Curbside Recycling Comes to Buena Vista
Articles - Business Feature

by: Dustin Heron Urbanlandfill

Now that the holiday season is officially here, Americans will once again kick their waste production into high gear.  Here’s a statistic to contemplate before you hit the mall this month: according to hotfact.com, Americans throw away up to 25% more garbage between Thanksgiving and the New Year than they do during the rest of the year.  That’s 5 million extra tons of trash, 4 million of which are believed to consist of wrapping paper and shopping bags—waste that could be recycled.  In Chaffee County,curbrecycle that means that we are expected to pack our landfill with roughly 580,000 extra pounds of trash this holiday season, 464,000 pounds of which we could easily recycle.  Fortunately for those of us who prefer not to see the landfill grow any quicker, helping to reduce the quantity of garbage headed for the Chaffee County landfill this season is easier than ever before.

Alex and Keri Godina started Curbside Recycles in August after they moved with their three children from Leadville to Salida.  When they discovered that there was no recycling pick up available, they decided to do something about it.  Their fledgling business now has around thirty customers in Salida and three in Buena Vista.  For a monthly fee of $17.50 in Buena Vista and $16.50 in Salida,* Alex will pick up your recycling each week, take it back to his barn in Salida for sorting and deliver it to Angel ofcardboard Shavano Recycling for processing.  Keri, meanwhile, takes care of phone calls from new and existing customers.  Currently Alex and Keri both have full time jobs in addition to their recycling business—Alex as a drywall contractor and Keri as a fifth grade teacher at the Salida Middle School.    

Salida and Buena Vista also have public drop-off locations which are good recycling options for residents.  The B.V. recycling center is located near the airport at 521 Greggrecyclesymbol Drive and accepts cardboard, newspaper, cans, clear glass, green glass, brown glass, office paper and plastic.  The main draw of Curbside Recycles is the convenience of a weekly pick up. Curbside transports customers’ recycling to Angel of Shavano Recycling, which accepts all plastics numbered 1-7, all colored and clear glass, tin and aluminum, office paper and junk mail (including paperboard and envelopes with plastic windows), and newspaper.  In our household, that means our recycling pick up is far larger than our weekly garbage production.  In fact, according to Keri, 84% of household waste can be recycled rather than sent to the landfill.

Asked what inspired them to start the business, Keri says that a primary concern was to provide their three children with good modeling.  Alex and Keri’s awareness of their responsibility to their children’s generation is evident in the fact that their oldest child is the voice of their company in their radio advertisement.  

According to Keri, Curbside Recycles is not all work, “it’s a feel-good business too.  It helps not trash the earth and keep the landfills minimal.”  But the Godinas can’t slow the growth of our landfill alone—they need our help.  With only three customers in Buena Vista, there is clearly room for growth here.  So maybe this holiday season, instead of giving your loved ones another gift whose packaging will be bound for the Chaffee County landfill, sign them up for Curbside Recycles and help create a more sustainable future for Chaffee County’s younger generation.  

As a community service, South Main will be signing people up for Curbside Recycles until March 1st.  Please call South Main at 395-4714 or stop by the office at 306 East Main Street to sign up. You can also contact Curbside Recycles directly by calling 719-293-0465.  

*Pick-ups are available anywhere in the county.  Prices are subject to the accessibility of your location.


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