Roll Off Eyes Big Bucks

Roll Off Service Inc. of Springdale rumbled into the Northwest Arkansas garbage industry six months ago, and it’s already hauling more than its share of business.

“Expectations have quadrupled since we started,” said Roll Off Service Vice President Cheryl Zotti. “We didn’t realize [people] would accept a new company so quickly.” She anticipates the fledgling business will gross several million dollars this year.

A subsidiary of one of the largest solid waste companies in the world, Waste Management Inc. in Tontitown is Roll Off Service’s toughest competition. The Houston, Texas, corporation, traded on the New York Stock Exchange as WMI, operates with $18.9 billion in assets.

Locally, Waste Management owns the landfill in Tontitown and a garbage transfer station in Rogers. The company also pockets municipal contracts for residential and commercial trash hauling in Centerton, Rogers, Lowell, Bethel Heights, Springdale, Johnson, Farmington and Elkins.

Compared to Waste Management’s local 53 trucks and 101 employees, Roll Off Service is 66 percent smaller with 18 trucks and 28 employees.

With large commercial accounts such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. on the bill, Waste Management District Director Todd Carlton isn’t worried.

“We see [competitors] come and go,” Carlton said. “Even though we are the largest in the world, we have a lot of local roots. We try to treat each and every market as its own.”

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Although Roll Off Service seems dwarfed by Waste Management, the new hauler will soon offer some unique applications in the area. Right now, the company is applying for a state license to recycle construction and demolition debris.

Concrete, brick, rock, wood, shingles and scrap metal can all be recycled, but none of the other 13 licensed carriers in Washington and Benton counties performs the task.

Roll Off Service plans to offer a complete construction recycling program by the end of this year. Up to 60 percent of typical construction-site waste can be diverted from the landfill, Zotti said. By 2002, Roll Off Service will open a facility in Fayetteville to manage the program. Another may eventually open in Bentonville.

“They’re moving forward with some exciting things,” said Stephen Parker, director of the Four County Solid Waste District. Publicly funded, the Four County District regulates Benton, Washington, Carroll and Madison counties by licensing haulers and landfills.

Roll Off Service also plans to offer another recycling tactic: waste audits. As head of the recycling division of the company, Zotti said waste audits offer consultations with retail outlets that could cut down commercial waste by about 40 percent.

Zotti’s employment with Roll Off Service is her testament to the up-and-coming venture. Previously, she worked for 12 years as the city of Fayetteville’s solid waste manager. During that time, several companies approached Zotti with job offers, but she said only the Roll Off Service business plan intrigued her.

“Roll Off Service is the first company that I have wanted to be a part of enough to leave the city,” Zotti said. “I think [it’s] certainly going to be a dominate force in Northwest Arkansas.”

Roll Off Service owner Tom Smith also recruited the former city of Fayetteville waste reduction coordinator, Willie Newman.

“Tom Smith is an unusually successful businessman,” Zotti said. “That’s why this company has just exploded.”

A graduate of the Prairie Grove school system, Smith built his career from 1990-2000 in Salina, Kan., with a scrap-metal recycling shop called Recycle It. He sold the venture last year to move his family back to Northwest Arkansas.

Although Waste Management traditionally reigns over most large commercial customers in the area, the red Roll Off Service containers have begun tending the site of the new Washington Regional Medical Center, among others. About 90 percent of the company’s business is commercial hauling, Zotti said.

Smith wants some of the residential pie, too, and Zotti said negotiations with an unnamed municipality are under way. According to Four County District documents, the city of Fayetteville dumped 2,601 tons of residential trash during the first quarter of 2001.

The city manages its own curbside service for residents and businesses. Fayetteville collects 23,350 tons of commercial waste each year with five trucks, nine employees and a $1.37 million budget.

However, because the city isn’t licensed to carry construction-demolition debris, construction managers must contract private haulers for disposal.

Oops. Our mistake.

In a competitive marketplace with demand that will continue to grow as the population increases, Waste Management is trying to prepare for the future. While Northwest Arkansas has been blossoming, the area has also generated more waste.

The life of the current landfill is 2-3 years, according to Four County District estimations. To ready for the overflow, Waste Management has tried to get a certificate of need from the district. If granted, Waste Management could apply to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for a 10 million-cubic-yard landfill expansion. It would add another 40 acres to the existing site.

From 1994-1998, the Tontitown landfill was rated as second best out of the 21 landfills in Arkansas, Carlton said. In 1999, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality rated the landfill as the worst in the state. Upon appeal, the ADEQ issued a correction, re-ranking the facility as one of the best.

The mistaken rating caused a postponement of the application process for Waste Management. Parker said that an “oops letter” arrived from the ADEQ, reinstating the landfill as one of the best in the state.

On July 19, the Four County District board meeting will reconsider the certificate of need.

If the company is granted a certificate of need, which Parker believes should happen, the ADEQ will probably take another 18 months to approve.