Recyclers, equipment manufacturers unite to fund cancer research

Last weekend, the recycling industry came together under a single cause—cancer research.

A team of 38 riders representing the recycled materials industry took to the road Sept. 21-22 for Pedal the Cause, an annual St. Louis-based cycling challenge with more than 3,000 participants that raises funding for cancer research.

Heading the charge are two industry leaders, Michael Goldstein, executive vice president of operations at Alter Trading, and Tim Ridderbos, vice president of circular business development at Shapiro.

What began as a friends-and-family team nine years ago called Ludicrous Speed has since evolved to a team representing the greater recycling industry.

“Our co-captain and founder of the team, one of my oldest and best friends, Zach Leeds, started the team in support of his brother, who, at the time, had cancer,” Goldstein says. “Now, he’s a survivor, and we’ve kept the team going in his [and others’] honor.”

A message from Ridderbos to Goldstein earlier this year changed the entire trajectory of Ludicrous Speed. Ridderbos, whose wife is a breast cancer survivor, saw Goldstein’s participation in Pedal the Cause through LinkedIn and wanted to get involved.

The two then got together to brainstorm ways to make their efforts especially impactful for 2024.

“I think Michael had the idea to make it a recycled materials team,” Ridderbos says. “And then you start asking yourself questions like, ‘We should have a goal, right?’”

In previous years, the most Ludicrous Speed raised in a single season was around $26,000. Goldstein and Ridderbos decided, this year, their goal would be to double that—through recycling industry sponsorships, Ludicrous Speed set out to raise $50,000 for cancer research.

“That’s really where things got exciting as more and more companies joined on,” Ridderbos says. “We had everybody from roll-off manufacturers to ReMA [the Recycled Materials Association] to competitors making different types of equipment start jumping into this thing.”

Goldstein and Ridderbos took to social media to spread the word, initially focusing on St. Louis-based companies before expanding their reach. Sennebogen, based in Germany with North American headquarters in Stanley, North Carolina, came on as the team’s first copper-level sponsor.

To date, 23 recycling industry sponsors have come together to support Ludicrous Speed, and some individuals traveled from as far as Canada to join the team on race day.

Quickly surpassing its $50,000 goal, Ludicrous Speed currently sits as the fourth highest-earning friends-and-family team and the fifth highest-earning team overall with $90,597 raised.

To further incentivize industry involvement, Ludicrous Speed sponsor SciAps, an Andover, Massachusetts-based material analyzer manufacturer and NASCAR team sponsor, offered to put the logos of the next two companies to contribute $5,000 on the SciAps racecar.

“We have until the end of October to fundraise for 2024, and $100,000 is in reach,” Goldstein says.

Race weekend opened to mostly cloudy skies in St. Louis with a threat of rain Sunday. The weather spared Saturday’s Kid’s Challenge races, but, unfortunately, Sunday’s races weren’t as lucky.

“The storms didn’t clear in time for us to have our rides,” Goldstein says. “But the ride is only a small part of it—the cause is what’s important.”

Next year, Goldstein and Ridderbos expect to up the ante, but aren’t ready to reveal their fundraising goal just yet. Team signups and fundraising for Pedal the Cause 2025 begin in March.

“When you go through a cancer diagnosis in your family or if somebody goes through it individually, it’s hard [and] everybody feels like they’re getting beaten down,” Ridderbos says. “It’s really nice to have something that made me, my six-year-old and [my wife], Melissa, all feel like we got some agency to push back against this thing.

“If we can make this something that everybody in the recycling industry knows about going into next year, the punch we’re bringing against this thing is going to be even bigger.”