When Riley Dewan worked for oil and gas companies, he saw a lot of waste. At one company, he saw anywhere from 10 to 40 pairs of gloves being thrown out every day.
“The crew members that I was working with, they would grab a pair of gloves in the morning, go out and work for about three or four hours, get a little bit of mud on them, and then they would come back for lunch, throw them in the garbage, then grab another pair before they go back out,” he says.
And for the Métis entrepreneur, the experience planted a seed — Dewan is passionate about sustainability and knew the industry needed to change. This led to the start of Dewan’s business Circular Supply, which combines both recycling and manufacturing of PPE.
“It created this whole circular economy, closed loop PPE process for safety gloves and all personal protective equipment,” Dewan explains.
At Circular Supply, companies can purchase sustainable safety gloves and recycle industrial PPE. Dewan’s business also incentivizes employers to recycle their PPE by offering a rebate system; for every kilogram recycled, companies earn credits towards future purchases.
“People dread having copycats, but I have my fingers crossed that there’s more businesses that start to do what I’m doing,”
Dewan explains there are three steps to his recycling process. Lightly used items are sanitized and donated. The second option is to keep materials that he can use for research and development. And finally, when necessary, Dewan will send materials to a third-party recycler to be repurposed.
“The way that I’m handling PPE has never been done before,” says Dewan. “I look at this as a movement and not a business. It’s bigger than me.”
“People dread having copycats, but I have my fingers crossed that there’s more businesses that start to do what I’m doing, not only in Canada, but also global.”
Dewan only launched Circular Supply’s recycling program on Jan. 1, 2026, but he’s already got big dreams for the future of the company. Currently, five per cent of every pair of gloves sold is donated to charity, but Dewan hopes to donate more in the future.
“I want to be able to provide enough support to different kinds of environmental and community growth charities that I can make a real impact on. On top of that, the more obvious one would be having a large amount of personal protective equipment diverted from our landfills,” he says.
Although he’s only launched this year, he’s already seeing profits. Dewan posted a video on his LinkedIn recapping the journey so far, highlighting that he’s invested almost $50,000 into the business. But since the Jan. 1 launch, the video says he’s already made $3,783.
“If you have a dream, you’ve got to invest time, money, and effort to achieve it,” his caption says.
Going forward, Dewan hopes to see a change in the industry with the help of Circular Supply. He encourages businesses to do “simple little things” to be more sustainable.
“I think waste and sustainability is an overlooked thing in a lot of businesses. There are solutions and alternative options to the way we do things today,” he says.
“Just being more cognizant of the things we do and the purchases that we make and the stuff we throw out is an important thing.”
Feature image via LinkedIn
