Sydney an Seth Sherman, owners of “Owasso Green Teen Recyling”
01/03/2018 – Many teens can’t wait until they are old enough to apply for a job and make their own spending money. Two Owasso teens took it a step further and created their own business.
Their business is not a get rich quick scheme, but one that helps save the earth for a little spending money.
The siblings, Sydney Sherman 16 and Seth Sherman 14 started Owasso “Green Teen” Curbside Recycling just over two years ago. It started slowly. Until recently, they have only had about 10 customers, but are up to 19 now. Since Sydney has started driving and dad does not have to chauffeur any longer, they are trying to get more customers.
The business was their dad Jake’s idea.
I use to recycle some at our house, but thought one day that it would be nice to do as a service. America only recycles around 30% of the materials that can be recycled. The other 70% of the recyclable material in the US goes to the landfill. I don’t know anyone that thinks recycling is a bad idea, however I didn’t know very many people in Owasso that Recycled.
We asked dad about positives he has seen from this.
First of all, my kids are forced to spend time in the car alone with their Dad and actually have a conversation with him. This is a win for me! I have recently transitioned all of the record keeping and communications with the customers over to my daughter. This is helping her to learn some responsibility and also get exposed to what working for yourself is like. It’s also teaching her how some good communication skills. The extra cash is helping both of them to learn how to manage money. Sydney now has over $1,000 in the bank. Seth on the other hand is learning the hard way. Mostly he has been learning how fast his money is gone when he buys his friends food. He is very generous, but he hasn’t figured out how to save money yet. While some of their friends give them a hard time or just think that it’s weird, I also see that they are proud when their customers compliment them. They also love getting paid each month.
The only negative they have found is keeping the service covered when they travel out of town. Sydney plays soccer for Owasso High School as goal keeper. She is also on a club team that has caused her to travel some. During travel time, Seth started staying home to do recycling with his grandfather (Papa). The only other issue they had was finding a good Trash Can and Trash Liner combination. They say they have a pretty good system now.
The teens collect paper, plastic, cardboard and aluminum. The great thing for their customers is that they don’t have to sort it. Some of their customers bring it out to the street on Saturday, but many of them just leave it on the side of the house and they collect if from there.
Dad said the service is actually costing him money each week as he provides all the trash bags and gas.
“It’s worth it to get to teach my kids some good values and responsibility. It’s also helping them develop a good work ethic, although we are still working the whole “keeping your room clean” thing. Teenagers!”
For more information on Green Teens Recycling visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/owassogreenteens/
