What It Means To Be Green

GarbageMan
What it means to be "Green"

"Green" seems to be the buzzword of this decade. Some people believe the focus on green initiatives will push new technologies and programs that will revolutionize our dependence on fossil fuels, pollution and foreign oil. That the, "Green," wave will be the means to ending the long recession and bring about a boom similar to the Dot.com era. Others believe it is just a load of crap.

For sure businesses have taken notice. Some companies have made genuinely "Green" initiatives and advancements. Some companies have simply taken the, "Green," label and stuck it on their products or services with no substance behind it.

The biggest question we get is; "what makes GarbageMan, "Green?"

As a company we have thought a lot about this; what directions to take, what is substantial and what is purely fluff. After much debate a consensus has taken place at our company and it is one we would like to share with our customers.

Our goal at GarbageMan is to reduce the amount of garbage thrown away by our customers by 20% and to increase recycling by the same amount. It is a simple and measurable goal but one we feel is achievable and will do the most for the cities we serve in.

According to the Clean Air Council each of us generates an average of 3 pounds of garbage per day. The average number of pounds of garbage thrown away per 100,000 customers is about 110 million pounds. Reducing this by 20% results in 22 million pounds of garbage that will be diverted from land-fills. This is something tangible that GarbageMan and its customers can be proud of.

This is our number one "Green" initiative and we will make no secrets about it as we hope our competitors will do the same. So, how can we do it?

In partnership with our customers; it is your garbage after all.

By providing feedback on your bill on the amount of trash you threw away that period and prior billing cycles. In addition we will provide the average amount thrown away for your community as a whole. It has been proven that feedback alone can affect a positive change. Excel energy provides feedback on energy usage and people use less energy as a result. Recycle-bank proved recycling increases in cities they offer feedback on the amount recycled.

Tying rewards to those customers that reduce their waste. There are a lot of local companies that are more than willing to provide a free cup of coffee or $5.00 in groceries to be associated with reducing waste.

This is the basis of our program. It is actually trickier than it sounds as we have had to invest in the technology that will allow us to weigh and report each customer's results. GarbageMan has invested in on-board computers that allow the data to be captured and transferred to customer's bills. We have devised our own scales that can accurately measure each can and send the data to the computer. The computers are on all our trucks and in the coming months each truck will be outfitted with scales. Once this is done we will be able to collect our baseline data and then launch the program to all our customers.

Our other "Green" initiatives:

In Colorado we have helped launch Phair Boys Recycling. The idea was born out of a fathers desire to find something his Autistic son could excel at. Phair-boys picks-up electronics, appliances, and other items that should not be in a landfill and recycles them at no charge to GarbageMan customers. Our next step is to partner Phair Boys with day work centers for the developmentally and physically challenged in Colorado and across the country. Imagine a convenient and responsible way to recycle your electronics that will put people with mental and physical challenges to work. We are very excited and proud of this partnership!

In Colorado we were the first Garbage Company to offer recycling as a free component of our garbage collection. As a result we have seen recycling increase 500% from our first days collecting to present. An owner/operator of one of our Colorado franchises related this story: A new customer was putting out five cans of trash every week. Our owner/operator took the time to show this customer how much of her, five cans of garbage, was recycling. The following week she had 1 ½ cans of garbage and 3 cans of recycling!

The one unexpected benefit of putting our company out there as "Green," is the number of opportunities that are brought to us. We have been exposed to a variety of initiatives; some great and some not so much. This helps broaden our knowledge to what is possible and we would like to extend that to you as well. If you have any ideas on how we can improve, let us know, we appreciate it!

Lastly, GarbageMan chooses to stay out of the whole "environmental" debate. It is so much noise a person or a company easily gets lost in it. We have a simplified philosophy which is:

"It is a good thing to take care of your surroundings and
Wastefulness is not a virtue."

We think that is something we can all agree on.

Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood GarbageMan




		GarbageMan What it means to be "Green" "Green" seems to be the buzzword of this decade. Some people believe the focus on green initiatives will push new technologies and programs that will revolutionize our dependence on fossil fuels, pollution and foreign oil. That the, "Green," wave will be the means to ending the long recession and bring about a boom similar to the Dot.com era. Others believe it is just a load of crap. For sure businesses have taken notice. Some companies have made genuinely "Green" initiatives and advancements. Some companies have simply taken the, "Green," label and stuck it on their products or services with no substance behind it. The biggest question we get is; "what makes GarbageMan, "Green?" As a company we have thought a lot about this; what directions to take, what is substantial and what is purely fluff. After much debate a consensus has taken place at our company and it is one we would like to share with our customers. Our goal at GarbageMan is to reduce the amount of garbage thrown away by our customers by 20% and to increase recycling by the same amount. It is a simple and measurable goal but one we feel is achievable and will do the most for the cities we serve in. According to the Clean Air Council each of us generates an average of 3 pounds of garbage per day. The average number of pounds of garbage thrown away per 100,000 customers is about 110 million pounds. Reducing this by 20% results in 22 million pounds of garbage that will be diverted from land-fills. This is something tangible that GarbageMan and its customers can be proud of. This is our number one "Green" initiative and we will make no secrets about it as we hope our competitors will do the same. So, how can we do it? In partnership with our customers; it is your garbage after all. By providing feedback on your bill on the amount of trash you threw away that period and prior billing cycles. In addition we will provide the average amount thrown away for your community as a whole. It has been proven that feedback alone can affect a positive change. Excel energy provides feedback on energy usage and people use less energy as a result. Recycle-bank proved recycling increases in cities they offer feedback on the amount recycled. Tying rewards to those customers that reduce their waste. There are a lot of local companies that are more than willing to provide a free cup of coffee or $5.00 in groceries to be associated with reducing waste. This is the basis of our program. It is actually trickier than it sounds as we have had to invest in the technology that will allow us to weigh and report each customer's results. GarbageMan has invested in on-board computers that allow the data to be captured and transferred to customer's bills. We have devised our own scales that can accurately measure each can and send the data to the computer. The computers are on all our trucks and in the coming months each truck will be outfitted with scales. Once this is done we will be able to collect our baseline data and then launch the program to all our customers. Our other "Green" initiatives: In Colorado we have helped launch Phair Boys Recycling. The idea was born out of a fathers desire to find something his Autistic son could excel at. Phair-boys picks-up electronics, appliances, and other items that should not be in a landfill and recycles them at no charge to GarbageMan customers. Our next step is to partner Phair Boys with day work centers for the developmentally and physically challenged in Colorado and across the country. Imagine a convenient and responsible way to recycle your electronics that will put people with mental and physical challenges to work. We are very excited and proud of this partnership! In Colorado we were the first Garbage Company to offer recycling as a free component of our garbage collection. As a result we have seen recycling increase 500% from our first days collecting to present. An owner/operator of one of our Colorado franchises related this story: A new customer was putting out five cans of trash every week. Our owner/operator took the time to show this customer how much of her, five cans of garbage, was recycling. The following week she had 1 ½ cans of garbage and 3 cans of recycling! The one unexpected benefit of putting our company out there as "Green," is the number of opportunities that are brought to us. We have been exposed to a variety of initiatives; some great and some not so much. This helps broaden our knowledge to what is possible and we would like to extend that to you as well. If you have any ideas on how we can improve, let us know, we appreciate it! Lastly, GarbageMan chooses to stay out of the whole "environmental" debate. It is so much noise a person or a company easily gets lost in it. We have a simplified philosophy which is: "It is a good thing to take care of your surroundings and Wastefulness is not a virtue." We think that is something we can all agree on. Sincerely, Your friendly neighborhood GarbageMan

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