Because equipment reliability is critical to the Carolina Waste & Recycling鈥檚 success, they have depended on Mack庐 Trucks for more than two decades.
It is a typical morning at Carolina Waste & Recycling, and the steady rumble of Mack trucks underscores Scott Fennell’s words as he talks about the company he founded with his father, George Fennell, in 2002. Many of his drivers began their routes at 2 a.m. and are lining up to weigh their trucks; others are off to the back of the lot with refuse to be sorted and recycled.
The dedication of the employees and management team have made the North Charleston company the largest independently owned waste hauling entity in the state, Fennell says. It鈥檚 been organic growth, building upon lessons learned from the Fennell鈥檚 previous business, Fennell Container Company, which was founded in 1973 and sold to competitor Republic Services in 1995.
They started Carolina Waste & Recycling 鈥渇rom scratch鈥� and exceeded Fennell Container Company鈥檚 revenues in half the time. The company now employs 125 people, including approximately 70 drivers, with annual revenues of more than $25 million. It operates throughout coastal South Carolina.
Carolina Waste & Recycling鈥檚 services are split into three divisions: Carolina Waste, Carolina Processing & Recycling and Carolina Landfill. Carolina Waste handles trash pickup for 15,000 residential homes, 4,000 commercial entities and 500 construction customers. They also collect trash for a number of local municipalities, including the City of Charleston.
As customers launch green initiatives, Carolina Waste has expanded to meet those opportunities by gathering, collecting and sorting through light, dry waste materials at its Carolina Processing & Recycling facility. It separates concrete, bricks, blocks, metals, cardboard, plastic, tires and wood, grinding what it can and transporting the rest to the company鈥檚 own landfill.
The company handles more than 800 tons of material each day. Recycling has become increasingly popular and makes up 15 percent of the 250,000 tons of light, dry waste materials Carolina Waste collects and processes each year. As more companies move toward zero-waste initiatives, Fennell sees great opportunity for vertical growth. Three onsite grinders stay busy, with one grinding more than 400 tons of wood per month for reuse.聽鈥淕rind, shred and destroy,鈥� Fennell says. 鈥淚f a client asks us to recycle an item, we don鈥檛 ever tell them no. We find a way to make it happen.鈥�
People are the backbone of the company, and Fennell says he does everything he can to ensure employee satisfaction, safety and service. He believes in offering competitive pay and benefits but also reaches out by holding monthly safety meetings where he shares industry information and asks employees for their input. 鈥淚 try to instill the philosophy of starting the day with a good attitude, and hopefully that positive message will spill out to their interactions with our customers,鈥� Fennell says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e doing your best, even if things aren鈥檛 perfect, your customers will understand.鈥�
Equipment Matters
Fennell says equipment reliability is equally critical to the company鈥檚 success, and that鈥檚 why they have depended on Mack庐 Trucks (Greensboro, NC) for more than two decades. Almost all of the 60-truck fleet is comprised of Mack trucks, and the Carolina Waste maintenance department works hard to keep their trucks on the road and looking great. 鈥淲e were certainly pleased in the past with Mack Trucks,鈥� Fennell says. 鈥淲e thought they were very dependable, and they have a wonderful service center here in the Charleston area. We felt like they were the best truck in the waste-related industry. We need equipment that can get in and out of landfills even in bad weather and Mack trucks fit the bill.鈥�
Carolina Waste has embraced advances in technology, finding it valuable for both safety and customer service. The fleet鈥檚 trucks are now equipped with a brake retarder system to help maintain a steady speed when traveling downhill, and every truck is outfitted with a tablet-driven route management system, allowing the driver to not only record service calls but to also photograph any issues, such as overloaded containers or vehicles blocking pickup. Drivers can send the data back to the office before they even complete their route and the photos provide support for issues that might have previously been open to dispute.
Drivers perform daily pre-trip and post-trip inspections, reporting any issues so they can be dealt with immediately. Fennell says his maintenance workers have adjusted to the higher-level technology with the newer Macks and anticipates they will continue performing most of their own maintenance in-house.
Fennell relies on Bill Peek, his sales representative at Hughes Motors, Inc., in Charleston, S.C., to keep him abreast of new technologies and Mack models that may further improve his bottom line. It鈥檚 a long-term relationship built upon experience and mutual respect. 鈥淲e’ve been with Hughes Motors since the beginning,鈥� Fennell says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great partnership,鈥�
Peek says it makes him proud to drive past Carolina Waste at the end of the day and see row after row of shiny Mack trucks, knowing he facilitated their purchase and that they are serving the company well.聽鈥淭hey truly are a top-notch operation,鈥� Peek says. 鈥淚 challenge you to find another refuse company that does such a good job on maintenance. From the oldest to the newest truck, you can hardly tell them apart.鈥�
Future Growth
The biggest challenges for Carolina Waste have been not with their equipment or labor but with the rising costs of healthcare and insurance. As a result, Fennell is always looking for ways to curb the escalating costs, whether that means increasing training or adding new features to the equipment. Though he is happy with the specifications of his current fleet, he is always looking for better crash avoidance systems, improved fuel mileage, improved driver visibility and enhanced data collection. Though he doesn’t anticipate expanding geographically, he does hope Carolina Waste continues to grow over the next decade.
For now, they are going to stick to their successful formula鈥攇reat people, dependable equipment and superior customer service. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very familiar with this marketplace,鈥� Fennell says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e grown up in this marketplace all our lives, and we know the people and know the area. I would hope to say in 10 years that we could double our size.鈥�
For more information, (336) 291-9001 or visit www.macktrucks.com.