Opening the door

Radius Recycling prides itself on having a company culture that creates an inclusive workplace, fostering employee collaboration and providing opportunities for people who traditionally are underrepresented in the waste and recycling industry.

According to the Portland, Oregon-based company’s 2022 sustainability report, 22 percent of Radius’ new hires last year were women and approximately 49 percent were “ethnically diverse.” The report also indicates Radius’ nonwhite employee totals are higher than the industry average. In the United States, 47 percent of the company’s employees are Black, Indigenous or people of color compared with the 37 percent industry average, according to data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Washington.

A key driver to create a more inclusive environment has been Radius’ Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs. The company has six ERGs, including one focused on veterans, LGBTQIA+ people, women, Hispanic people and Black people. Its BUILD (Building Up Individuals’ Lives Daily) ERG is dedicated to volunteerism and community engagement.

The Black Employee Network (BEN) was launched in 2020 in response to the social and political climate in the United States at the time. Radius’ BEN has spearheaded educational and employment efforts at Radius, and Tasion Kwamilele, director of educational partnerships and government and public affairs manager, was at the forefront of those initiatives.

“The growth opportunities are endless because the company constantly wants to be on the forefront of this industry in how we move, how we operate, how we think and how we engage,” she says.

With help from her colleagues, Kwamilele started a fellowship program geared toward Black college graduates that not only provides opportunities for young Black professionals but also has opened their eyes to the recycling industry, which they previously might not have considered a viable career path.

“Just because you’re in recycling doesn’t mean you’re in the warehouse; they still need accountants, they need HR, they need operations, logistics specialists—things of that nature,” Kwamilele says.

How it started

When Kwamilele arrived at Radius Recycling—then Schnitzer Steel Industries—in 2020, the BEN had been established and had discussed a Black student-focused program to bring more Black professionals into the recycling industry.

But Radius’ educational efforts began when Kwamilele was given a voice before she was even an official employee. During her initial conversation with CEO Tamara Lundgren, they discussed the importance of workforce partnerships with youth, and that turned into a second meeting where they discussed establishing Radius Academy, then known as Schnitzer Academy.

The program, now in its third year, offers educational resources and hands-on training in the metals recycling industry to students, eventually providing a pathway to job opportunities at the company’s recycling facilities and Pick-n-Pull used auto parts retail stores.

“I didn’t think it would turn into a companywide program that we’re looking to build and grow and expand on,” Kwamilele says. “It speaks to [Lundgren’s] forward thinking and recognizing that if we get to young kids at an early age, that’s really our next generation of recycling professionals,” she adds.

The success of Radius Academy inspired conversations about creating an even more focused educational effort with a fellowship program for Black graduates.

Stef Murray, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and vice president of human resources at Radius, initially spearheaded the program. Kwamilele says when she joined Radius, the program was something she immediately was passionate about, being an historically Black college or university (HBCU) graduate herself as a Howard alumna.

“Being in this industry for about five years and understanding the significance and value of the recycling industry and [seeing] how many opportunities are here, getting other Black young professionals in this industry is something I’m truly passionate about,” she says.

Kwamilele became co-chair of the BEN in 2021 and, with Murray, took over efforts to develop the fellowship program. She worked with Cheryl Coleman, senior vice president of advocacy and sustainability at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, on a virtual workshop at Virginia State University, an HBCU, that eventually helped bring the program to life.

“If it hadn’t been for that initial participation in that event and having that conversation with Cheryl and seeing the students, I probably wouldn’t have had as much juice as I had,” she says. “I saw these young students who were really interested in getting into the industry, really looking for jobs, and it made me think of my best friend’s fellowship that she got straight out of college.

“This one-year commitment of bringing young professionals into the [workforce], I saw that it worked and I wanted to mimic off what I saw happening with my best friend.”

The initial fellowship opportunities through the BEN went to Princess Wilson and Sydney Fields. Wilson, an operations fellow, completed her fellowship earlier this fall, and Fields, a graduate of American University in Washington with a degree in business administration and psychology, finished her environmental fellowship in November.

Fellowships are designated based on departmental needs, and not every department at Radius has a fellow every year. Fellows are assigned to a department and given assignments and responsibilities. At the end of the fellowship year, the idea is to offer each fellow a full-time job.

As part of the team, fellows are encouraged to engage with others in the company and build relationships to advance their careers as they would at any job.

“How you show up begins to open the doors to more opportunities in advancing your career forward,” Kwamilele says, adding that Fields has been a prime example of making the most of her fellowship.

“She threw herself into the fire, into spaces she had no background in, and has just really built so many relationships.”

“My first impression was, ‘Oh my god, a job,’” Fields says with a laugh. “My friends were having such difficulties [finding jobs out of college], and I also was having difficulty. … This was a great opportunity for me to figure out if it was something I want to build my career on.”

A new outlook

When Fields began her fellowship in November 2022, Northern California was experiencing heavy rain, so as part of her initial job responsibilities she performed administrative work alongside experienced team members with Radius’ stormwater data.

“I hadn’t done a lot of environmental work, so I wanted to make sure I was doing something I could grasp and feel comfortable in, and, now, my entire summer was essentially on the road going to all our sites in California,” she says. One of her primary responsibilities was making sure each site was compliant with its necessary permits.

Fields has come a long way since entering the recycling industry last year with virtually no environmental background. “It’s hard work, and there are so many nuances to it that I didn’t understand when I first came on,” she says.

It’s not just the industry experience that’s been beneficial but the cultural experience of being part of a program with other employees and other fellows who look like her—a luxury not always afforded to Black people in recycling.

Fields says having that space to grow as a professional has been invaluable. While she’s always been a confident person, having senior-level employees to brainstorm with or turn to for help has affirmed to her that she can contribute to a team even without experience.

“I’ve never been in this type of environment,” she says. “I didn’t know where my place was or how I should speak, what to say, and so I would run it by [Kwamilele] and it was just 100 percent confirmation. I was like, ‘OK, I can do this.’”

A key difference between Radius’ Black employee fellowship program and a more traditional internship program that doesn’t necessarily target a specific group of people is the level of security and comfort it provides to young Black professionals, participants say.

According to an EEOC study reviewing workplace discrimination in 2022, 24 percent of Hispanic and Black employees reported feeling discriminated against, and race-related discrimination charges were the second-most reported (34 percent of cases) behind disability-related charges (37.2 percent).

Those circumstances make having the aforementioned conversations significantly more difficult for Black employees, and, for Fields, working with others who look like her—both in entry-level and in leadership positions—made the transition into the corporate workforce more comfortable.

“If it might’ve been someone else, I might have to explain myself a little bit more to have them understand.”

Kwamilele had her own mentor—Murray, a Black woman—who offered that same comfort and understanding she now shows those in the fellowship program. “It did make it comfortable for me in the corporate space,” she says. “The same thing [Murray] does with me is what I did and I still do with staff.

“I’ve built other mentors in the company as well who don’t look like me [and] are valued just as much, but it is that level of cultural understanding that you just don’t have to explain when it’s somebody who looks like you.”

Fields adds that while she’s made great connections with other employees at Radius, the environmental department doesn’t employ other Black people, so the connections she’s made with Kwamilele and others in the BEN have been even more important as she continues in her recycling career.

She recalls a connection she made with another Black employee and how meaningful that relationship has been. “We instantly bonded and I talked to him all the time,” she says. “There’s just a mutual understanding. We get each other.”

“My hope is that, as an industry, we find ways to combat [the lack of diversity].” – Tasion Kwamilele, Radius Recycling

Measuring success

Kwamilele says tailoring the fellowship program to meet the objectives of the company and the fellows presented a learning curve. Program leaders have been evaluating its structure and foundation to ensure they’re engaging with students at a high level before bringing in another pool of fellows next year.

The goal is to have the fellowships overlap so there is no downtime before a new cohort comes in, but Kwamilele has found it prudent to recruit fellows based on the academic calendar.

“With all the educational institutions in the country, how do we do that in a way that can get us in the door and show them we all want to be valuable partners, not just create these one hit-or-miss opportunities,” she says. “We’re being very strategic with the types of fellowships we’re offering this year and what specific schools and programs we’re going to engage with.”

Kwamilele says the goal of the program is for every fellow to have a mentor, specifically from the BEN, who is connecting and engaging throughout the fellowship. She has taken it upon herself to be a mentor to Fields and Wilson.

“There have been times where I’ve had conversations both with Sydney and Princess when they’ve been trying to advocate for themselves. … I would walk them through the approach of how to do it,” Kwamilele says. “Let’s think about what the goal is and let’s think about multiple ways in which you can approach it.

“I wanted to teach both of them, at least from my professional experience, that it is important from an early age to learn how to advocate for yourself, especially in a work environment; never be afraid to ask for what you want because you need to know how to do that. And, if you don’t learn it now, you’ll find yourself in your career 10 years down the line and still not be able to advocate for yourself in those moments.”

She continues, “When they would come back and tell me their stories like, ‘It wasn’t as scary as I thought,’ … it just reassured and reaffirmed what I was trying to show them—the power of advocacy. Whether you get a ‘yes’ or a ‘no,’ it’s about becoming comfortable speaking up and asking and being able to verbalize your needs as an employee.”

Fields adds, “One of my goals was to gain confidence in a corporate space—not to be afraid of asking for help—and I definitely feel like I grew in that sense.”

Making the pitch

As Kwamilele makes her pitch to prospective Radius Recycling fellows, she emphasizes the financial and environmental benefits of working in the metals recycling industry. “I think it’s imperative for them to know our industry and how we create good-paying, high-quality jobs that build lifelong careers.

"The other part is always going to be cultural. … If this is not a good space culturally where you don’t feel supported, where you don’t feel like there are growth opportunities, you’ll start looking for another job.”

Kwamilele continues, “My hope is that, as an industry, we find ways to combat [the lack of diversity]. I know ISRI has been doing some amazing things with their women-focused work and effort, but I think more has to be done and there has to be more intentionality around it because diversity isn’t just black and white—diversity is color, gender, faith, sexual orientation—it’s all these different things bottled together that gives you an entirely different, beautiful masterpiece.”

The author is managing editor of Recycling Today and can be reached at mmcnees@gie.net.