Firm to offer Q.C. residents curbside recycling

Recycling will be a little more convenient for Queen Creek residents come January. That's when Mountain View Recycling, the first curbside recycling business to come to the town, plans to start offering its service to homeowners wanting to contract with the company.

Queen Creek doesn't have curbside garbage or recycling pickup, meaning residents have to figure out their own way to get rid of waste.

Since the nearest county landfill at Riggs and Hawes roads closed in 2007, that means carting trash to a landfill outside of the town or contracting with a private garbage company to pick up trash is either done individually or through a homeowners association. In a solid waste survey conducted by the town, 77 percent of respondents said they contract with a company to pick up trash.

It also means if residents want to recycle, they have to find a facility for bottles, cans and cardboard or drop off paper in one of the Abitibi bins throughout the town.

While the solid waste survey indicated that at least eight companies contract for trash pickup in Queen Creek, town officials, residents and Mountain View's owners say they haven't heard of a similar service for recycling.

"It is a little surprising that others haven't offered this or thought of this," said Mountain View owner and president Deborah Paterick. "But that also provides an opportunity."

Queen Creek is in the process of looking for its own curbside recycling service. The City Council is accepting proposals from companies interested in offering curbside trash and recycling pickup, bulk waste pickup, neighborhood dropoff recycling points and other services, said Shane Dille, deputy town manager.

A contract is scheduled to go to the council for a vote April 15, although it will likely take longer for service to actually start, Dille said.

Mountain View wants to fill in that gap until the town's service starts. The business is owned by Chandler residents Deborah and Ryan Paterick and Bea Rocklin.

Ryan's father, Jim Paterick, has run Normacycle, a recycling company in Wisconsin, for about 20 years, Deborah said.

The Patericks moved to Arizona seven years ago, but only found out recently that some towns don't have curbside recycling when a few friends moved to Queen Creek.

"We were kind of surprised because we were so used to it," Deborah said.

Seeing a need, the Patericks thought they had a good opportunity to open a branch of Jim's business in Arizona. The fledgling Mountain View Recycling will use some of Normacycle's equipment and Jim Paterick will manage his company from Arizona while he helps Mountain View start up, Deborah said.

The company's first target will be Queen Creek, although they also have eyes on Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Johnson Ranch and other small areas in the East Valley that don't have recycling services or aren't in townships, said Rocklin, the company's vice president and account manager.

Mountain View plans to charge a $20 nonrefundable deposit for a recycling bin, then $10 a month for curbside recycling pickup.

Rocklin said the price could change in a few years as the company grows and gets contracts larger than individual homeowners. But for now, she said, the goal is to educate the community on the importance of recycling and offer a needed service.

"As we're coming into those communities, they don't have anything now," she said. "It works. Our business model is strong."

Rocklin said she's received a warm reception in Queen Creek. HOAs and individuals in town have indicated at least 160 to 200 people are interested, although the company wasn't planning to allow the general public to start signing up until Monday.

A few people who have expressed great interest contracted with the company late this week, the first being David Brandhorst.

Brandhorst and his family moved to Queen Creek from Maryland in early July. His family was used to recycling and saw bins in other local cities, so they figured just about every community offered it.

"They offered recycling in Chandler and Gilbert. Queen Creek is young and doesn't have recycling yet, and I didn't know that," Brandhorst said.

The family couldn't bring themselves to throw away their recyclables, so Brandhorst has been driving to the Abitibi Bowater recycling center in Chandler once a week to drop his off.

"Not having to drive 20 miles one way to do my recycling will be a thrill," Brandhorst said.

Jackie Lawlor, HOA president of the Queen Creek Ranchettes Phase Three, also is interested in bringing the service to her neighborhood.

Lawlor's family brings paper items to recycling bins around town and sends along other items when neighbors stop by a recycling plant. Other neighbors give their recyclables to friends living in Mesa or Chandler to put in their own curbside recycling bins.

"People aren't going to (recycle) unless it's convenient," Lawlor said. "I think people would do it more if it was convenient."

Dille said having an independent curbside recycling service in town could be a good thing, especially if the council ultimately decides to forgo door-to-door pickup in favor of neighborhood recycling centers. But he cautioned that residents will have to get out of all their own waste and recycling pickup contracts if the town hires a curbside pickup company.

Deborah Paterick said she knows Queen Creek's plans and is planning to put in a bid to offer the town's curbside service. And she will keep up with what Queen Creek ultimately decides to do.

"We're not going to hold everyone to a contract or anything, because we know the city is looking at that," Paterick said. "We just want to start service as soon as possible."

For more information, visit http://mountainviewrecycling.com