November 30, 2008
Can you turn garbage into gold?
Waste Pro's president, Fred Wood, said that's what the owner of the company has done. John Jennings is "one of these guys, whatever he touches turns to gold."
Wood has been with him for more than 20 years, and helped him start another garbage company, Jennings Environmental, back in 1992. The company merged with USA Waste several years later, and was then bought out by Waste Management.
A core group of people left that company to start up Waste Pro.
They started with the purchase of a three-truck operation in Athens. From Bulldog Waste and four or five other companies bought around Athens, it grew to be what he said is the largest hauler in Athens.
A small Atlanta company was added, but there wasn't much other activity in the Georgia part of the business. Management staff lived in Florida. Jennings and Wood realized they had two choices: get someone up here to run it, or shut it down. Wood headed north to take charge.
"We were doing $80,000 a month; now its $1.6 million," Wood said.
A recent purchase of American Recycling expanded its presence in Atlanta, and added its first Alabama operations in Birmingham, part of the company's green efforts.
Other purchases have been the CD Landfill in Cherokee County, a waste transfer station in Acworth and three hauling companies in Atlanta.
"We've grown quite rapidly in the last year and a half," Wood said. "I'd like to be at $100 million a year here in five years," Wood said.
Buying companies and seeking additional contracts are the means to growth.
Wood sends Vernon Tynes, his associate director of municipal marketing, to the cities and counties around metro Atlanta in particular to find out when waste hauling contracts run out, and to find out what services those cities want.
Tynes said contracts in Cumming, Alpharetta and Johns Creek will be coming up in the next few months or years, and he's finding those answers.
The company has bids out in Gwinnett County with Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, and awaits that organization's decision. The county limits waste haulers to only a few zones at one time, with no company allowed to haul for the entire county. The zones range from 8,000 homes to 22,500 homes, and a hauler can be awarded up to three zones. Whatever companies win the zones will start on contracts Jan. 1, 2009.
Hiring the best employees and training them in customer service makes them better, he said. And an employee bonus program rewards that customer service.
Employees with at least a year in service with no safety issues get bonuses of $250 per year, cumulative. Every licensed CDL drive in the company who complets three years with no accidents, no workers' compensation claims, no legitimate customer complaints and who maintains a positive attitude at all times – easy to figure if there are no customer compalints – gets a check for $10,000.
"We've given out 59 of those," Wood said.
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