QUALITY TIME
between business and
environment."
Lawes holds a techni-
cal diploma in fisheries and
aquaculture from Vancouver
Island University (1996) and a
bachelor's degree in environ-
mental management from
Royal Roads University (1999).
He stayed active in the Island's
soccer community throughout
his academic years, first as a
part of
VIU's college team and
later through various leagues
and clubs. He found himself on
the administrative side a few
years ago when he joined the
board of the Vancouver Island
Soccer League (
VISL).
"I've been playing for prob-
ably close to 50 years," he says.
"Which is kind of crazy, when
you think about it."
In 2020, Lawes became
president of one of the old-
est soccer clubs in Canada:
Victoria West FC. Established
in 1896, the adult club (which
currently encompasses 11 indi-
vidual teams with player age
sets ranging from 18 to 60+)
has won national champion-
ships and has been recognized
by both the B.C. Soccer Hall of
David Lawes's connection
to nature and the outdoors can
be traced back to his childhood
years in Sidney: he loved riding
his bike down Beacon Avenue
to catch crabs on the dock and
spending frigid Saturday morn-
ings playing soccer outside.
That same interest has influ-
enced his career, too: prior to
taking over as
CEO of Victoria-
based Interchange Recycling
(formerly the BC Used Oil Man-
agement Association) in 2014,
Lawes oversaw recycling and
waste management programs
at the provincial Ministry of En-
vironment (this was before the
ministry added "climate change
strategy" to its name). And
even before that, one of the first
jobs he ever had was working
as a fisheries consultant looking
at sockeye salmon in remote
lakes in B.C.
"I've done a lot of field-
work in the environment,"
says Lawes, "and now I've
really beefed up the business
side and got some education
around it. I just think it's so
important for everybody to
understand this interface
CLEAN
GOALS
How Interchange Recycling
CEO and Vic West Soccer
president David Lawes
plays the field between
work and passion
by Rushmila Rahman
W E E K E N D W A R R I O R
55
B C B U S I N E S S . C A
A P R I L
2 0 24 L illi e L o ui s e M aj o r
Victoria-based
Interchange Recycling
recycles used oil,
antifreeze and other au-
tomotive products. The
not-for-profit celebrated
20 years in business
in 2023 and changed
its name from the BC
Used Oil Management
Association to mark a
change in the organiza-
tion's history: it is now
aiming to recycle every
fluid container you'd
see in an automotive
store, says CEO David
Lawes, and is growing
its services to keep up
with evolving automo-
biles. "The electrifica-
tion of the fleet is going
to mean that our mem-
bers like Honda are
going to need different
services in the future
than they need today,"
says Lawes.
WARRIOR SPOTLIGHT
