Business Opportunities Weblog

August 8, 2008 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

The Carmi Times:

A Carmi couple may have found a niche business that is needed in the area. Bill and Kelli Chapman are offering a curbside pick-up service of certain recyclable waste.

Kelli told The Times during a Wednesday interview they are currently accepting customers and can be reached at 382-8619 or by e-mail at kelli@begreen-recycling.com. They also have a website at www.begreen-recycling.com.

Currently, customers are limited to within the city limits of Carmi, though the Chapmans hope that as the business grows, they can expand into the county.

The routes will begin in September with bi-weekly pick-up. Deposit bins will be delivered to customers by Sept. 9. Kelli said the system they are using is “single-stream recycling,” meaning the customer only has to deposit the recyclable material into one bin without sorting it. Kelli and Bill will pick it up from the customers’ curbside, take it to a location outside the city limits, sort it and deliver it to Southern Recycling Center in Carbondale. The fee for the service is $10 per month for residential customers, with an additional one-time $10 fee for additional bins. (The issued bins are 18-gallon-sized bins.) Commercial customers should call for a price quote.

Kelli said she has been recycling for some time and had been hauling her own recyclables to Carbondale. She recalled that when she and Bill lived in Havelock, N.C., someone there offered the curbside service. She decided to start one here after talking with friends and realizing many others also recycled but did not like making the trip to Carbondale since no local company offered a pick-up service.

“It’s a hassle to recycle,” Kelli said she told her husband. “Why can’t we find an easy way to do it?”

She said this business plan was hatched from that conversation.

“It’s good for your community, but it has a global impact,” Kelli said, adding that one of Southern Recycling’s biggest customers is China, which buys most of their recycled cardboard. “It’s good for children to see their parents taking care of the environment, too.”

Why charge for an environmentally friendly business? “We have labor, fuel and equipment costs,” Kelli explained. “But, at $10 per month, it is affordable.”

Bill Chapman is the son of Richard and Koann Chapman and is a 1988 graduate of Carmi-White County High School. He is a veteran of the first Gulf War, having been stationed in Saudi Arabia where he loaded bombs on to Harrier jets as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. Following his military service, Bill earned his nursing degree from Southeastern Illinois College and has worked as a registered nurse in the medical/surgical department at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind., for 10 years.

Kelli is the daughter of Mick and Susan Wenzel and is a 1989 graduate of CWCHS. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Indiana in both psychology and business. Kelli is currently working as a stay-at-home mom for the couple’s children, Bailey, 11, and Matthew, 3.

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Tags: Earth-Friendly, Family