Business picking up for Suburban Waste
in Eden Prairie
By Paul
Wahl - Sun Newspapers
(Created: Wednesday,
November 28, 2007
9:53 PM CST)
Paul Rosland
has been talking trash with a number of Eden
Prairie residents over the past couple
weeks. On Dec. 3, he will launch Suburban
Waste Services, a residential garbage pickup
company.
Rosland, who
operates the company out of his home with
the help of his wife, Katie, was busy Friday
unloading trash containers stamped with the
company's logo on the side.
Rosland is
not a newcomer to the field, having worked
with one of the large national haulers for
19 years in operations and sales. He
resigned in March 2006 and worked in
Rochester prior to opening SWS.
"I always
wanted to get out on my own," Rosland said.
"There's a place for a small, local hauler."
To convince
his neighbors, he's taken to doorknocking,
much like a politician.
His
platform? Fair rates, great service and a
live person to pick up the phone if you need
to call for any reason. Plus the company
plans to give money earned from recycling
efforts to environmental causes in the area.
None of the
trash SWS picks up will be landfilled;
instead, it will be processed into energy at
a resource recovery facility in Minneapolis.
Hennepin
County generates about a million tons of
garbage in a year, according to county solid
waste division statistics. About a third of
it goes to a burner built in the 1980s for
$129 million at the edge of downtown
Minneapolis.
Rosland said
his business has a lot to offer.
"We'll also
be cheaper than a lot of services out there
because we don't have a lot of overhead,"
Rosland said.
Rosland is
aware his two-truck operation will compete
directly with two of the largest haulers in
the United States, but he's convinced the
venture will be successful.
"It's a lot
of work, yes, but you're working for
yourself instead of making dollars for a
huge corporation and their stockholders,"
Rosland said.
The company
has already begun endearing itself to the
community by making donations to the Forest
Hills PTO and the Eden Prairie Hockey
Association.
Besides
Rosland and his wife, the firm employs one
person in its pickup division. Rosland said
he has plans for additional trucks and
employees but wasn't sure how quickly that
would happen.
For
information, visit the company's Web site
www.suburbanwastemn.com.
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www.mnsun.com.
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