Breaking down OK in this business

BELLINGHAM – In 1988, Rud Browne didn’t know where to go with his career.

At the time, Browne had just finished consulting work for a bar-code company in Canada, had just gotten married and was applying for Canadian citizenship. While waiting to become a citizen, he had about a six-month period when he couldn’t work.

He was interested in starting a business, but he also wanted to do something that matched his views on the environment. He spent about three months pondering, and came up with Ryzex Group, a seller of new and used data collection equipment, including bar-code machines.

Much of the company’s business involves taking old equipment, such as scanners used at grocery store checkout stands, refurbishing the product and re-selling them.

Today, the company, headquartered in Bellingham, brings in $68 million in annual sales and employs 350 people worldwide, 120 in Bellingham. Just as important to Browne, however, is that the company is close to reaching a personal goal to make the corporate office 100 percent waste-free.

“To fix environmental problems that we face today, you have to show that you can make money doing it,” said Browne, the company’s chief executive and now a Bellingham resident. “When I decided to take this career path, I wanted to prove you can get bigger and better as a company by doing the right thing.”

The products Ryzex usually deals with include computer monitors, which include components harmful to the environment, such as lead. In the past three months, Browne estimates that the Bellingham facility has saved 140,000 pounds of waste from landfills.

While the company has recycled in the past, it began a more aggressive campaign in August, recycling everything from steel to bubble wrap and tracking the results. It also started a program called FoodPlus, which encourages employees to recycle everything from paper towels to leftover lunch.

“Ryzex was largely created because of a passion for keeping e-waste out of landfills,” Browne said. “I feel we have a moral obligation to try and reuse everything that comes in here, and we’re getting close.”

Ron Biery, who heads Ryzex’s recycling program, said the program has worked out better than they expected.

“It turns out that it is not that difficult, once you realize what needs to be done,” Biery said. “It’s just a matter of breaking things down to raw material. The raw material is very much in demand.”

At this point, the recycling program is operating at a loss, but Browne expects to turn a profit within the next few years.

“I want to show that it can be done,” Browne said.

While working on the recycling program, Browne has been able to significantly expand the company. Ryzex has seen double-digit growth in recent years, and was ranked as one of the fastest growing businesses in by the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2002 and 2003.