A desire to save space in area landfills is creating a crowded field of curbside recycling companies hoping to clean up in the Lawrence market.

The largest curbside recycling company in Topeka recently expanded service into Lawrence, becoming the third business to offer curbside recycling here.

Home Recycling Service began offering Lawrence service last month. Company officials said they hoped to have the same success in Lawrence as in Topeka, where the firm has more than 500 customers.

The business comes to customers’ homes once a month for recyclables including newspapers, magazines, glass bottles, plastic bags, cardboard, aluminum cans, batteries and other items not considered a household hazardous waste, such as motor oil. The company charges $5 a month for the service.

“It is successful because there are people who care enough to recycle enough in the first place,” said Jim Tuchscherer, Home Recycling Service’s owner and sole employee. “Generally, people who care are pretty busy and they’re very happy to pay $5 per month to have somebody do it for them.”

Two other companies have been tapping into the Lawrence recycling market for several years. Jeff’s Recycling has been offering curbside recycling for nearly two years and Community Living Opportunities, a nonprofit agency that employs developmentally disabled individuals, has been in the business since the mid-1990s.

Lawrence-based Jeff’s Recycling picks up many of the same type of items but offers weekly pickups for $15 a month. Officials with Community Living Opportunities did not return calls about their service.

Jeff Joseph, owner of Jeff’s Curbside Recycling, said the new competition wouldn’t oversaturate the market.

“There is enough business to go around,” Joseph said. “I’m capturing maybe a different market than he is. Plus, you have to remember that we’re all trying to do the right thing. The recycling we pick up is going to be beneficial to future generations.”

Jeff Joseph, owner of Lawrence-based Jeff's Curbside Recycling, picks up pieces of cardboard from Mass Street Music. A Topeka-based company, Home Recycling Service, has entered the curbside recycling business and will be the third company in Lawrence to offer the service.

Tuchscherer said his business had signed up 30 Lawrence customers in a little more than a month. He said he had a short-term goal of serving 100 customers in Lawrence, but believed the long-term potential could be much larger.

“I think several hundred would be pretty realistic,” Tuchscherer said. “Lawrence should be a very good market. I know there is a little competition, but Lawrence certainly has a reputation of being an environmentally conscious city.”

Joseph doesn’t release the number of customers his business serves, other than to say it is more than 100. He said he thought he could increase his clientele to more than 1,000 Lawrence customers.

“The sky is the limit in this town,” Joseph said. “I’m not just going for the students. I’m going for people who think their time is worth more than $3.75 a week.”

Joseph takes all of the items he picks up to the Wal-Mart recycling center at 3300 Iowa. The center is run by employees of Community Living Organization.

Tuchscherer takes many of the Lawrence items to the Wal-Mart center. He also tries to sell the newspaper and aluminum cans, but he said the market for both had been depressed the last two years. He said he now receives about $250 a month for all the newspapers he collects from his more than 500 customers. Two years ago when he had only 250 customers he was receiving $400 a month reselling the paper.