Conveniently Green

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By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Photo by Adam Vogler

Green Door Recycling is a family operation. Clockwise from top, Rick Hillary and Amy Becker are all involved in the curbside recycling business.

The Becker family is trying to make Emporia “conveniently green.”

Amy Becker has been on the recycling advisory board and wanted to do more to encourage people to send their recyclables to be re-used instead of loading up the landfill.

“It just didn’t seem like it was easy to recycle,” Becker said.

She and her husband, Rick, decided they could help change that, by starting a new business, Green Door Recycling.

“We knew that it was going to be a while before the city was able to do it,” Becker said of the new service. “We thought we’d just take the step.”

They started on Jan. 1 with 10 friends as customers and found that the new business sprouted quickly as others began to pile on-board.

“It’s grown pretty fast,” she said. “... We signed 3 (new customers) today and 7 last week.”

Since January, they have collected more than 4 tons of recyclables like pop bottles, tin cans, cardboard, junk mail, magazines, newspapers and other items that most often are tossed into the trash.

“We don’t get paid for the recyclables,” she said. “We just get paid for picking it up.”

Residential service costs $15 per month for bi-weekly pick-ups; business pick-ups are based on the needs of the individual businesses.

“Our thing is, we provide the bins with the deposit, and we’ll provide the sorting for you,” Becker said. “We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for people.”

Bins must be at customers’ curbs by 8 a.m. on pick-up days, which are on weekends for residential customers. Recyclables need to be “reasonably clean” and empty. Plastic lids need to be removed and thrown away in the trash, but labels may be left on. Shredded paper needs to be bagged and cardboard boxes broken down and flattened.

Green Door’s Web site, www.greendoorrecycling.com, is set up for enrolling customers and making on-line bill payments and is packed with information about recycling, as well. One segment explains why it’s important to recycle:

“It makes a huge difference to our environment, our quality of life, and our future. The waste disposal problem is complex, involving scientific, technical, economic, and social factors,” it said. “Yet unlike many other environmental issues, this is one that can be tackled by individuals.”

The goods collected for recycling can be turned into other products, Becker said. Glass bottles become new glass bottles and marbles; aluminum cans can be recycled almost indefinitely into other aluminum cans. Steel cans can be recycled into items like car parts, construction materials and other steel products. Some grades of paper can be recycled up to seven times, the Web site said.

Plastic bottles hold a wealth of potential for recycling. They can be used in making carpet, clothing, auto parts, new bottles and fiber filling for sleeping bags and jackets, the site said.

The site is updated weekly with new figures for the pounds of recyclables collected, recycling facts, and links to other environmental Web sites.

As interest in recycling has grown here this year, Green Door has begun to grow beyond residential service.

“We’ve actually started to pick up businesses, which kind of surprised me,” Becker said.

Those accounts are picked up as-needed, apart from the regular weekend residential routes.

“So, it’s taking up my lunch hour, evenings, weekends,” she said, laughing.

Becker, the former Amy Kurzen, was born and reared in Emporia and works at Birch Telecom. Rick Becker was transplanted from Milwaukee, Wis., about 20 years ago, and works at Newman Regional Health.

Rick’s daughter, Hilary, also has become involved in environmental issues and works with the family in the new business.

“She’s very much a tree-hugger now,” Amy Becker said.