Moving on up!

Hey guys, so I have been taking all of our material to RDS up at Hollins and tossing it into their bins. I do this because they accept glass while the county bins do not. So basically I pull my trailer up to the tiny bins outside the RDS factory and slowly dump all of our material. Meanwhile, huge recycling trucks from who knows where are driving right into the factory and ten minutes later are leaving.  And there I am moving back and forth from bin to truck, bin to truck, for a good 30 min. What is in this factory? How did they get in and out so quickly?  Well, now I know, because we got let in! We filled those bins up so quickly they didn't want to have to dump them as often, so they said, "Hey you, Star City Recycling! Stop filling up our bins! Come on inside and enjoy the fun!" It's recycling heaven in there. Mountains of paper and hills of plastic, metal cans, and glass and everyone is smiling and frolicking through the fields of recycled goodness. Why? Because what's better than recycling?

Keep up the good work!

Ed Arsura

Good News!

What a beautiful Memorial Day weekend! The sun is shining, people are out and about! It's a great weekend to remember the men and women who died for our country....USA! USA! USA!.... How can I relate this to recycling?

Well, there is Festival in the Park this weekend, being held at River's Edge. I hope all of you can get out there and enjoy it. People, food, and great bands, I can't wait to get there! Actually, you know what that sounds like? A lot of TRASH. Goodness, I can't even imagine. Paper whirling in the wind, plastic cups in bushes, and just a bunch of crazed non recycling people ruining all of our hard work! Those animals! What was I thinking? I should have been on that and placed some Star City Recycling bins around. This is my fault, I'll be ready for the next big Roanoke event.

But, some good news. Roanoke County contacted me the other week letting me know they are creating a list of curbside recycling services for people interested in recycling. They will be spreading the word FOR me! How awesome? Send them on over, recycling for everyone! Hopefully this does some great things for Roanoke County and Star City Recycling! Let's keep up the good work guys.

Thanks Roanoke and enjoy the weekend!

Ed Arsura

BestOf!

Take the day off of work! Pop the champagne! Then throw it in your recycling bin! Star City Recycling has placed first in "Best New Thing" and second in "Best Thing Not on the List". Check it out...Best of SW Roanoke County. 

I want to thank the academy and the audience and all my fans and God. But really, I want to thank all of you guys! You helped out so much. We really are turning Roanoke County green one blue bin at a time (some of you have black bins, I'm sorry)! Two recycling businesses, Star City Recycling and GPS Curbside Recycling placed in "Best Thing Not on the List". This is huge! It just shows that recycling is becoming a bigger part of the community. This may be the push we need to spread recycling further across Roanoke County. Thanks again everyone! Recycle that champagne bottle!

-Star City Recycling

I'm Buff!

1500 lbs recycled! This means I have lifted 1500 lbs with my bare hands! All at once! I'm buff, thanks to you!

I wish you could see the sorting process. When I started off with five customers, it took me 30 minutes to sort their material, now it takes me the same amount of time with 20 customers. It's become an art! You know how people get "in the zone". Oh my, I get in the zone. It's like a sport! I'm the Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and some other great athlete, of recycling! Send me to the olympics! When I sort, I don't even realize what I'm doing. It's like a blur of paper, plastic, metal cans, and glass. And my arms are like windmills grabbing and throwing, grabbing and throwing. And voila, hundreds of pounds sorted.

So thank you for recycling, and making me buff. Keep it coming!

Ed Arsura

Pinky Problem

On my pickups, I've noticed that the majority of the plastics recycled are grocery bags. It's an absurd amount. Even if something is recyclable, it's always better to reduce the amount of waste you produce. If you don't need it, find a way without it. If you go to the store to buy some gum, don't let them put it in a plastic bag, that is an unnecessary waste. You obviously can't do this when you are buying a ton of groceries, but don't worry, I have a plan. Reusable grocery bags!

They are extremely beneficial. One, you save a ton of plastic bags. Two, no more "pinky problem". You know what this problem is. It occurs when you get back from the grocery store. You pile all the bags in the palm of your hands until you can't take anymore. But wait, you see that there are three bags left. You look from where you are standing to your house door, and back again. You suddenly realize you are going to have to make two trips. Oh no. What to do? This isn't possible. You take a second to comprehend what is going on. You then get mad. "I can do it! No way am I making two trips! You don't own me plastic bags!" So you slowly extend your pinky finger and scoop up the rest of the bags. It's painful. Many of you will fail once you reach the door. If you do make it to the kitchen, it's not such a sweet victory, two trips would have been easier, and you wouldn't have gotten spaghetti pinkies. That is the "pinky problem". Just get yourself a couple of grocery bags. They are enormous, easy to carry, reusable, and they reduce on plastic bag waste. Win, win, win, win.

-Star City Recycling

Get Excited!

You can get kids excited about anything. I regularly visit an elementary school classroom and teach them about the benefits of recycling. I let them know what they can recycle and why they should keep these materials out of the landfill. This past week I congratulated them on how well they have been doing and told them they helped recycle over 400 pounds in three weeks. You wouldn't believe the response I received. They cheered, they clapped, they hugged! I'm pretty sure one boy started crying with tears of joy. And then a chant bursted out, "Mr. Ed! Mr. Ed! Mr. Ed!". Man, it was great.

If only we could get this excited about something so simple. Maybe we need to think about it differently. What works for me is looking at the numbers. When I lived out in Portland, Oregon, they picked up our trash once every TWO weeks. So much of our trash can be recycled! I see the progress here as well, every week. With 10 customers, over 400 pounds have been kept out of the landfill, in three weeks! That is huge! It may not seem like a lot at first, but it adds up. You are making a difference, you should be excited.

So the next time you're drinking out of a plastic bottle, cheer, clap, hug the stranger next to you, and toss it in the recycling bin. You kept one more item out of the landfill, and it's adding up. Oh, and feel free to start chanting my name.

-Star City Recycling

Blue Bins

Blue bins, blue bins everywhere! It was a great feeling seeing all those blue bins out on the curb today. It's starting to catch on. Soon people will start wondering, "Hey! What are those blue bins doing out on those people's front lawns?" or "Hey! What's Star City Recycling?" or "Hey! This is the best new business of 2013 and I should vote for them in the Roanoke Times so they can keep on recycling and making the world a better place!". And then it will really catch on like wildfire. And then I'll say, "Star City Recycling, making Roanoke County green, one blue bin at a time."

Spread the word!

-Star City Recycling

First Week

Roanoke County is moving slowly on the "Green" movement. Even with our neighboring cities working hard, we are still behind the times. We're like a trashy oasis in the middle of a recycling desert. That wasn't a very good example. We're like the little engine that could, but going the wrong way. "I won't recycle! I won't recycle! I won't recycle!" That might not be any better but you know what I mean. Recycling is not on top of Roanoke County's to-do list. I can't say they don't care, but I can say they don't care enough.

February 1st marks my first week running Star City Recycling, a curbside service that sorts and transports your recyclables for you. I quickly gained 5 customers who were eager for my service, but the thing was, 4 of them already recycled. They were a part of the 30% of Roanoke County that does recycle. They wanted my service because it was a hassle to sort and transport their materials. When you do recycle, you produce enough material to be put in a 32 gallon bin. Who wants to lug that thing around? You also have to sort it! It's no wonder that our recycling rates are so low.

The hard part is getting the customers that don't recycle. Many times when I explain to someone what I'm trying to do, that I'm trying to get people to recycle, I see fear in their eyes. They glance up, down, and all around looking for a way to escape. I think this is because we all know recycling is important, but we don't know how easy it can be, which often frightens us and leads us to hoping someone else will do it. I can hear Roanoke County yelling right now, "Hey Salem, Vinton, and Roanoke City! You're doing an awesome job! We're cheering you on right here from the sidelines!"

It's time to get the word out, "It's Easy!" If it's paper, plastic, metal cans, or glass it's recyclable! Yes there are some exceptions, but I promise it's very easy.

Ed Arsura

Star City Recycling