In the Beginning
Stan Kaminski, otherwise known as Happy Stan, started his journey into the world of recycling along side his girlfriend Della; together they collected newspapers from local hotels to raise money for the Gibson’s boys club. A few years later, they got married and had three children (Chris, Karla, and Jamie). Later on, two of their children (Jamie and Chris), also got into recycling by building a cart and collecting newspapers door to door to raise spending money.
Stan later started his own janitorial business called, “All Canadian Janitorial,” where he provided janitorial services for households and businesses in the North Vancouver area. But instead of throwing out all the paper and cardboard from the companies he was cleaning, he decided to sell it to local recycling companies. Stan found this to be very rewarding, and in 1988 he gave All Canadian Janitorial to his partner Angela and opened up All Canadian Recycling Services with a different partner.
Soon after opening, All Canadian Recycling was servicing print shops and real estate offices from Vancouver to Maple Ridge with a single one ton cube truck. From there, Stan and his partner took on larger contracts such as Island Paper Mills and BC Rail. His work force also increased, adding on two very dedicated employees, Stan’s two son’s Chris and Jamie. Stan later decided to sever the partnership but continued to provide recycling services under his new business name, “Happy Stan’s Recycling Services Ltd”.
Happy Stan’s Recycling Services focused on large industrial corporations such as Island Paper Mills, later becoming Domtar Paper Mills, and Sonoco. His main business was, and still is the recycling of cardboard and cardboard tubes. However, in 2003, Stan was approached by the city of Port Coquitlam to process the residential recycling from their blue bag program. The city stated that their current service provider was unable to handle the material because of the plastic bags. Stan, unaware of this type of processing but still wanting to help, accepted the contract and began recycling for the City of Port Coquitlam. Soon after, the blue bag system was replaced by the state of the art single stream co-mingled process.
The Next Generation
In 2005, to help his father in this endeavor, Stan’s son Jamie, who has been working by his side since it began in 1988, took on the role as General Manger. Happy Stan’s took care of the city contract for another two years before changing its focus from a materials oriented company to a service oriented company, providing information, and recycling solutions to businesses and households across the lower mainland. Since the beginning in 1988, Happy Stan’s has increased its material acceptance from strictly cardboard and paper to over 40 different commodities.
Together, Stan, Jamie, and a team of dedicated friends and employees are working hard to create a one stop recycling solution for households and businesses everywhere.
In Memory of Anastasia Kaminski
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Stan’s Mother Anastasia Kaminski was working with Happy Stan’s Recycling from 2003 until she passed away at the age of 82 in 2005. She was our oldest, most dedicated and cherished employee. She believed that everything has a place and that you can’t throw it away until you try to fix it first. She is missed dearly by all her family, friends and employees who knew her and had the chance to listen to her stories.
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