Happen Ventures is committed to landfill diversion through beneficial reuse

In the years after Jessica Gonzalez launched Lux Disinfect, a disinfection tech startup offering customized solutions to help businesses protect against the virus that causes COVID-19, her partner companies began approaching her to see if she could help them unload excess personal protective equipment (PPE)—hand sanitizer, masks, gowns and gloves.

“Everyone ordered way too much PPE during the pandemic, and with the wind-down of COVID and everything opening back up, they don’t need it anymore. But there are still a lot of needs for it,” Gonzalez says, explaining she grew up with a father whose motto was, “We don’t throw perfectly good things away.”

As Gonzalez brainstormed ways to reuse these items rather than disposing of them in landfills or incinerators, the idea for a new startup began to materialize. What if she could match those unwanted PPE items with nonprofit organizations that needed them? Unopened hand sanitizer, for instance, could be used in homeless shelters and other places that interact with vulnerable communities. Disinfecting wipes could be used by animal shelters to wipe down cages.

© Happen Ventures

In 2022 Gonzalez launched Happen Ventures, a Puerto Rico-based startup that matches excess, overstock and expiring inventory with nearby nonprofit partner organizations with immediate need. The New Jersey-born entrepreneur has been running businesses for the last 15 years, starting with an event technology company, InCharged, before pivoting in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to Lux Disinfect, focused on UVC light technology and offering a suite of disinfecting tools, products and services to help businesses reopen safely.  

Happen Ventures provides beneficial reuse services to corporations, retail stores, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities across the northern hemisphere, including the U.S., Canada and Central and South America, working with transportation partners across the region to pick up items and transport them to nonprofits. Since its launch, the woman- and Latino-owned company has diverted more than 50,000 truckloads of merchandise worth more than $650 million from retailers and waste management companies.

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Health care companies are often looking for ways to redistribute medical supplies that are nearing expiration dates, such as hospital gowns and packaged needles, Gonzalez says, and Happen Ventures has built channels to alleviate excess medical waste.

“We are able to divert these things to people who can actually use them,” Gonzalez says.

Gonzalez says she’s also been approached by waste management companies who have a possible reuse scenario, for instance chemical waste that could be repurposed into an all-purpose cleaner, or expired dialysis bags that could be diverted to animal shelters for use with animals.

One thing Gonzalez learned that shocked her is that when aerosol hairsprays, lotions, shampoos, perfumes and other cosmetic products are returned, recalled or expired, retail stores can’t dispose of the items as they would most others—they are classified as hazardous waste, and required to be disposed of accordingly.

“These are often perfectly good, consumable items being classified as hazardous waste,” Gonzalez says. “They can be diverted.”

© Happen Ventures

Through the organization’s beneficial reuse program, items such as overstock aerosol hairsprays can be processed as a donation by a local nonprofit group rather than going through a complicated and costly hazardous waste disposal process.

“What’s made this so successful for us is the advantages of [beneficial reuse] over traditional sustainability options," she says. "Recycling’s very expensive. Companies are saving money while doing this, and getting a tax benefit from the donation. That’s allowed us to scale very quickly.”

Looking to the next phase for her business, Gonzalez says she and her team are working on building an app that could match generators with potential reuse partners, with filters for location, product, condition. They’re also working on an artificial intelligence platform to brainstorm sustainable reuse solutions.

Companies interested in partnering with Happen Ventures can reach out through the contact form on the company’s website.