"Hello Movers! It’s our favorite day of the week… Monday! We are pumped this week to introduce you all to this ever positive and passionate go-getter who is out there really making a point to live life to the fullest in this world. She juggles being a mom, a business owner, an environmentally conscious crusader, and someone who wants to experience all the fun and positivity in life and we love her spirit. Whether she is learning a new creative endeavor like pour painting, or starting a new business, she puts herself into everything she does by choosing to live in the moment and make the most of each day and we are here for it. So please read on about this vivacious and spunky go-getter, Bridget Johnson.
Moved LA: How would you describe yourself?
Bridget: My friends were calling me the ‘green girl’ long before I started my company because I can’t stand trash. I always see the value in things and love when anything can be reused, repurposed, or recycled. I consider myself an extremely positive go-getter passionate about my family, helping others, the environment, and am curious always wanting to learn new things.
Moved LA: What’s your story? How did you get started? What do you do?
Bridget: Story: I own Green Girl Recycling which I started in 1998 a few years out of college where I studied business. As not many people ‘know’ what they want to be when they grow up, I had many opportunities to work in various industries (skiing is my favorite, I do ski patrol).. and realized there was a huge gap between recycling services in the Town of Boulder vs. the mountain community. I lived just outside Boulder on Sugarloaf Road with 3 other girlfriends and boy did we party! We had loads of bottles, cans, plastics, paperboard, boxes – you name it from hosting a ton of fun off our mountain deck. When I inquired about getting our recycling picked up from the biggest Boulder trash hauler – they told me they could not haul our glass bottles and that it would be $80 to come to do a one-time pickup. WOW.. this screamed opportunity to me and after creating a business plan on napkins one night with a few friends I decided to test the mountain community market by knocking on doors to see if I could drum up enough business to get full front-door style recycling in the mountains off the ground. 100 days straight later – knocking on at least 15 doors each evening where I could catch more people at home… I had enough customers to not only pay my rent each month, but I also had my jeep payment covered as well! I was hooked.
What I do: I consistently look for opportunities to help more customers in the Boulder, Larimer, and Weld County areas with full single-stream recycling, electronics recycling, paper shredding, composting, and hard to recycle services. I manage an amazing team of people who come to work every day to make a difference, one step at a time. I juggle being a Mom of two outstanding boys (Gavin -14 and Turner-10) who are now adapting to ‘online learning’ while attempting to maintain sanity and running my recycling company. I also still ski patrol with Bryan Mountain Nordic Ski Patrol and wear two hats on patrol… I call myself the Awards Enthusiast and I run the CPR Program. I’ve stepped down from the Patrol Director position which has afforded me more time to spend more time skiing with my family.
Why do I do this work? That’s a great question. I haven’t thought about that in a long time, I think because I honestly care about making a difference in the environment one household, one business, one customer at a time. I haven’t reached my personal goal of making 1 million dollars in a year yet (albeit I’ll get there!) and there is so much I learn in my industry all the time. I’ve surrounded myself with like-minded motivated friends both in the sustainability space and outside of it who encourage and support my efforts to make bigger impacts in the community. I don’t want to paint a perfect picture here, NOT every day is easy! I realized early on that nothing worth having in life comes easy, but helping others divert is extremely rewarding. When you get to do something you love, money just follows. My Dad taught me that when I was very young, but I didn’t really understand his words until I started GGR. Having children and having an incredibly loving and supportive husband who also works with me driving a recycling route in the mountains is also WHY I do this. I have family buy-in. I created the tag “We Make Recycling Easy” in 1998, and it’s never been more important than today.
Moved LA: If you were a cartoon character who would you be?
Bridget: I’d be The Road Runner.
Moved LA: Who is your role model, and why?
Bridget: OOO! I have so many. My Dad and my Mom because they encouraged me to become anything I wanted and gave me wings to fly. Kirk and Annie Christoffersen who were my roommates out of college, and who taught me social grace, how to include others in conversations and listen more than you talk... boy is that a great skill. My true best friend, Heather Meitner, who I met on bus 60 in second grade has definitely been a huge part of my journey. I have always admired her ability to help other people and still take time to take care of herself, this is a quality I always admire in really strong women.
Moved LA: If you could give everyone one piece of advice about living with more intention, what would it be?
Bridget: Vote with your dollars. Think before you buy. Choose things that come in sustainable packaging ONLY, stop supporting single-use items.
Moved LA: If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Why?
Bridget: The power to heal. To put on hand on a bird who flew into the window and bring it back to life. To touch the ground after an oil spill and clean it up. To touch my friends with cancer and cure them.
Moved LA: What are your top three favorite things to do when you need to relax and have fun?
Bridget: Painting, Skiing (downhill or Nordic), playing with my kids
Moved LA: Who are the top three people/companies you're following online to stay informed?
Bridget: Gosh..a lot. Pulp and Paper, Recycling Magazines, I sit on 2 recycling boards, Waste News, Serious XM Radio Business 132!! Anything from the Wharton Business School – I eat them up! Also a few movers on social media, and I power walk each morning first thing and do one Blinklist book a day. It starts me on the right path consistently, inspired, and motivated.
Moved LA: What is up next for you and your company? Bridget: I started an electronics reuse eBay business a year ago, we are working to crank that and I have a goal to reach $20,000 in sales per month. We are getting very close!"