Maurice and Kenya Warren moved to Ooltewah from California and said they found no advertised curbside recycling services near their home.
"California forces you to recycle: they charge you for it at the store, and if you recycle you get some of it back, so we were used to recycling," Maurice Warren said.
The couple bought River City Recycling in May 2009 and now offer $15 per month weekly curbside recycling to homeowners, using their full-time jobs to fund the company's expansion. Every Saturday, they make the rounds in a special trailer, and then drop off the recyclable material at the Standifer Gap Recycling center.
"We want to keep stuff out of the landfill, and when you look at the economics of it, it makes sense," said Mr. Warren.
He and his wife are of one mind on the matter, often finishing each other's sentences when it comes to helping keep the planet clean.
"It's painful sometimes to drive around and see that trash on the side of the highway," Mrs. Warren said. "And you want to stop and pick it up," finished her husband, as Mrs. Warren nodded in agreement.
Recycling Frequently Asked Questions:Q: How many times can paper be recycled?A: seven to eight timesQ: Why do the plastic caps have to be thrown away?A: Plastic caps are made from a different type of plastic than the jugs or bottlesQ: How clean do containers need to be before I toss them into the recycling bin?A: A little residue at the top of a bottle is fine. Just try to remove all food bits.Q: What common products can be recycled?A: Cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, newspapers, notebook paper, magazines, milk jugs, plastic bottles, detergent bottles, aluminum and steel cansSource: Chattanooga Recycle Right, San Diego Environmental Services Department
River City counts 60 customers spread throughout the Ooltewah, Apison, Collegedale and North Chattanooga areas, and their short-term goal is to grow that number to 100.
"If we could grow to 100, that's where it will be profitable. At 350 that's where it becomes profitable enough where it replaces one of our jobs," Mr. Warren said.
They are all part of a grass-roots effort to widen recycling efforts locally, to fill in the gaps left by the city's free program and areas not serviced by other, established companies.
Brian Wiley founded the 10-customer Down 2 Earth recycling company around the same time Mr. and Mrs. Warren bought River City. Both he and the Warrens were inspired by Joe Fowlkes, an entrepreneur with more than 500 clients at his Scenic City Recycling.
"Whenever I decided to piggyback on what Joe and them were doing, there were several other recycling companies opening up," Mr. Wiley said. "I basically just kind of conceded it, and said that River City is doing what I want to do. We all have the same goal in mind, to make our city a little bit better, so there's no need to try to have everybody overlapping one another."
Mr. Fowlkes started serving the city of Chattanooga before the city itself began offering recycling services. Even though Chattanooga has started collecting recycled materials, Mr. Fowlkes still does a brisk business inside and outside of town.
"People get mad because the city won't take the glass," Mr. Fowlkes said. "And for some people its hard to keep up with which days they come out since its only twice a month, and if they don't get it out, they're stuck with a month's worth of stuff, and it piles up."
His next goal is to find a way to expand service to the business community.
"They want to be responsible as far as their waste, and they want their customers to know they're responsible," he said.
But these local efforts could face stiff competition from Allied Waste, a subsidiary of Republic Services and a leading waste management company in the United States, according to Bloomberg.
Allied Waste has announced that it soon will offer recycling services to more than 14,500 existing customers in the Hamilton County and North Georgia region beginning April 19, according to Bob Stone, sales manager for Allied Waste.
"We're incorporating customers on our most dense routes, and we are issuing them 95-gallon carts with an RFID tag, which will record the weight so that customer can receive rewards through a company called RecycleBank," he said.
While the company has no plans to offer service inside the city of Chattanooga, where city officials already offer free recycling, Mr. Stone said that it was "something we're entertaining."