Green Daisies Curbside Pickup Recycling

Green Daisies Curbside Pickup Recycling was the brainchild of 10-year-old Daisy Bermes, who inspired her parents, Michelle and Josh, to create a business out of her passion. When Daisy began learning about recycling at school, she wanted to incorporate her newfound knowledge at home. She set up a recycling system at the Bermes residence and began teaching her 6-year-old brother, Bronson, how to recycle. But with the family's increasing pile of recyclable items came the realization 'going green' was inconvenient, Michelle said.'We were accumulating all these bottles and cardboard and taking them to public containers, and then because they were full we had to leave everything in our car,' she said.It was obvious Midlanders recycled, Michelle thought, but the Tall City's recycling programs were a far cry from many across the nation. Armed with a few containers and liners, Michelle embarked on a mission in April 2011 to bring curbside pick-up recycling to Midland. Daisy helped her mother load recyclables into her Chevy Tahoe on hot summer days, and before they knew it, they couldn't fit an entire route's worth of bottles and paper in the truck. With many lessons from her husband, Josh, Michelle learned to navigate her truck with a 16-foot enclosed trailer in tow to accomodate their growing business.As with many new businesses, the Bermes family operates it out of their home, sorting through plastic and paper in their garage before hauling it off to Butts Recycling in Midland. As the business continues to grow, the family hopes to build a warehouse to keep their work separate from home life.Michelle, who is also a board member for Keep Midland Beautiful, said the job isn't as messy as some may think, and the benefits of recycling are more important than turning a blind eye.

In December of 2013, The Bermes reluctantly decided to sell the company.  They sent an email out to all their customers and got many responses.  One of those responses was from local surgeon, Jeff Durgin. 

After interviewing all prospective buyers, the Bermes' decided to sell to Jeff. Michelle and Josh decided they felt most comfortable with Jeff's vision of the company and him carrying on their daugher's dream.  

Now Jeff, Lisa, and their four kids: Ashlee, Dominic, Colin, and Bella,  all participate in running the company and helping to keep Midland green. 

After much deliberation and many changes in work schedules Jeff made the difficult decision to once again put the company up for sale.  Green Daisies has been sold to Helen Futrell and family.   She will be running it along with her husband, Jan and two of their four children.   You will see her sons,  Timothy and Nathan picking up at your homes and businesses.   This family has been committed to recycling for many years and have been customers for a long time.  They are looking forward to serving you and partnering in keeping our communities green   It is our goal to keep Daisy's dream alive! 

Green Daisies now offers pickup of Glass, Electronics (E-Waste), and Textiles for recycling.  

IT actually COSTS to recycle glass and I have to pay additional storage/labor/fuel to transport it out of the area. So our customers have approved a GLASS surcharge of $2.50 per month for bi-weekly customers and $5 per month for weekly customers.  As this is a group effort, this surcharge will be applied at all residential customers starting 4/21/2014. Thanks for your dedication to recycling!

GLASS

• All colors and types.

• Broken or unbroken. 

• Please put in a CARDBOARD BOX OR SEPARATE BAG containing only glass 

• For safety please keep separate from other recyclables.

• Glass is likely to be broken in transport and I cannot have the sorters getting their hands cut on glass mixed with other recyclables. 

LDPE (#4 Plastic)

• BAGS.  trash bags, shopping bags, newspaper bags, any kind of plastic bags

• Plastic with LDPE on the bottom.

• NO SORTING! Just throw it in the blue bags with everything else.

E-WASTE- 

• Cell phones, ipods, MP3, computers, laptop, small appliances, alarm clocks, keyboard, mouse speakers, DVD players, VCRs,Hard drives, toasters, food processor, radios, hair dryers, TVs, Electric CORDS, BATTERIES, printers,copiers, scanners, and basically anything with a cord.

• Please put in BLACK TRASH bags by itself.

• (If you don't have a BLACK bag its OK once in a while just clearly MARK and LABEL the bag)

• This will NOT count against your 3 bag limit if you are a bi-weekly customer. 

• IF your electronic device is too big for a trash bag then it will need to be picked up separate from regular pickup and there MAY be small additional fee depending on the size/weight-- JUST TEXT or EMAIL ME. 

 TEXTILES 

• Clothing, boots/shoes, uniforms, scrubs, hats, gloves, sleeping bags, blankets, sheets, towels, table linens, PURSES, HANDBAGS, WALLETS, BELTS, Hard and soft toys, sports gear, camping gear, BACKPACKS, BOOKS, GAMES. 
• WHITE TRASH bags by itself. Meaning don't mix it with electronics. 
• This will NOT count against your 3 bag limit if you are a bi-weekly customer.
• (If you don't have a WHITE bag its OK once in a while just clearly MARK and LABEL the bag)