Thursday, March 3, 2016

Commercial Waste

Change has never come easily to this city’s dirtiest industry. In the early nineties, a Houston-based waste-management company called Browning-Ferris decided to expand into New York City. The Times reported that the company hosted a press conference on the steps of City Hall and sponsored the 1993 New York City Marathon. It even won a lucrative contract to collect trash from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. But the local garbage industry was still firmly under mafia control. One morning, according to “Garbage Land: On The Secret Trail of Trash,” by Elizabeth Royte, a Browning-Ferris executive’s wife awoke to find the head of a dead German shepherd on her suburban lawn. A note stuffed in the dog’s mouth read, “Welcome to New York.”  
(Jillian Keenan , "A Better Way to Take out the Garbage?" New Yorker, January 9, 2014)

There's a push to change the city's commercial garbage hauling to a franchise system, with a set number of companies allowed to serve each particular district.  Right now though, you're likely to see any number of different hauling companies working the streets of your neighborhood, and I'm absurdly entertained any time I spot a new one.  By chance (well, almost) I came across the NYC Business Integrity Commision list of Approved Trade Waste Removal Companies for 2015.  Here are a few companies I like the names of, none of which I've spotted round here.

Confidential Shredding LLC
Controlled Dismantling Corp.
Darling Ingredients Inc
Grease Monkeys of NY Inc.
Junk in My Trunk Inc.
Just Get It Done Inc.
Lug Life LLC
Shred Up USA
The Fat Man, LLC
Think Big New York Inc.
Toss it Our Way LLC
Zeus Waste Management

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