The sustainable choice, Simply Green Recycling

In the foothills of Burke County, Isaac Crouch, owner of Simply Green Recycling, is making big strides in sustainability.

Simply Green Recycling is committed to making recycling more accessible and efficient, taking the business from just box trucks to a fleet of compactors, box trucks, and pickup trucks.

For many local residents, Simply Green’s signature royal blue bins and compactor trucks with the company logo have become familiar sights.

Simply Green is the area’s only private recycling company for residential recycling. The company’s service area consists of Burke, Caldwell, and areas in McDowell and Catawba counties.

The company’s five employees handle the demands of 1,600 to 1,700 customers, picking up recyclables every two weeks.

The local connection has been central to Simply Green’s success. The company recycles 35 to 40 tons of materials every month, adding up to nearly 480 tons annually.

“We’re able to provide a little bit more customer service, being a small business and being from here,” Crouch said. “We all live here and it’s like having that local touch. Our customers really seem to respond well to us.”

The company’s roots trace back to 2009, but Crouch took over from previous owners in 2019 wanting to grow and improve operations. The transition into using compacting trucks has been one of the company’s upgrades, allowing them to efficiently handle more materials. Compacting trucks can store up to three days worth of materials, Crouch said.

“That’s the standard way most recycling and trash programs work,” Crouch said.

Previous owners spent countless hours sorting materials by hand, loading material into box trucks, Crouch said.

To combat challenges previous owners faced, Simply Green contracts to Green For Life (GFL), a sorting facility in Wilkesboro. Crouch said the company travels to the sorting facility twice a week.

To reassure customers that items are being properly recycled, the company keeps customers up to date with quarterly newsletters and pictures and videos of their processes on social media.

The added price the company pays the sorting facility, has filtered down to customer rates. Simply Green’s monthly fee is $25 for a 60-gallon container and $35 for a 90-gallon container.

LOCAL/STATE EFFORTS

Burke County ranks 45 out of 100 in per capita household recycling. In fiscal year 2023-24 Burke County (including its municipalities) collected 62 pounds of household recycling per capita, according to Sandy Skolochenko, Recycling Program Development Coordinator at the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

“It is estimated that the average person generates 307 pounds of recycling each year, so there is much room for improvement,” Skolochenko said.

Skolochenko said we’ll see recycling grow in coming years due to landfills filling up in the state, making it more expensive to throw things away.

“Recycling is an important public service that residents want. It is an essential component of responsible waste management, redirecting materials back into beneficial economic use and providing residents the opportunity to comply with state landfill bans on aluminum cans and plastic bottles,” Skolochenko said.

Crouch is scheduled to speak on a panel at the Carolina Recycling Association Conference on March 24-27 in Wilmington. For more information on Simply Green Recycling, visit www.simplygreenrecycling.com.

To test the validity of the recyclable journey, in March 2024, an air tag was placed in a Simply Green recycling container to track materials. Click here for the story.