Today on the IC-DISC Show we're talking with John, Clive, and Kelly Hess from CompuCycle in Houston. John started in the metals business in South Africa back in 1966, came to the US in 1986 to run a brass and copper distribution company, and spun off a small scrap division that eventually became CompuCycle.
Clive joined in 1996 fresh out of U of H. Kelly came aboard in 2013 from the nonprofit world and now runs the company as CEO. Three decades later they're processing 40,000 pounds a day and hold more certifications than any other electronics recycler in Texas.
In this conversation, the Hess family talks about the moment the Basel Accord shut down their entire plastics market overnight, why they think scrap metal companies handling electronics is now a liability risk for corporate customers, and how they built their own plastic washing line to solve a problem the rest of the industry was still struggling with. Kelly also shares a partnership they've built with Pearland ISD that turns scrap dismantling into job training for autistic students ages 18 to 22.
Whether you're in recycling or not, the Hess family's thinking on running a multigenerational business, earning certifications most competitors won't bother with, and treating customer problems as a moat instead of a cost is worth your time.
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
- How John Hess went from manufacturing copper ingot in South Africa in 1966 to building Houston's largest electronics recycler
- Why being R2 certified isn't enough, and what Compu-Cycle did after watching certified downstreams still send material to landfills
- The day the Basel Accord shut down their entire plastics market overnight, and how they engineered their way out
- Why scrap metal companies handling electronics has become a liability risk for their corporate customers
- The partnership with Pearland ISD that turns scrap dismantling into job training for autistic students
- What changed when Kelly came in from the nonprofit world and the family started hiring people smarter than themselves
Contact Details
LinkedIn - Gordon Driscoll
LINKS
About IC-DISC Alliance
About CompuCycle
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John Hess |
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Kelly Hess |
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Clive Hess |
(AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors)
Dave: Well good morning. So this is my first time. I've had three guests on the podcast at one time. We have John Hess, we have Kelly Hess, and we have Clive Hess. So where are you all, calling into from today? what part of the world are you all in? Where now?
John: We, I'm a responder. We're in Houston, Texas.
Dave: Okay. And so am I. So that's, that is good. what I wanna talk about, and the reason we're doing the three person interview is the company Compus Cycle has been in business a little over 30 years, is that right?
Kelly: 30 years to this? 2026 is our 30th anniversary, so we're really excited.
Dave: That is awesome.
and so what I wanna do, I want to go to the far origin of comp cycle, which really starts with John. So what I'd like to do is just start off with a little background on John and his entrance and experience in the scrap metal industry. So John, where are you? What part of the world do you hail from?
John: Originally South Africa and have been in the metal business all my life. started in, at the age of 23 in 1966. Go back a long way.
Dave: Okay. And, and then you're in the metals business, Ferris, non Ferris,
John: right? we, I was, we were ingot manufacturers. We manufactured copper and aluminum based ingot for the foundry industry.
And, got into the. Computer business, way back in about 1975 when we imported a, a machine for stripping cables and Okay. This machine also had the capability of shredding,computers of the old mainframe computers. Of course, there were no PCs at that time. Yes, of course. So that was my introduction to computers.
Dave: Okay. So you're,you're getting into the computer, so we're talking if I'm doing my math right, that was about 50 years ago that you're involved in the shredding, chopping cable, shredding mainframe computer components. Is that about right?
John: That's about right. Yep.
Dave: Okay. And then how did we get from there to Compu cycle?
John: Well, in 19. In 1966, I was offered an opportunity to come to, sorry, I'm getting myself messed up. It was 1986 that I had an opportunity to come to the United States to manage a company that distributed bras and copper bars and rods.
Dave: okay.
John: And we, while whilst there, I started a scrap division and that scrap division eventually became Compus Cycle.
Okay. Right.
Dave: Okay. So did, so was Compus Cycle like a literal spinoff from that company or was, did the idea come to you while you were there and you started a completely separate company?
John: Well, we started it as a spinoff of that original company and, after a few years of running that business, I decided to leave the parent business and, get comp cycle going on its own.
comp cycle started in the 1990s, as, A computer processing facility.
Dave: Okay. And what does the name mean?
John: What, what would the, what does the name mean?
Dave: Yeah, I'm guessing it, it's like computer recycling that they
John: kinda, yeah, computer cycle. we were largely in the scrap processing business at that time, but occasionally found product that was resalable and. okay. We actually repaired that and resold it.
and that is how comp cycle began its existence, and it become a whole lot more sophisticated, over the years.
Dave: Okay. Now, when you launched it, were Clive and Kelly involved at that time?
John: Clive became involved. Clive, I can't remember the year. When was it?
Dave: Yeah.
Clive: I was involved, Kelly in 1996, I believe I was involved.
Yes. And Kelly became involved in 2013. Was it 2013?
Kelly: It's in 14 years. Believe it or not.
Clive: Yeah,
Kelly: 14 years.
Dave: yeah, Kelly couldn't have, obviously Kelly couldn't have been involved from the beginning because she would've been in elementary school 30 years ago.
Kelly: Well, no, I was that when he said, John said 50 years.
I was like, okay, well that's exactly my whole life livelihood. And then, but yeah, no, Clive, I think, funny enough, we were dating when you were involved in Compu Cycle, but It was great though because Clive graduated. Well, you tell your story. You graduated from U of H and then jumped in.
Clive: Yeah, I graduated, got involved and, we were, as my dad mentioned, primarily doing electronic scrap.
and it evolved. it was really interesting. Back then there were very few companies doing what we were doing. And so not really knowing how to do what we were doing, we could survive and, we, we were scrapping mostly for the metal and precious metal recovery. Okay.
Dave: And
Clive: evolved into harvesting components, reselling the components, and then the refurbishing of equipment.
On a very basic level, reselling it. And,as mentioned today, we are far more sophisticated than what we used to be 30 or 25 years ago. so it, it's, it, it grew from a very small business into a, today we're, we are a very. nice mid-size company. In our industry,
John: we like to think of ourselves as the most dominant computer processing facility in, certainly in Houston and probably in Texas.
Dave: Okay, so Clive, when you joined. I'm guessing it was a cushy job. You're the boss's son. You probably just sat at a desk with your feet on the desk, smoking a cigar all day, I'm guessing. Is that, was that about right? Is that kind of how it worked out?
Clive: I would love to agree. family businesses are very unique, Dave, and, it, it, I'm very blessed.
I'm very grateful for what I have. but it, that, I wish that was the case. No, we were certainly, yeah. Very involved and very entrenched. And, and,it's been a, it's been wonderful working with my dad and, it's been. more wonderful working with my wife.
Kelly: He's just trying to be nice.
That's a whole other podcast, Dave.
Dave: Sure. Yeah. And obviously, and oh, and obviously I was joking with you, Clive, because usually the story is that when you're the boss's son, it's hard. Your life is harder because you're held to a different standard. Sometimes your dad has to go the opposite way and be even harder on you than the other employees.
Clive: Yeah, he was actually,I will say,very easy with me. and,but it's, it, I was working for
John: him getting clever aboard. Definitely took us to a higher level than we were when I was here on my own. And getting Kelly aboard gave us, a further injection to the extent that we've over the last 13 years since Kelly's arrival com cycle has matured enormously, it's become from simply another scrap, another computer scrapping business.
To a sophisticated computer, refurbishing and scrapping as well. our scrap division has grown enormously with the addition of a shredding plant for computers and more recently a shredding plan for plastics, which, makes us unique in terms of having abilities that others simply do not have.
Dave: Okay. No, that I get that. What, so I'm a chronological thinker. I'm an accountant. And so what I'd like to do is let's go back 30 years. You touched on it, John. Let's think about like the big milestones. So it, the company started in 96, if I'm doing my math right, in 1996. And what year did you join Clive?
Clive: in 96 I was
Dave: Okay, so the same time.
Clive: Yeah.
Dave: So as you think back, what was like maybe the first significant milestone? If we're thinking like in five year kind of impli or increments, like any major things that happened in those first five years that were, meaningful to where we got to today?
Clive: If, gosh, going back 30 years, I can't go back three years, but,it's, bringing on. Large accounts. I think the first large account that I recall bringing on, would be Texas Children's Hospital. Okay. And,when we, that was a significant account that we brought on recycling the electronics, I think I, that would be a, certainly a milestone.
and then going back to 2000,this is further ahead by 2010. We became the first certified electronics recycling company in Houston. And that was certainly a very large milestone because we were the only,for quite a few years, and that brought on additional accounts. what does takes life?
Yeah. What
Dave: I'm, I don't mean to interrupt. what does certified mean?
Clive: So in, in our industry, there was no benchmark or there was no qualifications that one would have, one could have to identify themselves as a responsible electronics recycling company. Okay. And, corporations were familiar with the ISO certifications and Yeah.
In 2008, the EPA. Stakeholders, created a certification called the R two, which stands for Responsible Recycling Practices Certification. Okay. And in order to achieve that, companies had to, follow a certain practices. Had to be certified just like companies who are ISO certified. Okay. We through the process of becoming certified, and it, it takes about, six months to a year to achieve that certification where you are, monitored.
you have to recycle materials in a certain manner. you have to, adhere to the practices. You cannot just export products overseas anywhere to anybody without any, okay. Standards. And so we achieved that certification, which was,at that time extremely difficult, especially, a small company that did not have, Processes, policies, procedures that were documented in a sure professional manner. So that was, I think our, a very large step, moving in the right direction. and David, today we have the most certifications of any electronics recycling company in Texas. okay. So we, we have, I think seven certifications.
Which would be the ISO 9,001, 14,001, 45,001, 27,001 certification. Then R two certification. E Steward certification, na AAA certification. so we have certifications, that, the scrap metal companies have zero. so scrap metal companies recycling electronics, is actually a. it is a,a liability risk, to corporations who may be sending the electronics to scrap metal companies for recycling because they don't adhere to any certifications.
where we, we have seven that we have to adhere to. So when you're recycling with compute cycle,your products are handled in a very professional and, Very secured manner, especially today with where we are compared to back then.
Dave: Yeah, I can, no, thank you for pointing that out.
Because I can tell you, so I've been fortunate enough to be a, a donator of computers to your company through the years. I suspect I'm not your largest account. but of course my biggest concern was the confidentiality of the data. Okay. Because, I'm not a computer expert. I don't really know how to wipe a hard drive.
And even if you wipe a hard drive, somebody who really knows what they're doing can still, I'm told, can still recover data some way. So I was looking for a way that I could just give you guys my laptop and be confident that data was never going to find a home elsewhere.
Clive: Yeah.
Dave: so is that the biggest concern of like your large corporate.
providers or customers.
Clive: Yeah, it's, and, let me just, one other milestone I'll say Okay. That I want to throw in was certainly, Kelly joining Comp Cycle. And, it's, over the years I've delegated, responsibilities or responsibilities have been removed from me and, Kelly is the CEO of comp cycle. And truly, Kelly is, an incredible leader of comp compute cycle. I'm, I, I always tell people that, and I've mentioned earlier that I'm truly, I'm blessed and, Kelly is phenomenal. And working with Kelly,is extremely rewarding for me, because of what we've accomplished.
and we continue and we have the most amazing team at Compu Cycle. Company culture in this at Compute Cycle is extraordinary and it's because of Kelly and the team. So I think I'm gonna bow out now and I'm gonna pass. Okay.
Kelly: Yeah. No, but hold on. Because they don't give themselves enough credit in the sense of where we've gotten to.
where I came in about 2012 was our kids had, I came up from the nonprofit world. That was my life after graduation. And,I did a public relations psychology communications degree. Okay. Fell in love with nonprofit world and the fundraising of it and development directors of various different nonprofits.
And, almost 25 years ago, October, Clive and I got married and Oh wow. Had, our two beautiful daughters. When I was working, I decided to stay home and raise the girls, but was doing some marketing and communications that really wasn't existent at the time for comp cycle while I was working at home.
And, it was an amazing company for me because both John and Clive created this company that was really green before it was even cool to be green.
And, wanted to really try to see how we could maximize what we were doing because the growth had been. Flat and we were, they were doing well, but we needed some type of growth in business development.
So that's where I decided I was gonna come in for a couple years and try to just build clients, try to find new business. Okay. And we were, very blessed and lucky that we did, where we were able to get some very large accounts. And a lot of these accounts we were working with were saying, we don't understand why you're not a women-owned business.
Okay. Like this there, obviously in this world, in this niche of the business we're doing, there's not a lot of women-owned businesses, okay. And what a growth possibility or opportunity it might be if you become women-owned. Okay? that is where it all started. And so 10 years ago I signed the dotted line and decided to see, okay, I'm really gonna see what we can do and build with Compus Cycle.
but. I would definitely say yes, I've been able to grow the business with business development and accounts, but where the growth has really come is getting the right people on our team. It has been the strength of the,our management team. the actual managers of our company are, we have about a hundred employees right now.
And Oh, wow. Yeah. And all of them are so dedicated. They're loyal. We've had some with great tenure with us, but it was really us realizing we had to start hiring people smarter than us.
And that if we wanted to really grow,
Dave: and Clive was the first one that made that hire. When he brought
Kelly: Well, and then I've had to make, and then as a team, we've definitely hired a few more of those, which, has really been what has got us to this next level.
and It's exciting to see, but I think what I'm most proud of with Compi Cycle as our company and what we've been able to create is, I am so proud to say when it comes if to looking for the most responsible, the most secure, the most sustainable and circular solution, you cannot do better than Compe Cycle.
And we have such great differentiators of especially being here in Houston. I mean it when I say it, David, there is you. No reason why any company in Houston should not be using Comp Cycle. 'cause we are the only one that can truly show and guarantee responsible recycling because we're not only that recycler, most recyclers are sorters.
They're going through the equipment. What can they reuse and what can they resell? Sure. And being a certified company, we are so proud to be dual certified with that R two and E Steward certification. But in my opinion, being certified is not enough because certified companies have to use certified downstreams.
But being in the business for 30 years, we have unfortunately learned the hard way. And it's those Downstreams certified or not. Which is unfortunately where a lot of the landfill, the exporting and finding your three things on eBay happens. Okay? So we said as a team, no more, and we put in our processing facility next door and a multimillion dollar shredder where we're now, everything that comes to us, if we're not able to reuse and resell, which we're gonna give value back to our customer if we can resell it.
But if not, it's gonna go next door to that processing plant and it's gonna turn directly into its raw materials. The steel, the plastic boards, aluminum, copper, and it goes directly to the mills smelters and refineries to be recycled. So that's like the biggest difference where, you know anyone, any company that uses us can sleep at night knowing that it's being done the right way and things aren't leading comfy cycle.
And that is like what I am most proud of. And then we took it to the next level with putting in the plastics plant because epl, most electronics are made about 60% plastic and the EPL is dirty. So we created a sink float system where really the plastic gets about four different bath. And we're able to separate the plastic and then as well as separate it with an electrostatic machine that breaks.
Its down to its A, B, S, and PS form. So we can create domestic solution now for the plastic. So that's where we
Dave: got
Kelly: the most circular. But what's really been amazing is us being able to see how Compi cycle is really that last piece of having an effective cybersecurity plan. If a company's gonna put all this money in protecting themselves from with the cybersecurity.
But at the very end, they're not taking care of their equipment in the disposal, then it means nothing. So we've really tried to pose ourselves as like really the most critical, essential piece to the end of that plan because we wanna make sure things are done the right way.
Dave: No, that. That is great.
So by the way, I just wanted to clarify something with Clive. So one thing you and I share, Clive, is we both married way over our head and we're both married to rockstar wives. So when I say that. you married someone smarter than you. I can say that being that I'm in the same boat. So I'm just letting you know, I'm not really picking on you.
I'm more, commiserating with you that we,we really, got way over our head with our spouse, selection.
Clive: David. I agree. we certainly did. And, I, I have three women in my life and believeing me, they're all smarter than I. but I wanted to just, add on what Kelly mentioned.
for me, my, my goal with Compute Cycle was to have a solution to our clients that was a completely secured solution.
And where chain of custody remains with Compus Cycle. So when we, and we invite our clients, we've, we invite all prospective, clients to visit Compute Cycle. To see the process.
To understand the process. once you see it, it's very easy to understand it and any questions that, or concerns that you may have. You mentioned earlier you wanted to make sure that if you drop off your product at Compute Cycle, you are mostly concerned about your data and how do you know? That it's gonna be handled correctly.
So when we bring clients into our facility and our facilities, our access controlled facilities, we have security on site. So it is very secure. But when you go through the facility and we show you, we walk you through where it arrives and how it's processed. Any questions, concerns? we have companies that will audit us.
We have their security departments, visiting compute cycle. we have cameras in our shreds where you can see the product being shredded. we, we show people how it's been done and it is absolutely a closed loop solution, which is exactly what I've always wanted. And we have that process today to offer to our clients, which is a major, we talk about, what would be the milestones, that is a milestone that we've actually achieved today where there is nobody.
There's no other electronics processor in Houston. We are the third or fourth largest,city in the United States, and we are the exclusive processor in Houston. very proud of doing that. And in Texas, we're the exclusive electronics processor separating plastics into single polymer plastics.
Okay, if clients are always concerned about data. Cybersecurity. We are the only electronics processor in Texas that's ISO 27,001 certified. so we can check the cybersecurity just through that certification. But we do these things because we wanna be a leader in the industry and we also want to protect our clients throughout the entire process.
Dave: Yeah. So let's So by the way
Kelly: Yeah. The right way.
Dave: Oh yeah. How long has it been since you moved across the street to your current facility? Like three years ago, but I'm pretty sure it's been longer than that.
Clive: 20, 20 18 we moved into. This facility and in 2019 we opened up the processing facility.
Kelly: But I think it's important to note that in 2018, that facility was 40,000 square feet. When we moved here, it was 80,000 square feet, so we doubled our size and that next year we bought next door for our processing plant, which is now another 50,000 square feet. Yeah. So truly tripled our size. In one year.
And so the good news is we have capacity, we to do more, which we'd love. In our processing plant, we do about 40,000 pounds a day of processing. Oh wow. But we could do 60. and I would love to get us to two shifts. we'd love to always get more customers and we'd love to be able to show prospects and customers to tour our facility.
We're so proud of what we're doing and how we do it, and we're very transparent, so we encourage any prospect to schedule a tour with us. And something off also that we offer just more is less a community service, but also because it's the right thing to do is residents can bring their equipment to us five days a week and drop off, and we'll be happy to recycle it free of charge, destroy all their hard drives, so residents don't have to worry about their data.
Dave: that is great. It sounds like I'm overdue for a tour because it's been, it was probably 2020 that I was last there. It was probably right after the Shrider got started. Yes. Certainly I've not seen the plastics recycling. So talk to me to the extent that you're comfortable discussing in general terms, because you made the comment that depending on the value you can extract from the machine, some of that value may go back to your customers.
Can you gimme just a general sense, like let's take some company that. Recycles a thousand computers a year. What's the general process? Do they deliver 'em to you? Do they have a big container? Do you go pick 'em up? Like why don't we just start at the beginning? How does it work, Kelly?
Kelly: Yeah, no, and I'll let Clive go into more of the pricing.
He's the pricing guru for us. But really what you know, what's so great is that we can accept material. We have 3 24 foot box trucks driving. I call 'em my walking bill, driving billboards. They're going around the city all day long, picking up equipment. And so we bring stuff here directly to us, but also companies can ship things directly to us.
Dave: Okay.
Kelly: And or if there's locations outside of Houston and they want us to either white glove service to pack it and or we can ship it. We have our own logistics where we can bring and a arrange. So really from anywhere in the United States, we can handle collections. But what's the process really is once a customer is in our system, Clive or myself are the only ones that are able to develop a contract for that company, and it gives us the exact instructions of what they want.
Some companies need everything destroyed. Some things will allow us to give value. So depending on the contract, we have specific instructions. But what we're also so proud of is all the data bearing devices come in and we put our own asset tag on that equipment. Okay. So we'll be able to track that equipment as it comes into Compu cycle and we can see exactly what happens to it, where it goes, where it is in the process.
But our customers can also, so they can, oh wow. Serial number of a machine. They can be able to see exactly when it was recycled. This online portal holds our certificates of data destruction, certificate of recycling. So all of these things our customers can access at any time. But when it comes to value, usually our baseline is anything five years and younger, and that has this working condition.
But I'm gonna let Clive take over at this point.
Clive: Yeah, it's, so where we can. Refurbished product for reuse, we give value back to the customers. Okay? So typically if product's five years old or younger, we gotta give value back to the customers. We are gonna destroy the data. we sanitize the data using Department of Defense Compliance Software, our reporting, we will report the mate model, serial number, capacity, of the hard drive and include in the report.
The parent's serial number that the drive,belongs to. So very detailed reporting, drives that fail the process. We physically shred. we have some clients, as Kelly mentioned, we have some clients where a hundred percent of the equipment coming in here has to be shredded. We have camera surveillance throughout the entire facility, so you can witness the,the process in person, or you can witness the process via camera.
but where we can repurpose and reuse, we give value back. our sales channels, we sell to various verticals, depending on the age of the equipment. so we sell product domestically. We sell product internationally. we actually, have launched and we, David, I think we are the only company in our industry.
we have online sales where our customers. Can actually witness the sale of their products and see the value that we actually are getting for their products. So we are Oh wow. Truly transparent, where our clients can see what the value of the product is. We have a lot of clients that ask us how do we know we getting the maximum value?
So we now have a way for them to see what the value is, and then we are selling that on a revenue share basis. Where based on what we sell, they'll get X and we'll get Y. Okay. So we are trying to maximize the value, for our clients and whatever we cannot resell. We process through the shredding plans.
Kelly: Ooh. I have to mention, I love also that one of our biggest buyers too is ISDs across the country.
Dave: Oh, really?
Kelly: Okay. We can buy three systems for the price of one, and we sell with warranties. So I'm so proud that we're able to provide school districts across the country with the affordable equipment for the students.
Dave: No, I, I like that. So I'm curious,you're the only, computer recycling, client we have and so I'm more familiar with a traditional yard, so like a scenario where there's like a manufacturing facility. And they have like turnings and scrap metal that comes from the processing facility that's clean.
Now, my understanding is that type of material, the recycler is actually paying for that material. Now, I would imagine in the computer world it might be different if a client wants everything destroyed. Are they, do they tend to pay you or are you still paying them because of the scrap value?
Clive: it's both.
so yes, we do give scrap value. but there, there are items where there is a cost for us to, it's not like a scrap metal company where you're bringing in clean aluminum, dirty aluminum, steel, copper, et cetera, et cetera. TVs for example, when we are processing TVs, inside the TVs, there's products that there's a cost for us to disposal.
If it's the lamps, the glass, the panels where there is a cost for us to process and dispose of that. So if, a company just had cable and we brought in the cable, yes. We'll give them cable value, just like the scrap metal companies we'll pay for For that product. So it's a combination of both.
that,and, depending on the volumes, we will price it that way. So we do have manufacturers, that need their products shredded and we will then,there's a cost for us to process and there's value that we give for that material too, and we will. we will, we'll share that, certainly the value with them as well.
Kelly: And David too. What I think is so important is that we also provide incredible environmental scorecards and sustainability reports for our customers. Okay? So we're actually able to show them what has been diverted from landfill. What is the reduction of carbon footprint? And especially having that processor next door, we can actually break it even down to the actual metals of what, what it is that's been recycled.
What's been reused, what has been resold, so we can provide all that data to them to make them be able to show their corporate sustainability departments what difference they're able to make by using a company like Comfy Cycle.
Dave: Okay. So and so your customers, are they like across industries? I'm guessing you guess some oil companies as clients.
Kelly: Healthcare. The healthcare and oil and gas here in Houston obviously are very heavy, but we handle companies of all sizes, all industries. And, what's
Dave: the minimum size that it makes sense for them to have a conversation with you? do they need like, a hundred employees or thousand employees or
Clive: Yeah, the, the, so companies can, they can deliver their product to us.
Dave: Okay.
Clive: or we can, so small companies,there, there are very small companies that will bring their product to country Cycle to. To be processed.
Dave: like the way my company does it.
Clive: Yeah.
Dave: we just drop it off. We don't pay you anything. You don't pay us anything. You just take care of it.
Clive: Correct. so yeah, it's, it really is any size, most importantly,is how we process the material. And that is not going to a landfill, that we are not exporting it, overseas to. any to a downstream that is, that, that is not to third world countries that cannot recycle the product correctly.
we have to adhere to very strict regulations and, hence we open up our processing plants where we can shred into the raw materials. and so we are not exporting. Products overseas. We process, we processing it domestically. And what we do export is the raw material. So yes, we can, well, the steel we sell domestically, but the aluminum and the copper and the boards and the plastics, we can sell that domestically or we can sell internationally as the raw material.
Dave: Okay.
Clive: Yeah.
Dave: So talk to me about the plastics recycling. Before you started doing that, was that product just going to the landfill?
Clive: No, so the plastics industry, the plastics, the plastics were being shipped to Malaysia. the Malaysia is the largest plastics market for,I'm going to for low grade plastics material and
John: Okay.
Clive: In. appro approximately five years ago, the Basel Action Network. so the Basel Accord passed a law regarding recycling of plastics and certain low grade plastics, had to be,recycled in accordance with the Basel action.
John: okay.
Clive: Accord and really what that came down to with electronics, plastics is that you could not, Malaysia, which is, which ratified the Basel action Accord, was not allowed to import mixed e-waste plastics.
Okay, because the United States has not ratified the Basel Action Network. It was not illegal to export other United States, but it was illegal for them to import into Malaysia. Okay? And so the Basel Action Network put a lot of emphasis on monitoring what was leaving the US and what was going into Malaysia.
so it basically went from plastics. All the e scrap guys selling plastics to Malaysia, to, there's no market to sell the plastics. There's no value in the plastics, and what do you do? And that became a massive problem in our industry. Fortunately, we decided many because we were shredding electronics and were generating the plastics.
We wanted to further process plastics and we wanted to extract the metals, excuse me, from the plastics. So we added on to our processing line, a plastic washing and sorting system so we could remove the metals, have clean plastics, and get more value for the plastics. And the timing was just, it was wonderful because we just happen to do this at the right time.
So today we have a solution for the plastics. We can sell plastics domestically. Or we can sell plastics internationally. In order to sell it internationally, you have to separate the A, b, S and PS plastics, which we can do, or we can sell it domestically mixed. So we have a plastic solution. the plastics, I'm grateful.
We not in the, we, we always tell our clients we're not in the plastics business. We don't want to be in the plastics business. we just happen to generate plastics. The plastics markets. at the moment are very depressed markets.
Kelly: so I always say it's sustainability over profitability, but it's
Dave: okay.
Clive: Yeah. Sorry. and that's why we are very grateful. We are not in the plastics business, but it is a,today the virgin plastics actually,are it's the recycled plastics. The virgin plastics prices are so low right now that the recycled plastics is not a needed plastic.
in Europe, they are mandated to use a certain percent of recycled plastics, the manufacturing of equipment that does not exist in the United States. So there's a much stronger demand for the plastics internationally than there is domestically. hence we can sell the plastics internationally. but it's a wonderful, it's wonderful that we can offer this to our clients.
it has opened many more doors to compute cycle because clients who are concerned about the environments, who do want to do the right thing, who wanna make a difference and wanna make an impact. they are using compute cycle because of our capabilities.
Dave: Okay.
Clive: Yeah.
Dave: Well, I, I just looked at the clock, man.
Time flies when you're having fun. as we're rounding the home stretch, I just have a few more questions. so Kelly, so you and Clive and John have done a great job of explaining it. Why? Comp is uniquely positioned to serve companies, especially in Houston and Texas. but I'd like to flip the question.
Can you share a customer story or two as far as what your customers tell you that they love about comp? Can you think of like a couple. A couple examples, like where somebody had a different solution that was problematic, then they found compus and Compus, really made a big difference. Can you think of a couple examples?
And you don't need to mention the company's by name if it's
Kelly: not Yeah,no. I think one of the things I'm most proud of with, Compus Cycle is that we are not a cookie cutter approach. We really create tailored solutions for all of our companies because working with companies of all sizes, all industries, all of the needs are different.
So we've really been able to tailor solutions to what their needs are. But I really think what's amazing is John, Clive and myself, what pride we put into our customers. And they're able to see that as owners of the business, that we actually, how much we're involved and how much we care. I give every potential customer and customer my cell phone.
If there is ever a concern, a problem, an issue that they're having, they can call me directly. We have a great sales team, but if they're not getting what they need or if there's a problem, I want to know so they can call me directly. And we really work on having the personal relationship with our customers of, and again, of all sizes.
okay. Every customer we have means something to us. And I think like that's one of our great selling points, and something that's important to us. But I also think too that, we love to grow. We're all about continuous improvement. So we challenge our customers that if they have projects or different types of equipment, that they're not sure if it's something that we can process or do.
Send us a picture. Tell us what your project is, let us see if we can do it. If we can grow our services, because that's what, how we grow as a company, and then we can offer more to our other customers. Okay. So we really challenge them to see what else can we do to help them.
Clive: Yeah. I, Dave, let me add that, the feedback that I get from a lot of our customers is how responsive we are.
If you email compute cycle within 24 hours, you'll have a response. you need something done, we get to it. they are amazed at how efficient we are at what we do. large corporations where typically they're waiting three or four or five days, we get back to them immediately and then their pain points.
We had a client a week ago that, it's a very large client. They're international clients that needed a solution for, certain hard drives and certain devices,that are very,important devices that they do not want to leave their facility. They want to be able to, just wipe these devices individually themselves.
we are very easy. They use our license, they wipe the device and they send the device to us. So we can electronically do that, where they can just log in through the portal, click a button, and it will erase the data from the device.
Dave: oh
Clive: wow. It's, we have solutions. We work with our clients to make their lives easy.
We make their lives so simple. we have a team that does data center decommissioning. So we go on site, we decommission the data center
Kelly: all over the
Clive: country. We do that all over the country. Oh, wow. And it's a very experienced team. And the feedback that we get is. You guys can do it in a week.
The last company that we used, it took them three weeks. So we are very efficient, and we are very transparent. I mentioned when we selling your product that you can see the value that we selling your product. It's just we are so good at what we do and when we can prove that to our clients. We never lose clients.
once you come on board with Compus Cycle, the experience is unbelievable. And, we truly are the expert in our industry, because this is exactly what we do. And yes, we have much larger competitors, but we are very streamlined, we are very efficient, we are very nimble and we get things done very well.
and so we are so excited 'cause we are growing. We really are growing within this industry and our capabilities are unbelievable and we continue to improve. right now, we focusing on data, we focusing on ai, we focusing on how do we become more efficient at what we doing. within these two facilities, we are processing the same amount of material, 50%.
More efficient than where we were two years ago. So really
Dave: That's
Clive: amazing. we need to move into another facility today.
Kelly: today we just need more equipment.
Clive: Yeah. it's just incredible. So we continuously, we set goals and we continuously, achieve those goals. and,we're, we are growing and we're.
Kelly: But really to be a family owned business, which we are, and what John, started for all of us is what is, what's amazing is that we still haven't lost that We can now do what all the big boys do and our processes and procedures and services, but we also are still very much. A family owned business in the sense of I hope our customers realize how much we care and that we're available to them and our team cares.
And I just hope that says something that we haven't lost that.
Clive: Yeah, we're not a mom and pop organization, but we are, we treat our clients with the same respect as we would like to be treated and we treat our employees. Like they are, family to us. we, and our facility is clean.
Our facility is dust free, our facility is safe. Our employees have the the PPE that is required. we are always looking out for employees. I was actually at a facility yesterday. that I, yesterday I came home to Kelly and I said, I've never seen something so dusty. And disgusting and how they would allow the employees to be in that environment.
When I left that facility for an hour, I was copying and it was just, it was awful. And we would, it's just not who we are. And this is an international company. I could not believe it. And we will never treat our employees. wow. in that regard.
Dave: So it really sounds like the philosophy that your relationship with your customers is more than just a vendor, customer, that it's truly a partnership.
Kelly: Absolutely.
Dave: Right. and that you are, you work together, you're always, trying to improve things. And then it also sounds like the relationship with your employees is somewhat similar, that it's a partnership. Y'all are in this together and you play different roles, but everybody's important and, Does that kind of summarize that?
Kelly: Yeah, no, we definitely know, see people for their strengths and and maximize them to what they're good at and what they have a passion for. And it's worked. It's an
Dave: equation works. So I have one more question and it's for each of you this, so it's the same question to each of you and you can't copy one another's answers.
Okay. Okay. I'm gonna start with John. So John, at this point. In your career, in the evolution of Compus Cycle, what do you enjoy the most as far as your role these days with the company and with Clive and Kelly? what brings you the most enjoyment?
John: Okay. So I'm at the stage of my career, right at the end stage of my career.
what I enjoy most. Is watching the success of Kelly and Clive, which I find so remarkable. And the, when I look at the company now and relate where it's at to where it was when, they came on board, the differences like chalk and cheese, the difference is massive. volumes of business that we doing.
the relationship with employees, the relationship with customers, all of these things has metastasized into so much more than it used to be. Okay? So that is what I'm proud of, and that's what I enjoy most.
Dave: Yeah, that, that answer doesn't surprise me. I. I see you more frequently, socially than I do Kelly and Clive, and I've always had that sense that pride, in just the how gratifying you found, you find that you started this thing and that Clive and Kelly have really just taken it to a whole new level.
So that, that makes
Kelly: sense. But don't let him pull you. He's here every single day. And a door is always open. And really a consultant of consultants when it comes in helping us with our scrap metal side still of the business and everything. So he's here every day.
Dave: Well, that, that is great. I'll go to Clive next.
So in your current capacity, what do you enjoy the most? What gives you the most satisfaction?
Clive: Yeah. I, Dave, I enjoy. also watching the growth and the success of country cycle. But I think what's, I enjoy doing things that make me happy, where I used to have to do everything. I now can focus more on establishing partnerships, focus more on,
working on the business,instead of the nitty gritty little things that I used to be so bogged down on.
I don't have that anymore. So it's helping salespeople be successful. putting quotes together that are,very difficult, because of the experience that I have. So it's, it's that's,it's, that's what I enjoy.
Yeah.
Dave: Awesome. Kelly last stop
Clive: and watching loves.
Kelly: Yeah. So I have to say, I can this answer, I can finally give you confidently. 'cause I probably, if you asked me the last few years, I wouldn't be able to say so confidently. because now by having a sales team, I'm not always having to focus on finding the new business.
And also being able to not be in the nitty gritty as much and be more at a higher view. But I have finally gotten my nonprofit life back and been able Oh
John: yeah.
Kelly: Yes. And combine both. So there's two things I have to tell you that we're doing that I'm just
Dave: sure
Kelly: beyond proud of. The first thing just happened recently and we've been trying for years to make this happen, but we have a partnership with Goodwill Houston.
Dave: Oh, you do? Okay.
Kelly: Yes. And so Goodwill Houston, you know their mission is to empower lives by work. And to employ people by work. And the way they do that is by having all of these donation centers, people donate and then they're able Put their money into the career development. Well, we wanted to be able to have a place where people could donate or to give their equipment.
So when Goodwill accepts electronics, if they can't sell those electronics, we're gonna take them, and then we're gonna pay them for the scrap value. Oh
Clive: wow. So
Kelly: we're one responsibly handling all the stuff they can't sell. And two, be able to provide money back to them where they can put it into their programs.
So I'm very proud that's a partnership we have here in Houston and that's developed just recently. And then we also have a partnership working right now with Pearland ISD that we're trying to now replicate within other ISDs. And I have to give Clive credit for this because he's the one that really created a training facility for individuals at school that are, That I No, that no. That have,the gift, like really the children that are on the spectrum of autism.
So they have, from 18 to 22 years old at schools, those students that have somewhat graduated high school but still need time to develop, we've created a job track, a training facility where they're able to dismantle the equipment.
Oh wow.
John: We
Kelly: to then pay, it's the equipment that they're dismantling is their school's equipment. We're then picking it up as scrap. We're paying them for that scrap so they can keep the program sustainable. As well as pay some of their students as interns. They're getting job training, which I can now bring over to Goodwill.
Have them go into the job piece of work. Wow, that's amazing. Not only are we circular solution and recycling, but my goal is to create a circular solution and community impact.
Dave: That is awesome. That is awesome. That's what
Kelly: I'm excited about.
Dave: That is awesome.
Kelly: So it's doing things like that, that I'm really hope that as we grow, that we continue just how can we collaborate and make more impact in the community as well as the responsible sustainable recycling.
Dave: No, that is awesome. Congratulations. Goodwill is my paternal grandmother worked at, Goodwill for like 40 years in, Sioux City, Iowa.
Kelly: You're kidding.
Dave: Nope. 'cause I know you're from Iowa,
Kelly: right? You get my whole family, my mom's side. Yes. All, oh, the plow.
Dave: Yeah. so Goodwill, they started a church at the Goodwill Facility.
And anyway, so I'm a big fan of Goodwill, so I appreciate, I That's strange, that connection.
John: Yes.
Dave: so I can't tell you. So I want to thank you all for two things. One, I want to thank all three of you for taking the time to come on and tell the story. I really appreciate it. And secondly, more personally, I just wanna tell you how much I appreciate having had the chance to serve you all,on our services.
the team always tells me that they always enjoy working with your team. And it's been fun to watch the, from our end to watch the progress of the company over time. So thank you for having that opportunity to be your partner in the tax services that we do.
Kelly: No, we appreciate everything you do for us, David.
Thank you. We enjoy working with you.
Dave: Well, thank you. Well, you all have a great day and we'll talk soon.
Kelly: Great.
John: Thank you David.
Kelly: Thank you.
John: Bye.