Recyclops sponsors Movies in the Park

'It's more about community'

Simpsonville, S.C. — Recyclops, a company providing the service of recycling pickup, is the new sponsor of the Movies in the Park series by the Simpsonville Parks & Recreation Department.

As Recyclops enters the private market of curbside recycling in Greenville County, the company aims to show residents and potential customers its commitment to the communities it plans to serve. Recyclops founder and CEO Ryan Smith said community is one of the "core values" of the company.

"We feel really strongly that environmental issues and recycling are community issues, and we want to be a part of that community," Smith said. 

One way that Recyclops is manifesting the core value of community is the Movies in the Park sponsorship. Movies in the Park is an annual summer movie series in which free screenings of family-friendly films are held at the CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park in June, July and August.

Simpsonville Community Relations Specialist Justin Campbell said the City is appreciative of the contribution by Recyclops to help make such a beloved outdoor entertainment option available to the public.

"Parks & Rec staff does an amazing job planning and hosting Movies in the Park every year, and securing a naming sponsor like Recyclops to offset the costs of a free event for the public is invaluable," Campbell said. "To already make an investment like this sponsorship into Simpsonville is phenomenal."

Recyclops is a subscription service in which residents bag all their recyclables in Recyclops bags and place the bag at the curb on pickup day for Recyclops drivers to pick up. Once the bags are retrieved, Recyclops makes sure the recyclables actually get recycled.

Smith said recycling makes an impact on the environment but also on the people who recycle because humans inherently do not like to waste.

"When you’re taking an aluminum can or a plastic bottle and throwing it in the trash, you’re wasting," Smith said. "Recycling is the opposite of that: you’re giving it new life.”

Single-stream curbside recycling, a practice by which all recyclables are placed together, can often be inefficient, resulting in more trash in landfills. The problem is twofold: garbage is mixed in with recyclables and some recyclables are not properly cleaned.

"In most municipal recycling programs with traditional garbage trucks, about 18 to 40 percent of what goes into a bin ends up in a landfill, which is pretty painful for most people," Smith said. "For Recyclops, we’ve got those numbers down to between 5 and 8 percent, so significantly lower."

Smith added the small trucks that Recyclops uses for pickups emit 5 to 7 times less carbon dioxide and damage the road 40 times less than traditional garbage trucks.

"It's pretty cool to see the impact of that," Smith said.

Recyclops is expected to begin curbside recycling pickup in Simpsonville this September. For more information about Recyclops, visit www.recyclops.com.

Movies in the Park begins June 8 with a free screening of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" at the CCNB Amphitheatre. Follow the Facebook event page for details and updates.