colorado? Or, or is it just, are you guys swamped taking care of Colorado?

Yeah, it's definitely a conversation that comes up for us, um, from time to time. Um, at this point, we are focusing really, really hard on serving the whole state of Colorado and doing that really well. I wouldn't say like never would we expand to New Mexico or Wyoming or something like that. But I think our immediate goals are continuing to serve more and more Colorado infants and toddlers and just broadening the reach and depth of our services.

And you guys have a lot of collaborations. It sounds like there's a lot It's, it's a, uh, not just working alone in a vacuum to make what— make happen what you're doing. What, what do you think is, is one of the biggest things that's helped you guys build those partnerships out? Because I know collaboration can be hard to, to do, but you guys, over the course of a decade, you guys have really Yeah, really built some amazing partnerships.

Yeah, I think partnership has really been integral and built into our model from, from day one. And it really started out that we didn't have a background in social work. And we, we didn't have the expertise to provide a full spectrum of services that a family needed. And we also recognized how much space, time, effort it takes to source baby gear and get it into a condition that is safe and clean and ready to be given out. And I've never met a caseworker that has extra time. Like, people, they have too many clients on their caseload.

Me either.

Yeah. So I think we just figured out like what it was that we could offer and how we could get really, really good at doing that part of it so that we can support our partners partners in being really, really good at doing what they do. And so if we— right now we have a waitlist of 92 organizations that want to be onboarded to receive baby gear from WeCycle.

Wow.

And when we look at adding a new organization, the first question and the first thing that really determines whether or not we can do that is, do we have the capacity now that we're meeting our current clients' needs, our current partners' needs? And then do we have an excess of what we call like our highest demand items, which for the last 15 years have been the same? It's car seats, it's cribs, it's strollers, and particularly double strollers. And the—

Interesting.

High-ticket items, people use them for longer. And so if the answer is yes, so like there have been times where we found ourselves where we had so many cribs, we're like, oh my gosh, and they Obviously take up a lot of space. So we're like, okay, it's time, time to add some new partners on. But we want our partners, when, when they place an order for items from WeCycle, the vast majority of the time— I'd love for it to be 100% of the time, but I'll settle for the vast majority of the time— that we want to have what they need so that they know that they can count on WeCycle to get a car seat so that the baby they're working with can leave the hospital.

Mm-hmm.

So, or things like that. Because if the answer is like, well, sometimes they have it, sometimes they don't, then they need a storage room in a place where they probably don't have space already, in their office where they're collecting car seats and strollers and cribs and things like that. So, yeah, I think I may have went off on a tangent a little bit, but I hope I answered the original question. That was good.

Yeah, well, I think that's important because that's one of the— I feel like that's one of the hardest parts in creating anything that's a circular economy or being able to create this is the infrastructure, right? Of you got to take it, take that item, make sure it's ready to be used, and then bring it to people. And so you guys are, you guys are completing the loop basically of being able to take that. And it sounds like you guys work with a lot of like caseworker, hospital, Those kinds of people and you're, you're almost a, uh, a, a supply store and, yeah, in a way of, to those, to those people.

Yeah.

And logistics and, yeah, you fill a lot of gaps in there that they—

Matchmaker, I think maybe is a good one too.

That too. Yep. I can see. Yep. That's awesome. And as you guys, you guys have grown, obviously you guys didn't start with all of these programs and doing, doing all of this. What, what has been Your biggest, as you've grown, how have you decided, oh, this is, this is worth it or this would be helpful? Is it, I'd imagine because you have so many partnerships, you're able to really get a pulse and a feel for what's needed out there.

Yeah.

But I guess kind of your, your process on how do you, how do you decide in a smart way how to add on the next great thing you guys are gonna do?

So I would say it's a few things. First, I think we're always looking for the gaps, like where is there a gap that we can fill? And to find those gaps, it's asking the right questions and asking the right people. And so we are constantly opening up forms and collecting feedback and talking to our partners and talking to the recipients of our gear and asking like, hey, what are you still needing and what What's missing? So that's a big part of it. I would also say we've built our programming with scalability in mind. So with funding and with staff capacity, like, we can continue to expand and serve more families. Space is another really limiting factor for us right now.

Especially those cribs.

Yeah. And so So I think that looking for the gaps is a big part of it. And then just not being afraid to fail. Like, we try it and then we revisit and we see what parts are working and what needs tweaking. And it's a constant evolving. I mean, baby gear, like, doesn't stack well. Every manufacturer, like, makes it just a little different just so you can't stack it.

That's true.

So, like, we've spent 15 years, like, coming up with the best ways to sort and store and inventory. And then we've changed them, right, as we find new ways. And so I think that's a big part too, just being able to pivot, able to make a decision and go with it and just see how it works. And then be willing to drop it if it doesn't work. One thing I can think back, oh gosh, probably 12 or so years ago now, we really wanted to get cloth diapers to all the families that we serve. Being WeCycle and being that our mission is twofold about supporting infants and toddlers and also supporting the environment, we thought that would be a really great move, and it was very quickly lessons learned for us. So the majority of daycare sites sites will not accept cloth diapers. And for a single mom that's working multiple jobs, they don't— they often don't have the capacity to also care for cloth diapers in a way that they need to for a child to stay clean and safe and healthy. And so a lot of the families we serve don't have their own washing machines.

Oh, wow.

don't allow you to wash cloth diapers in them. So that one for us was like, it was a lesson learned and it was like, okay, well, we get it. While this option might work for some families and we still do offer cloth diapers to families that request them, the vast majority of families we serve, it's just not a feasible option for. So things like that.

That's good. I mean, it's, it's all learning. So as long as you don't take it personally, you just learn from, learn from it and then adjust.

We try not to take it personally. take it personally. Sometimes it feels it, but most of the time we know we're doing our best, right? I think all of us are trying to do our best with what we've got.

Yeah, I love that approach. It's the best way. And I think as long as— yeah, don't— even if it feels personal, don't let it sit there too long. You'll make more progress if you just Keep growing and keep testing out new ideas. And, um, it's great. It's great that you're willing to do that. And it's worked. Obviously, you guys have been around 15 years and still going, still supporting people, have 95 people who want to become partners.

Yeah.

So you must be doing something, something right to have, have a backlog of people wanting to work with you guys. Which is great. Hopefully more. I'm sure there's other programs, but you guys seem to be doing such a great job. It would be great to see more, more of this type of thing in other states as well and areas. And maybe someone will, will come and want to partner with you guys and open up a chapter somewhere else and, yeah, and grow.

There definitely are some organizations doing similar work throughout the country. There are diaper banks in I don't know about every state, but most states have at least one diaper bank. And then I've found some of those diaper banks have the gear, baby gear components to them, and others are just focused on diapers.

I feel like the gear is the hard part, right? And you've been able to find the right recycling partners, which is amazing to be able to actually recycle because those are, you know, there's a lot of different components to those. Just a car seat, right? It's, there's a lot, there's a lot to it. So recycling isn't necessarily necessarily easy. So the fact that you guys were able to come up with a great solution that you're able to utilize the whole thing, that's, that's really great. So kudos to you guys in, in figuring that out. And hopefully anybody listening who doesn't know how to do that, it's possible. Right. Yeah.

I mean, really, we've been— the Colorado State Patrol has really been really instrumental in Amazing. Yeah.

Well, before we wrap up, and this, this has been really great, I just wanted to make sure you have some space to anything that we missed or you wanna share. And then also for anybody who's wanting to be a part, volunteer, partner, I know you got a backlog, but in case somebody wants to partner anyway.

Totally. Reach out.

How do people find you? What's the best way to reach out?

Yeah. So our website is weecycle.org. So it's W-E-E-C-Y-C-L-E dot org. And we are always looking for volunteers. We are firm believers of the many hands make light work saying, and we offer tons of really fun volunteer opportunities, both for adults and some for families, which I think is really important in raising our next generation of givers and doers. And so our website has more information on those. We love corporate groups that want to come and do team building volunteer days with us. And so we love volunteers. And then, as you might know, Colorado Gives Day is coming up on December 5th. So we rely very heavily on donations from the community to be able to keep on recycling. So If folks find themselves in a place where they have something to give, no, we say no gift is too small, and we would be grateful to receive donations. Um, and yeah, partners, we always recommend reaching out. We do have events for our waitlist partners when we have capacity, or there's just— there's so many ways that we can partner. Um, so just definitely reach out.

Fantastic. And for everyone listening, I, we will have links in the description to make it so you can just click on those. And I really, I appreciate your time, Morgan. It's been great. I love what you guys are doing and thanks for being on our show.

Thanks so much for having me. It's been really fun.