Nicole StefenelliRichmond-based Urban Impact Ltd. officially launched a Calgary division last week.
The 20-year-old company, which collects office wastepaper, ended its first week in Alberta with 750 new clients and four new collection vehicles.
BIV caught up with Urban Impact owner Nicole Stefenelli late June 7, while she was enjoying a beautiful Vancouver evening watching her kids play baseball.
“The main thing we’re concentrating on is streamlining Calgary operations with ours in B.C. and getting to know the new clients,” she said. “It’s early to say that it’s a slam dunk success.”
Stefenelli’s business has had a bit of a roller-coaster ride over the past couple years. Back in 2008, paper buyers required her to pay to dispose of the paper that she collected from clients.
Since then, the world paper market has stabilized and Stefenelli is again getting paid for her paper bales.
BIV reported last year (“Price paid for used office paper quadruples in past eight months” – issue 1033; August 11-17, 2009) that 98% of Stefenelli’s $5 million in annual revenue comes from selling wastepaper.
The 2001 BIV Forty Under 40 winner launched her business in 1990 when she returned to Vancouver after a year abroad. She was shocked at the amount of recyclable material that people regularly tossed into dumpsters.
Last year, Urban Impact collected and diverted 95,000 tonnes of recyclables from local landfills.
The company employs more than 90 employees and has 34 collection vehicles that provide clients with recycling, shredding and green business consulting services from the company’s facilities in New Westminster and in north Richmond.