At For Your Canvenience, it’s all about convenience.
The new independent redemption center on Troy-Schenectady Road in Latham opened on Friday, May 18, and owner Richard Thayer said the community has already come out in support.
“We had a good Saturday. … There was a lot of interest and people stopping by saying they’ve got bottles,” said Thayer.
The business is the first of its kind in the Town of Colonie and Thayer said he’s confident it will take off once people see how “canvenient” it is.
“In our society, everyone is so busy that if they can find a way to cut a chore (they will); and everyone I know, including myself, looks at this as a chore that’s going to take them 30 minutes in front of a machine,” said Thayer.
Here’s how it works. Bring empty bottles and cans to For Your Canvenience and get paid. That’s it. As long as it’s plastic or glass and gets a New York deposit, the business will take any brand, no restrictions.
“A lot of places, if they don’t sell that brand they don’t accept it,” said Thayer.
There’s also no limit to the number of bottles and cans.
Customers can wait and get paid right away or set up an account that lets them drop off empties and continue on with their day.
“We don’t limit you and you don’t have to count them, just hand them to us,” said Thayer. “We can set you up an account, put the account number on your bags, drop them off and we’ll either electronically pay you through PayPal or send you a check.”
The center pays customers the typical five-cent deposit and to turn a profit, collects 8.5 cents per empty for itself once the bottles are turned over to a master recycler.
Getting his business situation was a bit more difficult for Thayer. It took three years of talking and learning about other similar redemption centers and three years of trying to figure out how to open his own (as a salesman he’d pop into redemption centers he found on the road), with the last two years devoted to extensive planning.
“When the state made water bottles deposits, that really tipped it where we thought that the volume would be there,” said Thayer.
He said the process was even speedier thanks to his acceptance into the New York State Small Enterprise Economic Development program (SEED), which provides start up small businesses with training and guidance.
“It helps non-traditional companies get funded, especially when banks aren’t going out on first time ventures out of the box like mine,” said Thayer. “It helped me with my business plan and eventually helped me get funding. … It would have taken me much longer to get open without their help.”
Thayer already has the support of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“The Chamber is pleased to help celebrate the grand opening of For Your Canvenience, a local, family-owned business that has made a commitment to our region and to our environment. We applaud the services they offer to the community and to the organizations that can benefit from them,” said Mark Eagan, president and CEO of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce.
So far, For Your Canvenience has one employee, Thayer, but he said he hopes to eventually hire a few part-time workers.
“Down the road hopefully it’ll be enough where I can hire full-time people,” said Thayer.
There’s a similar redemption center in Glens Falls, which is where Thayer first got the idea for his own, but he said he’s trying to set For Your Canvenience apart by offering services to groups running bottle drives.
“Our big focus and where we’re a little different … is we concentrate on working with groups. The hardest thing about running a bottle drive for a lot of groups is talking parents into returning the bottles,” said Thayer. “We take that step out.”
There’s also a For Your Canvenience truck that can be parked on site at a one-day event.
“We process them and cut a check the next week,” said Thayer.
Thayer has forged agreements with the Tri City Valley Cats to handle recycling at the stadium and will work with North Colonie Little League to recycle bottles at the field.
“Community was extremely important to us. … I’ve coached for several years so we’re very involved in the community and saw this as an opportunity to combine the community we care about and a business venture,” said Thayer. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”
For more information about For Your Canvenience visit www.lathamcanvenience.com or call 250-4244. The one-story brick building is located at 462 Troy-Schenectady Road.
