Fisher History
Founded by Chris Fisher in 1992, Fisher Recycling began as a humble one-person operation, collecting recyclable goods from several Charleston restaurants and offices at the request of the business owners. Driving an old, decrepit pick-up truck, Chris Fisher, an "Ecopreneur" in the making, was performing a job that restaurant owners and office managers didn't have time to accomplish - collecting and disposing their recyclable waste.
By 1994, the Charleston business community had embraced Fisher Recycling's concept of office and restaurant recycling. Scheduled collections, in-house education and dedication to customer satisfaction grew Fisher's client base from just a few daily collections to more than 30 recycling collections each day. Once well-known for his signature dented, blue pick-up truck, Fisher had to create a fleet, led by "Big Red," the company's first real recycling truck, to meet the company's growing client recycling needs.
In the winter of 2005, the company expanded its warehouse space by opening the Fisher Recycling Center at Noisette, located on the revived and renovated Navy Yard. Members of the community could bring material to be recycled, as well as take useful material away with them, such as the creative recycling of glass, wood pallet flooring, vermicomposting and e-scrap refurbishments. The warehouse also houses an interactive education center, where Fisher Recycling actually completes the local recycling loop: visitors participate in the recycling process, by contributing recyclable materials and reusing those transformed materials in their homes and business. For example, visitors could potentially, develop their own design for a glass or concrete countertop, pick up some vermicompost, a popular tool in landscaping and home gardening, plan to re-floor their kitchen with planed hardwood pallets, and check up on how their old computer has been recycled all in one day's visit to the Center.
Since that time, Fisher has recycled over 28 million pounds (14,000 tons) of aluminum, glass, plastic, and tin and 30 million pounds (15,000 tons) of office paper, newspaper, magazines, and cardboard. Fisher Recycling serves a client base that ranges from downtown restaurants to offices and business parks to hotels and resorts. The company also collects e-scrap, or old electronics from area businesses, and has developed and implemented a successful pilot residential project for Daniel Island for nearly three years. Despite the changes of growth and development that the company has experienced, the one constant that continues to guide Fisher Recycling is their commitment to the company philosophy and purpose to educate and serve the community's business recycling needs.