Jimmy Contreras has started three waste-hauling companies. His most recent is called聽RJ Waste Recovery, which he聽co-founded with his wife, Ruth.聽Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Contreras hopes the startup will聽help businesses cut their costs聽and recycle more.
“It’s called an addiction鈥攐nce you get garbage in your blood,” says Contreras. His聽biggest challenge is winning clients聽in an industry that has long been dominated by companies like聽Waste Management and Republic Services, which have a combined market share of nearly 40 percent, according to data from聽IBIS World. Contreras, by contrast, employs聽50 contract workers and counts roughly聽200 accounts聽across聽North Carolina聽and parts of South Carolina.
RJ Waste Recovery is one of the 5,000 haulers that have benefited from working with Rubicon Global, a broker of sorts that steals business away from聽industry giants, offering them聽cheaper rates to work with startups.聽The company’s website and mobile apps connects haulers to customers, and can聽guarantee聽pickup within the hour. On average, Rubicon claims it can save its clients鈥攚hich include聽7-Eleven and Wegmans鈥攁bout聽30 percent of what they would otherwise spend.
Rubicon claims it saves customers聽money because the incumbent players聽inflate prices, so businesses聽are聽often paying more than they need to be.聽The startup聽finds local alternatives, which typically face lower聽transportation costs. It helps that these haulers聽avoid landfills when possible, which charge dumping fees; they聽save money by composting, or using anaerobic digestion.
“Typically, the independent hauler has been displaced, because it lacks the scale and the national footprint to compete,” says Nate Morris, Rubicon’s co-founder and CEO. By leveraging technology,聽Rubicon can give small businesses a better shot at success. (Morris has worked closely with Oscar Salazar, the logistics pro and former CTO of Uber.)聽In the waste industry, that’s no small bargain: By 2020, trash hauling is聽projected to reach $2 trillion in global sales.
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