This is the second part in our video series with Molok North America, exploring the waste management challenges faced by the US and Canada, and one of the technological solutions to make recycling and composting more convenient and efficient. If you want to start from the beginning, watch part one of The future of waste handling: In a perfect world.

Mark Hillis, CEO and President of Molok North America:

Sustainability from Molok’s perspective is…

You know our founder Marja used to say: ‘What are we trying to do? What’s our purpose?’ And our purpose is to change the world, and make it a better place.

When you think about sustainability in the forefront of those thoughts, it becomes really important from a social conscience perspective of our company, that we’re doing something that is important to us, important to the residents throughout the world, and important to the world itself.

Mark Hillis, CEO and President of Molok North America:

So Molok was founded by a gentleman in Finland, whose name is Veikko Salli. And Veikko was a mechanical engineer turned entrepreneur who was very good at building things. And subsequently was involved with building a bunch of hotels, sports centres, restaurants, that type of thing, through Scandinavia.

One day he was challenged – as the story goes – by the appearance of garbage in one of his hotel sites in Finland. And he got to thinking about that, and I think with the help of his wife Anja they came up with the concept of going semi-underground with the garbage. Which brought a whole host of advantages to it: from the scope of space-saving, aesthetics, animals, odours; all that type of thing.

Narrator:

In 1991, Veikko – together with his daughter, Marja – turned the semi-underground waste concept into a business. In the first two weeks the company sold 40 containers to the local road administration – before it had even produced a working model. They named the company Molok, after the mythical god with a mouth like a bottomless pit.

Mark Hillis, CEO and President of Molok North America:

At some point the concept of coming to North America with the Molok model, came into view. And I wasn’t part of the family at that point – but in discussion with Marja and Veikko it was decided that Marja would come over here to Canada.

And she did that with a one year old daughter, as a single mother. Started this company up, and just had so much drive to make things happen with it.

And it takes a certain character and a certain personality and a certain drive to be able to do that.

Finnish people – as I’ve learned, being married to one for that many years, and being many times in Finland – are driven by something that they call Sisu. The easiest way to describe it is a stubborn determination against all odds. And Marja I think accentuated the word and the concept of Sisu very strongly. And failure was nothing that ever came into her mind.

Mona Hillis, co-owner of Molok North America:

Well, it was like her baby. It was a part of her life for so long. And it was the whole reason her and I came to Canada; or a big part of the reason, I guess.

She started with just this little tiny office in her closet in Mississauga, and now it’s this huge company doing these amazing things. And it was just, it was really important to her. As a woman and a business leader, and an environmentalist. It was a huge vision.

Narrator:

Marja ran Molok North America until March 2018, when she passed away. Her daughter, Mona, now co-owns the company; along with Marja’s husband Mark, who stepped up from VP of Operations to take over as President.

In 2019 Molok North America will be marking 20 years of operation – and one year since its founder’s death. But it’s clear that Marja’s vision for the company lives on.

Mona Hillis, co-owner of Molok North America:

She always did things sometimes in an unusual way, that you kind of thought, well that’s not so conventional! But it always ended up working out. And I’d see that in every aspect of her life, too. She didn’t like the trodden path so much, and she kind of just did what she wanted. And she got that from her dad too; he’s the exact same way.

She taught me independence, and to really stand for what you believe in. She taught me the value of stubbornness – she was very stubborn in her ways, yet very open minded as well. So I think I’ve gotten a lot of her personality traits, which I’m super grateful for. Because she was so loved. And still is.

Mark Hillis, CEO and President of Molok North America:

So, the vision, the drive, the dream, the passion that she had for Molok, and for how she wanted it to change the world, really came into play throughout her leadership in this company. And it’s her drive, and her leadership, that set the stage for how we think as a global company, and the success that we’ve had.

Tim Corcoran, Vice President of Business Development for Molok North America:

I believe our reputation in the industry is one of a leader, one of creativity. In some industries they view companies as ‘disruptors,’ you know? It seems to be in the internet of things, every business is a disruptor.

We were a disruptor 27 years ago, and we continue to disrupt the industry. We’re changing the way the individual views containment systems; the way architects, developers, and the service companies do business.

Mark Hillis, CEO and President of Molok North America:

The traditional waste model in North America, and particularly in Canada where we have most of our experience, if you consider it in the sense of a triangle: where the waste collection companies, the experts in the industry, are at the top; the municipalities which govern waste collection are kind of in the middle of the triangle; and the people, the residents, are at the bottom of the triangle.

The municipalities look upward to the waste collection companies on how things should go with regards to waste collection, recycling, organics, diversion, that type of thing. Then they push it down to their residents.

We’ve been fortunate enough to take that triangle and turn it upside down. We’re putting the people, the end users, the people who use Molok containers at the top. They’re the decision makers, they’re the people who use the system that want to get the most out of it.

And they’re driving that downward through the municipalities into the big waste companies in North America. And that’s been really successful for us. Because that’s the voice. That’s the voice of the people.

And the people are educated. They understand what’s going on in the world today from a sustainability perspective. They have a vision for what future they would like their children, and their grandchildren, to see. And that fits very well with the concept of Molok.

Narrator:

Today, Molok North America has installations in Canada from Halifax to Vancouver. It’s also established containers in key US cities, and has launched a distribution partnership in Mexico.

Where one Molok container pops up, others quickly follow. Because from the user, to the property developer, to the city – the advantages of the Molok container are immediately obvious.

Watch part three of The future of waste handling: Doing what’s right.