When a Deal is NOT a Deal: Recycling
March 7, 2010 by Jenn
Filed under Community RoundUp, Deals, Saving Money
So the big news in Lawrence is that Deffenbaugh Recycling is coming to town. Everyone seems overjoyed that they can finally get curbside recycling…and for only $5 a month…what a deal!
Oh wait. We could already get curbside recycling in Lawrence….it is slightly more expensive. I pay $18/mo for weekly pick up and *GASP* I have to sort it myself. I use Sunflower Curbside Recycling and I am more than happy with the service I receive from these LOCAL folks.
When Deffenbaugh decided to come to town Chris Scafe, owner of Sunflower Curbside Recycling, sent out an email to all of his patrons. He had some great points…and I feel like sharing. Lucky me…its my blog and I can do that!
Chris says that Deffenbaugh offered to buy his business from him when they came to town. He also admits that he has toyed with the idea of service that offers “no sorting”. This is what he discovered:
“At first, I thought about buying my own trash truck to pick up single-stream recycling, then I visited the materials recovery facility to see for myself how the recyclables are sorted. I came away with concerns about the quality of their output because all the bales I witnessed were contaminated, for example, bales of newspaper also had aluminum, chipboard, and cardboard mixed in. ”
Chris says that contaminated bales are rejected by the buyers…and doubts that they are re-sorted once they are baled. I assume that bales of recycling that are not sellable will become trash…despite the good intentions of the patrons.
What does this mean? $5 a month seems like a great deal for curbside recycling. I’m the FIRST ONE to jump on a good deal. But in my opinion, this is NOT a good deal. If the recycling that you set out becomes trash anyway…you are paying a second business to pick up your trash.
It also seems a bit of a double edged sword: If you are not already recycling…I guess that any bit that gets through rather than sent to a landfill is progress. However…if you already recycle and you switch to a service like the one offered by Deffenbaugh, you will be moving backwards. Your previously recycled materials are now landfill fodder.
While their prices are not competitive at this stage of the game, here are some other ways that Sunflower Curbside Recycling is a better deal:
- Sunflower Curbside Recycling is a local company. Deffenbaugh was bought by a Credit Swisse a few years ago.
- SCR will pick up glass (Deffenbaugh will not).
- SCR picks up plastic bags.
- SCR does not require you to cut up your corrugated cardboard.
- SCR accepts ALL kinds of metals, not just cans.
- SCR picks up at commercial sites and at apartment complexes (Deffenbaugh will only serve single family residential sites).
I sincerely hope that everyone will recycle. I am also sincerely hoping that each person or family will put a little extra consideration into HOW they chose to recycle. Our family stands by Sunflower Curbside Recycling. The price may be higher but the assurance that my intended purpose is being fulfilled is greater to me than the price tag.
As for sorting your own materials. Really? It is NOT that difficult. The kids and I do it in about 5 minutes each week. I simply toss them different types into separate plastic bags. This also turns recycling into a teachable moment for my kids. They learn to sort and organize. They learn the value of recycling as we talk about WHY we are doing it every week (I have a toddler and a preschooler so yes, I answer this question EVERY week!). This makes it one heck of a good deal.
My husband and I signed up for recycling service with Deffenbaugh for one main reason: I tried for WEEKS to get Sunflower to call me back to no avail. While I agree with the majority of the points you made, my biggest concern was that it certainly seemed to me that Sunflower was not interested in getting my business or they would have returned the calls and emails I sent them. If they really did care that much about keeping their business local and satisfying the needs of the community, they should have done a lot more to get my business that I was willingly offering them!
That certainly is frustrating!! Thanks for sharing. I had that same problem with another recycling company in town some time ago….and I had been a previous customer of theirs!
Thank you so much for this post. I heard something about a recycling service in town for $5. After reading this I plan on sticking to my usual method. I have 4 plastic bins. My son and I sort as we go. Then about every 2 months we take these bins to the Walmart Recycling Center and dump them in the appropriate areas. This only takes about 10 minutes. It is super easy to recycle and I recommend it. I only have to put out the trash about once a month now.