Effortless Recycle

America Recycles Day went off without a hitch, as new local company, Effortless Recycling, teamed up with Texas Tech University Student Housing to help citizens recycle.

Morgan Provost assists her husband Don with company operations as they officially went into business Oct. 1.

She said their interest in recycling started years ago. Their concept was to create a recycling program in which people did not have to sort their own trash. The Friday event was to help showcase their services while helping citizens reduce their carbon footprints.

As the creative director of the website, she said she wanted to educate people by providing facts, including how to recycle electronic waste also known as E-Waste.

“There’s a lot of information out on the web and we’re just trying to make sure that people have the right information and understand that when you say plastic, it’s not all the same,” Provost said during the explanation of the company’s informational website.

Lubbock’s landfill, she said, is about seven times larger than the average sized landfill.

Effortless Recycling consultant Holly Rand said their goal is to reduce the amount of waste that goes into the landfill.

Rand said that while they did not participate in the university’s Game Day Challenge, they fully supported it because the thought of all the game-day trash makes her cringe.

“Think about how much trash is generated on that one day by 60,000 people. It makes you feel bad,” she said.

Rand said that in less than three hours, they had already filled up the bed of their truck and their 20 ft. trailer.

With rates starting at $30 a month and no contract, Rand said they have had a great response from the Texas Tech community, and they hope to branch out in the future by recruiting more schools and businesses while spreading their services to the eastern New Mexico region.

“We’re very mindful that this is a service and it’s not necessary, and therefore we try to be as customer-focused as possible,” she said, speaking of providing her customers with curbside service and trash bags for their recyclable waste.

Residential recyclable waste collector Joe Cordero said for him, one of the best things about this job is meeting new people on a daily basis.

“It’s pretty easy,” Cordero said. “We try to make it as effortless for the customer as possible.”

While a few of the collections began a month before their official debut, Cordero said he has been helping set up the warehouse since July.

He said on their first day they had a total of 43 customers. Today, he said that number has nearly doubled.

Provost said that they work with processing facilities that have high ratings from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, to make sure all E-Waste is recycled properly.

“We love Lubbock,” Provost said with a smile on her face. “We certainly hope to see this grow outside of Lubbock.”