No more calling a neighborhood teenager over if you need someone to take the trash out for you: a new Scottsdale-based subscription service will send people over to take out your bins.
Can Monkey, a startup company created by Marc Zagoury and William Singer, charges users $35 a month to have runners take trash and recycling bins to the curb for their regular pickup. They also will return them to their original location afterward.
Individuals with disabilities, the elderly and frequent travelers are most likely to benefit, Singer said.
"Scottsdale's the perfect market because it has all of those demographics," he said. "It has seniors that need help because their cans are too heavy and don't want to be in the heat. It has business professionals that are traveling."
Zagoury said the idea came to him as he realized he and his neighbors were forestalling taking their trash bins in until the last minute.
"Nobody likes doing it, nobody likes thinking about it," Zagoury said. "It smells, it's dirty, it's hot out."
The company is comprised of Zagoury, Singer and two can runners who already service about 100 homes. The service is available to residents in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Fountain Hills, with plans to expand to other Valley cities later this year.
The company works with residents to make sure the bins are in a designated spot on the property for runners to access them, according to a spokesman for Can Monkey.
While some critics have labeled the service as an unnecessary luxury, Singer and Zagoury see it as one less chore for residents.
"These days you've got so much on your mind, you've got your pets to walk, you've got so many chores," Zagoury said. "Taking this away relieves you a lot."
With separate days for trash and recycling bins each week, taking the bins out is on resident's minds a minimum of 16 times a month, Singer said.
For Margaret White, who lives with a disability, these services offer a reprieve for people who see it as a chore to make it outside.
"I have a weight lift limit of 10 pounds so getting a trash can out is really difficult," White said. "I would also recommend it to somebody like my parents who are just never home."
White said the service is no different than any other monthly chore that she pays to have done around her house.
"Disabled Americans make up a good chunk of society," White said. "I have somebody do my pool, I have somebody do my lawn, so I certainly can see lumping that in there with that."
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