It’s hard to remember a time before Blue Boxes and municipal recycling, but for Robert and Louise, that feels like yesterday and is indelibly inked as the seed of RA.In 1989, galvanized by garbage, Louise and Robert started Recycling Alternative with a hatchback and a trash-busting bug to help offices recycle their office paper.They quickly outgrew the hatchback, graduated to a van, then trucks, and began to broaden their service to include bottles and cans, shredding services, electronic waste and most recently organics and zero waste programs.Fortunately, by the early 1990’s, adding to their voices in the wilderness of waste, public awareness and government policy began to focus on recycling and waste reduction efforts, and the stage was set to ramp up operations and dive head first into some serious trash-busting.Born and raised in Vancouver until he was 10, Robert grew up in London and attended school in the UK. Thankfully, Robert’s background in mechanical engineering has been a saving grace at RA, and has been the driving force behind our operations as we have grown from strength to strength over the last 20 years under his guidance and mechanical aptitude! When not recycling the world or inventing new trash-busting trucks, Robert can be found hitting the slopes and walking his very large dog in the forests of North Vancouver.Louise grew up in Vancouver and studied Political Science, Spanish Literature, and Education. Before her trash-busting days, Louise attended school in Mexico, lived in Italy for 3 yrs and spent 5 years teaching middle school in Edinburgh. Off the trash-busting tracks, Louise hits a mean backhand, sings soul gospel, paints ceramics, and possesses an exaggerated predilection for trash-talking.Louise sits on the boards of the Cultch, Our Social Fabric, BC Biodiesel Association, and the Advisory Councils of Street Youth Job Action and Downtown Community Court.  In May 2012 she received the ‘Woman of Distinction Award’ for her work in environment and sustainability.  Recognized nationally as one of Canada’s most prestigious awards for women, the Women of Distinction Awards honours women whose outstanding achievements contribute to the well-being and future of our community.Since the beginning of RA, one of our favourite things is to work with and support the amazing network of local community organizationsHow do we do this? Well, while these groups are out there on the front lines doing their part to improve our local community, RA is always happy to get behind the scenes to help ensure their recycling and trashbusting efforts are as successful as their front line work.As a local pioneer in the industry, we are committed to providing easy, convenient and economic recycling options for businesses and organizations, no matter how big or small. Being part of the solution doesn't have to cost the Earth.The Recycling Alternative is locally owned and operated, with over a dozen employees working hard to ensure your business’ recycling efforts are helping our local environment. We have hundreds of clients across the Lower Mainland – forming an amazing community of dedicated, forward-thinking recyclers.the Recycling Alternative preceded the appearance of blue boxes on our doorsteps. We pride ourselves on developing our innovative and comprehensive approaches to waste reduction and recycling. For example, four years ago, we were amongst the first commercial fleets in Vancouver to begin fuelling our diesel trucks on RECYCLED BIODIESEL – a clean-burning, renewable, waste product based fuel, reducing our emissions by up to 50-80%.Recycling Alternative strives to be an integral part of Vancouver’s recycling landscape. We operate from our 6,000-sq. foot secured warehouse in central Vancouver. Our central location is key to our vision of providing local and sustainable waste reduction services. By reducing our long haul transportation needs, typical of our sector, we are able to keep it local. We are committed to providing convenient, secure and economical recycling options to businesses and organizations regardless of their size or volume. We believe in making it easy for you to make a commitment to our environment. This is why we offer several recycling programs that can be adapted and customized for your specific needs. The Recycling Alternative offers fully integrated, multi-material recycling services, including office-material pick-up, bonded and insured in-house shredding services and electronic waste collection, as well as festival and event recycling.