Creative Re-Purposing from one of our customers

Cathy, one of our Recycle Clarksville customers, sent me an email recently showing me one of the projects she has been working on. This is one of the reasons I love this job. I get to see some of the coolest stuff people do in the name of being responsible stewards of the environment. She made took some stuff from her garage, the New Spring Thrift Shop, PDI Thrift Shop, Goodwill, and the Habitat Restore. Nothing was bought new, all re-purposed items.

Its amazing what you can make with other peoples "stuff." Thanks for sharing your wonderful work of art and crafts-woman-ship Cathy! 

In the five years that Recycle Clarksville has been running curb side pick up routes, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of people, organizations and businesses that have green values. This past year I started to think about ways these different pockets of people could somehow become aware of each other, and maybe even collaborate on some kind of mutually beneficial project.

This past month me and my wife have been building a new website called Go Green Clarksville. This site is looking to create awareness about local options for green living. If its green, and it's in Clarksville, we want it to be on the site. So take a look at it. If there there is something or someone that you think should be on the site, let us know. We are looking for as many options for green living in Clarksville as possible.

Recycling and Local Businesses

One of the upsides of offering both residential and business recycling services is that we get to interact with a lot of local businesses. Most big businesses already have the infrastructure to recycle built into their facilities and business plans. The smaller, more local businesses actually have to get creative with how they steward their waste. Right now, we have about 15 businesses who use our services. Not all of them are locally owned, but most of them are. In fact, some of these locally owned businesses are new start ups! 

As a locally owned and operated start up business, we too know what it is like to navigate the start up costs like marketing, equipment, products and legal fees. One of the values of our company is social innovation, which means we want to empower people who are participating in making the community a better place to live. One of the ways we help to empower those businesses that use our services is to list them on our website under the Green Businesses tab. Hopefully, these local start ups, as well as the other businesses that use Recycle Clarksville will not only gain respect from the community for their commitment to the environment, but also gain new business.

If you value taking care of the environment, make a special effort to purchase products and services from other local businesses that share your values. The next post will be about a new website we have created to make the city more aware about the options for Green living in Clarksville. 

Recycle Clarksville Kickball Team...2011

Yeah I know, this is super late, but we cleaned out our office this week, an I came across this trophy that the Recycle Clarksville kickball team won in 2011. We had a blast playing kickball with the Parks and Recreation. We might do it again, who knows. Then there is a picture of the original team in 2010. The team in 2011 was not much different.

HSC, the economy and Recycle Clarksville

One of the things about doing business in a city with a transient population is that you have to flexible and adaptable. The military cycles of deployment and PCS'ing definitely impact our business. They present both challenges and opportunities. Like most things that impact you, it depends on how you both interpret and respond to it that determines whether it becomes an opportunity or an obstacle.

The recent decision of Hemlock to lay off 300 employees in Clarksville has definitely affected our business. We are having a significant amount of people canceling service. Whether it is relocation, new budgets, or just general uneasiness about the economy, we are experiencing a significant "opportunity" here at Recycle Clarksville. I have chosen to see this as an opportunity in several ways.

1. It puts pressure on us to provide a higher quality of service.
2. It motivates us to become more proactive in advertising.
3. It is forcing us to slim up our operating budget and become more efficient.

In spite of the advantages we are squeezing out of this situation, I am still mindful of the people and families that actually moved to Clarksville just to work for/with HSC. They are facing significantly greater challenges than Recycle Clarksville at this time, so my heart goes out to them.

We press on here at Recycle Clarksville because, in the end, it is not just about the money for us. We are motivated by a moral obligation to provide convenient and affordable curbside pick up to Clarksville. Yes, we get paid to do it, but if you think we are getting rich off this gig, just take a look at our equipment. We are definitely not going big time with this. We would like to, but the capital and revenue is just not there. That being said, it is enormously rewarding to be able to make recycling more accessible in the city. I get a lot of satisfaction when I think about how much "trash" is being diverted away from the landfill because of what we, and our customers, are doing. The ultimate payment is in the pursuit of our values. 

Lobbying for Recycling at the Tennessee State Legislature General Assembly

I recently went to a fantastic conference in Franklin TN hosted by the Tennessee Recycling Coalition (TRC). Aside form the regular perks of a conference (netowrking, exposure, education etc.) this conference had a unique, hands on experience. They wrapped up the conference by inviting people to come to the Recycling Day at the Legislature. TRC, in partnership with the South East Recycling Development Council (SERDC) sponsored a breakfast for the senators and representatives of Tennessee.

I am neither a lobbyist, nor the son of a lobbyist. But today, I actually "lobbied" for the House Bill 945 which is seeking to prohibit aluminum cans and plastic bottles from going it into the landfills of TN. What an experience! Most of the politicians I talked with were either neutral or against it, but there was one politician from district 74 who I was really impressed with.

Representative John Tidwell took quality time out of his schedule to explain several aspects of the political process to me. He highlighted several factors related to implementing this kind of bill that most people don't think about. He even told me some pointers about lobbying in that venue. This guy is a true statesmen, and takes his job as a representative seriously. While I was disheartened by the majority of the politicians attitude towards recycling, I walked away from this experience with a great deal of respect for this representative, and the character he brings to his office. He demonstrated a keen awareness of the systemic challenges of recycling in TN, and the plethora of options that could be pursued to divert waste form the landfills. Needless to say, if you go to his profile page at the previous link, this guy is not fresh into game. He is a seasoned politician. However, his years had not diminished his passion or his burden for the state of TN. You could tell he wrestles repeatedly with the issues facing our state, and his district.

Recycle Clarksville Softball Team

We sponsored our first softball team this year. I really enjoy giving back to the community with this business. It does make the job I do more meaningful in the long run. 

Here is a picture of the team.