Naser Abed, owner of Shell Gas Station in Anoka, met with Waste Wise in late 2016 to identify opportunities for waste reduction and recycling improvements. Following this meeting, Naser was eager to begin a recycling program and quickly completed a grant application to get free bins to pair with all of his existing trash cans.
Within weeks, the recycling bins arrived and Naser made sure his recycling service was switched to “single stream,” allowing Shell to collect all cans, bottles, containers, cardboard, and paper in the same dumpster for recycling. After Waste Wise visited to help Naser place the bins and signs, Shell was ready to recycle.
The results came quickly and were very promising. “Before we started recycling, our trash dumpster was overflowing, now we have spare room in there and need to get our recycling picked up every week,” said Naser. This change has resulted in an estimated 15,000 pounds of recyclable material being diverted from the trash every year!
And since much of the waste produced by customers at the gas pumps is recyclable, customers are happy too! “Many [customers] have given us compliments about the recycling and are happy we’re doing it,” Naser added. Abed is thankful for the Anoka County business recycling grant for helping to achieve these improvements. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the free bins and signs from the grant and the help from Waste Wise. We’re very happy we’ve made this improvement,” said Naser. All told, Shell is recycling more, and promoting recycling to their customers every day!