Clear Motive

Beyond the profit motive, conserving or sustaining natural resources is often given as a reason why an entrepreneur has chosen the recycling industry in which to start a business.

Chris Martin, the founder and president of Seattle-based CleanScapes, has entered the recycling industry because of a desire to make urban neighborhoods more appealing places to live.

There is a sustainability aspect, says Martin, because living in cities can provide an alternative to suburban sprawl. So Martin has been doing his part to make cities more attractive places to live by offering CleanScapes’ unique combination of services.

 TAKING BACK THE ALLEYS

CleanScapes, Martin says, "was founded in 1997 to enhance the residential and commercial sustainability of urban neighborhoods through innovative and efficient waste reduction and streetscape management services."

CleanScapes offered what it calls its "Clear Alleys/Dumpster-Free Program," designed to eliminate the bins and containers from the alleys while also "promoting increased waste diversion."

Many of the stakeholders in the near-downtown neighborhood appreciated the CleanScapes vision, says Martin. "The neighborhood was fairly supportive, and actually there was already a neighborhood plan from the 1980s that had asked property owners to develop alternative waste management programs to return alleys to their intended pedestrian and utilitarian purposes."

Seattle’s city government was supportive as well, says Martin, and "ultimately gave us a grant as a pilot project."

There isn’t anything revolutionary about what CleanScapes does, according to Martin. "What we do is collect things at the curb in color-coded bags: blue for recycling, green for garbage and orange for compost," he says. "We do this in places where previously 15 to 20 [bins] were placed in each alley, often leaking and graffiti-covered, with inappropriate behavior taking place behind them. The phrase, ‘I wouldn’t want to meet that guy in a dark alley’ comes to mind."

The "before and after" difference in the alleys is noticeable, according to Martin. "Now, police have lines of sight down the alleys, fire engines can get in and out, and delivery truck drivers can make deliveries without stepping over who knows what on their way to the door."

For Martin, the goal was making the central city a better place to live and work. "One of the big goals, from a sustainability perspective, is we want people to live in urban settings; one of the reasons people don’t is because they are dirty and perceived as unsafe."

In founding CleanScapes as a way to improve urban alleys and streets, Martin also became a contract hauler of solid waste and recyclables.

Through its Clear Alleys program, CleanScapes became familiar with collection, route scheduling and hauling, and the company has increased its activity in those sectors throughout this decade.

The company now has two sizable municipal collection contracts—one with the city of Shoreline, Wash., and the other serving portions of the city of Seattle.

In addition to collecting solid waste and compostable materials, the company collects what Martin calls commingled recyclables for processing at MRFs run by other companies. Additionally, CleanScapes accepts commingled construction and demolition debris that is taken to its CDL Recycle facility.

At CDL Recycle, "we sort commingled C&D debris consisting of materials such as wood, metal, cardboard, drywall and plastic," says Martin. Seattle’s recycling ethic combined with its industrial infrastructure means the secondary commodities pulled from the mix do not have to travel far, says Martin. "We just sort the material and, really within a couple of miles, every commodity can be taken to a processor or a consumer."

Entering the C&D recycling business was not one of the company’s original goals, says Martin. "We first got involved when, looking at city, state and King County solid waste plans, we saw gaping holes regarding goals for recycling C&D materials and a lack of processing facilities," he comments. "Landfill companies really have no incentive to pull those materials out from going to the landfill, especially if they have a gate rate of $100 per ton like here in Seattle—it’s a nice margin," Martin continues. "Why would they spend $5 million to $7 million in capital to build a C&D recycling facility with lower margins?"

Similarly, CleanScapes was not about to expend capital for that reason. "We got started really small, dumping in our lot and sorting loads by hand—and it was very profitable, actually," says Martin. "We have since installed a sort line and have an excavator and other heavy equipment, but we are still limited to just 150 tons per day."

That limitation means CDL Recycle stops accepting material as early as 1 p.m. on some days, to some extent a victim of its own success.

In the case of curbside materials and C&D, Martin says of CleanScapes, "We don’t specialize in materials." In addition to focusing on more pleasing streetscapes and alleyways, Martin says the company’s emphasis is on customer service.

When asked what sets CleanScapes apart from other waste and recycling collection companies, Martin replies, "CleanScapes answers the phone." While acknowledging that there is some sarcasm involved with that answer, he adds, "Seriously, I think our greatest differentiator is customer service."

He continues, "Most of our competitors in our region, I think if you call their call center, there is almost no way your call is getting answered in less than five minutes, and it can be up to 20 minutes in a lot of cases."

The CleanScapes call centers in Seattle and Shoreline have metrics that are measured and discussed along with every other aspect of the business at weekly meetings. "The expectation is that our call center will answer calls within 20 seconds," says Martin.

College graduates staff call center customer service positions, a requirement that offers positive aspects including minimal data entry errors and what Martin describes as "a culture of understanding what it’s like to sit at a desk and work and be responsible for your work."

The call centers’ performance criteria and hiring requirements exemplify the business philosophies cited by Martin as being critical. "There are really only two things that matter to success in any business: The customer is always right and hiring excellent people," he states.

"I can’t say enough about hiring the right people," Martin continues. "Nothing will make or break a company faster than the men and women serving the customer. Fortunately, we have an awesome staff at all levels."

Martin says he can list a healthy number of people who have helped CleanScapes as it has grown throughout this decade, each of whom has helped the company overcome a hurdle, including:

 One potential barrier to growth raised its head in 2008 in the form of the financial crisis and difficulty accessing capital just as CleanScapes was on the cusp of securing its collection contract in Seattle.

"When we were awarded that contract, we had to buy 85 collection vehicles, build a CNG (compressed natural gas) facility for trucks and a maintenance facility—a lot of work had to transpire," says Martin. "Our banks, however, indicated that they would not provide 100 percent debt financing for Seattle as they had for the Shoreline contract."

Thus, CleanScapes "went out to raise $11.5 million," says Martin, and promptly began talking to SJF (Sustainable Jobs Fund) Ventures, Durham, N.C., a venture capital firm that focuses on companies with environmental or community-oriented business models.

"SJF made an investment within two weeks of learning about us," Martin says, "They now own a percentage of CleanScapes, and we’re proud of the arrangement," he adds.

The growth of CleanScapes has been satisfying, says Martin, but he is not interested in unrestrained growth. "We don’t want to be spread too thin," he says. "Well-managed companies grow slowly."

In addition to its two municipal contracts, CleanScapes also serves several corporate and institutional customers (such as business improvement districts and venues such as Safeco Field and Qwest Field). These customers are primarily in Seattle, though CleanScapes also has established offices in San Francisco and in Portland, Ore., to serve customers there.

The company undertakes the scenic, de-cluttering improvements for such customers and conducts waste audits that can improve landfill diversion rates. In a best-case scenario, this rate can increase from 25 percent to 75 percent after an audit, according to Martin.

The out-of-town customers both approached CleanScapes after observing the company’s results in Seattle. In general, though, Martin says he is not likely to pursue a great deal of out-of-town work. "It can be tough to enter other geographic areas without understanding the politics of the place—bidding in areas you don’t know can be challenging," he says.

Opportunities remain plentiful in and around Seattle, says Martin. "King County is a big metropolitan area with a lot of cities. That’s not to say that we won’t look at opportunities in other cities as they occur, but there is still a lot we can do here."

The company’s journey into curbside collection has been largely gratifying, he says. "I think the two aspects have tied in very nicely. We always wanted to make urban areas nice places to live, and good customer service helps accomplish that."

CleanScapes requires cleanliness of trucks and drivers, with drivers dressed in clean uniforms comparable to delivery truck drivers rather than the stereotypical garbage truck driver.

"Garbage collection is the only utility that physically sends someone to your house once each week, so we keep trucks clean and expect the same of our two-person crews. I got a great letter from a resident who thanked us for the clean appearance and said it’s nice not to feel like he has to bring his children in when the garbage trucks come down the street."

Such positive feedback has helped Martin and CleanScapes remain committed to adhering to its new approach and to bring it to additional cities in the Pacific Northwest.

The author is editor in chief of Recycling Today and can be contacted at btaylor@gie.net. The cover photo is by David Hiller.

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