
An ‘Uber for garbage’ picks up steam, and $11.7M in Series A funding - janober
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/06/an-uber-for-garbage-picks-up-steam-and-11-7-million-in-series-a-funding
======
dyim
I'm rooting for these guys - it looks like their COO has been in waste
management since 1999 (and, from the article, his family's been in it for
decades). As a casual observer of "non-sexy" startups, I've noticed that these
kinds of founding teams do well.

~~~
kornish
What are some of your favorite "non-sexy" startups that you've casually
observed?

~~~
dyim
Returnbase (reverse logistics), CropMetrics (agtech), Weather Analytics (ag.
insurance), and Loop Support (customer support, shameless plug) come to mind.

It's tough to "casually observe" startups because you can't flip through their
10-Ks, but you can think of individual startups metonymously - learn more
about their industries, and then try to figure out why these startups are
trying to use technology to make better products.

------
t0mbstone
Startup ideas inspired by Always Sunny in Philadelphia?

[http://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/The_Gang_Recycles_Their...](http://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/The_Gang_Recycles_Their_Trash)

What's next? An Uber-like service that will deliver gasoline directly to your
car that is parked in your driveway?

Hmm... Come to think of it, that would actually be pretty sweet. I would never
have to stop and fill up my gas tank! It would just always be full! A gas
delivery truck would come in the middle of the night (according to a schedule
I define using the mobile app), and it would fill up my car's tank and
automatically bill my credit card!

~~~
pmalynin
[http://www.filld.com/](http://www.filld.com/)

~~~
sillysaurus3
_Filld customers pay the lowest price of the three gas stations closest to
their location plus a small delivery fee.

For example, if the three gas stations closest to you charge $2.62, $2.55 and
$2.67 per gallon, you will pay $2.55. We purchase this pricing data from the
Oil Price Indexing Service (OPIS), and we update it regularly._

How do they make money? I wonder how high the delivery fee is.

~~~
pdelbarba
They're not paying the gas station price. They're likely paying bulk prices
then just using the local prices as your price.

Edit: $3 for delivery generally and they're using F250 trucks. Call it 1.5t in
the bed or about 400 gallons plus tank. They probably have a contract with the
local bulk terminal so if you're paying 2.55, they might be paying 30% (no
idea what this margin is) less or so. @400 us-gal if they make 30% on the gas
plus $3 per 15gal tank, revenue would be in the $380/load range for an average
of 26 tanks of gas per load.

Edit2: regarding the loss leader strategy, they still have to truck the gas to
the station which adds overhead. By going direct to customer (again, assuming
they're loading at the bulk terminal) they remove a couple middlemen who's
position they then take.

~~~
nilkn
Gas is actually a loss leader at many/most gas stations. My parents owned a
gas station about 10 years ago and one of the reasons they sold it and got out
of that business was because competition was so fierce that they had to sell
gas at or below the bulk price they paid for it. In other words, they
effectively lost a few pennies every time someone bought gas. All profit came
from in-store sales of other items.

~~~
joatmon-snoo
Where in (presumably) the US was this?

~~~
adventured
The parent's story is essentially universal in the US and has been for
decades.

Almost no convenience stores make money on gasoline, unless they're operating
a special setup (the convenience store chain Sheetz for example has tried to
build out their own gasoline business to cure this problem). There are a few
routine exceptions, usually involving either some kind of rare location (eg
right outside an airport exit, usually operating under a special arrangement),
or a rare event (something that causes gasoline to be in unusual demand /
limited supply).

~~~
refurb
When I did the books for a gas station in Canada it was similar. This was a
franchise location as well, so they had the parent company buying gas for
them.

Profit on gas was measured in cents per liter, with premium giving the best
margins. And by best I mean $0.023/L or $0.087/gal.

------
shados
Gimme one that will take non-standard trash.

I can already just call Got Junk and have them take most things. However, the
canisters of paints and other crap that needs to be dropped at special
locations? They won't take those.

Since I don't own a car (by choice), I'm essentially screwed. The disposal
locations are only on very specific days with bad hours, and usually in the
middle of nowhere.

It's the only thing I can't easily do without driving. Get me someone who will
pick all that shit up and they'll get all my money.

~~~
maxaf
While the paint canisters are definitely a doozy, I've successfully disposed
of "weird" things by offering them to the masses via FreeCycle and
Craigslist's "free" section. Someone is guaranteed to show up at your home in
order to pick up the most useless of objects. I've given away awkwardly sized
furniture, old barely working TVs, and other such crap. The capacity of humans
to scramble for trash is truly breathtaking.

~~~
tsomctl
And when they grow bored with it, they either dump it outside, or let their
landlord deal with it when they move out. Meth, not even once.

------
tssva
Yearly contracts with a price set based upon an audit of the waste a business
produces. Doesn't sound very "Uber" like.

~~~
d0lph
Thinking the same, this is not really an on-demand consumer focused service.

> "A high-tech garbage service may sound ridiculous to the uninitiated. But
> it’s no joke to customers like WeWork, Whole Foods and SoulCycle that have
> signed multi-year contracts ..."

> "TC: How do you charge? One fee for an unlimited number of on-demand pick-
> ups per month?

GL: We establish yearly contracts, charging so much per month for an office
space after we do an audit on the business and establish that it generates,
say, 50 bags of garbage in a set amount of time. Everything above that then is
extra."

------
ThomPete
Calling it 'Uber for garbage' does this business a great disservice.

I believe this will be a great great business and borrows nothing from Uber
anymore than from Taskrabbit or Postmates. The domain experience needed to
understand the whole logistic should have made Techcrunch think twice about
that headline. But sure clicks and all that.

------
dexterp
Don't most cities already provide garbage pick-up?

~~~
dr_
That's what I was thinking. I'm assuming they go above and beyond what the
city may offer. if you are a company like whole foods - you probably don't
want trash sitting around until a city assigned garbage is ready to pick it up
in a week. same with hotels, etc.

~~~
ben_jones
They don't already have an arrangement? I've never noticed this problem at a
grocery outlet.

~~~
tartuffe78
It's called a dumpster, and it sits behind the building so customers don't see
it.

~~~
dr_
Perhaps outside of the city, but at least in a place like NYC, there isn't
room for a dumpster to be sitting around continuously. And the residents
wouldn't like it either.

------
blhack
I can see at least one consumer use for this.

When we clean out the garage, my girlfriend and I rent a uhaul truck to take
everything to the dump/goodwill/storage.

If I could use this service to just have somebody show up with a truck and
pick up the things we want to throw away, it would be really helpful.

~~~
sbov
1-800-got-junk?

~~~
blhack
Sure, but if this is "uber for garbage", then wouldn't the equivalent to
existing services be yellow taxi?

~~~
jonny_eh
1-800-GOT-JUNK is not similar to taxis. You can easily just order a pickup
from their site:
[http://www.1800gotjunk.com/us_en](http://www.1800gotjunk.com/us_en)

How does this startup compete?

~~~
blhack
Well just looking at their site, it doesn't look like they tell you what the
price is.

------
eggy
My jaw dropped when I saw the headline thinking an idea of mine had not fell
on deaf ears. Then I realized it was just another instance of parallel
development of ideas. Over two years ago when I was living in a rice farming
village in Java, Indonesia, and was very upset about all the trash being put
in pits or burned since there was no garbage pickup I thought of an 'Uber for
garbage' app and business model. The garbage was becoming worse, because
people were hauling goods back to their village an opening up small stands
with mostly junk - soda, candy and plastic toys, and nowhere to send the
waste.

Recyclers or garbage pickup could become efficient and lucrative for the small
truck recyclers and scrappers, if villages could request a pickup and any
available driver could accept and create his route for the day. Uber for
garbage pickup and recycling was how I referred to it to people at airports,
and anybody who would listen. Their idea is similar but more of a money-maker
catering to first world businesses like Whole Foods. I hope it can branch out
and become successful in the villages around the world for the local economies
too. I wish them luck and prosperity.

------
EADGBE
Currently renovating my home, while maintaining a full-time position and being
a dad, blah, blah, blah. Point is, I don't have a lot of time, but with focus
can accomplish one messy project after another over time.

Renting a dumpster will go unused for most of the time I've rented it for;
it'll also cost $400-$500 it seems.

I don't have an HOA, but I'd bet I'd only be able to choose from the nicest
(read: pricy-est) waste management companies and have little time with it in
my driveway.

Getting those "Bagster" things is pretty cool, but kinda steep considering I
have to buy the bag(s) and each one will cost $100-$150 to remove.

This is a much better solution than using my 2-car garage as a holding tank
until I get a "dumpster's worth" of crap to throw away.

While people are put off by "Uber for X", sometimes it just makes sense, and
makes people's lives better.

~~~
mox1
Reading the article, this seems geared towards commercial customers. Their
pricing model is based on yearly contracts...

As someone who has used the Bagster myself, I found it very convenient and
easy to use. Purchase the bag, go online to the website, pay and schedule the
pickup. I thought the price was fair, compared to the alternatives.

------
sputknick
I want this for residential. Instead of having a "trash day" I wait until my
garbage can is full, click a button on my app, and tomorrow morning someone
comes and picks up my trash.

~~~
santaclaus
No need for a button -- add pressure sensors inside the trash can and it can
signal the garbage person for you.

~~~
kevinmchugh
Now the trash can needs to be powered on, connected to my wifi network - does
my wifi reach to the curb where I leave my cans? - and I'm locked in to the
cans provided by the trash company.

~~~
toast0
> and I'm locked in to the cans provided by the trash company.

Municipal trash contracts are frequently locking you into cans provided by the
trash company already -- they do it to ensure compatibility with the side load
machinery, and also so they can charge you based on use; if you produce more
waste on a weekly basis, you need to order a larger bin; if you produce less,
you can request a smaller bin.

------
CobrastanJorji
Is this not already a thing? I needed an old chair disposed of a few days ago,
googled "Seattle Trash Removal", got like 10 results, and the next day
somebody came by with a truck and took my chair away. Is this company
different because they have an app? Because they offer speedier pickup?

~~~
hammock
I needed a ride to the airport, I googled "taxi company," got like 10 results,
and the next morning a car was waiting for me. Why do we need Uber? Just
because it has an app?

~~~
spraak
QED :P

------
newobj
"Uber for garbage", aka what my grandfather's job used to be back when
Philadelphia used privatized trash haulers.

Genius guy that grandpa, as he was also a pig farmer, and the pigs loved to
eat garbage...

~~~
whatnotests
ORGANIC garbage.

------
olegkikin
What would stop an evil entity from picking up your garbage and dumping it in
the nearby park / side of the road?

~~~
jeddawson
This is why we have the current level of regulation in the waste industry. It
has lead to exclusive contracts with haulers that have to report their weights
to a local authority. There are many areas with non-exclusive contracts too
that allow some appearance of competition, but again only haulers that comply
with a significant set of rules (and pay fees) are able to operate in the
area.

It's a double edged sword for sure. I'd love to see more open and creative
competition in the industry, but since disposal and transportation costs make
up such a huge % of a hauler's expenses there will certainly be corrupt
entities dumping waste in a canyon somewhere just outside of your community.

Tracking the waste from source to destination accurately and in a way that
people can truly trust will certainly be a key to success here. It's worth
noting that it is still very likely that some contracted and "compliant"
haulers are doing things with your waste that they shouldn't. So that's
another place that a start up could potentially differentiate themselves.

------
akgerber
"mid-size, independent haulers" in NYC are truly awful drivers. They regularly
violate every single rule of the road— I recently saw one signal a right turn,
then proceed to turn left and pull a 360 in the intersection while almost
hitting a motorcyclist.

Then this driver drove the wrong way down the road in order to a get a bit
closer to a load of garbage without having to go around the block.

It's a business that externalizes its costs by driving dangerously and killing
people: [http://nyc.streetsblog.org/2010/07/13/see-a-pattern-of-
deadl...](http://nyc.streetsblog.org/2010/07/13/see-a-pattern-of-deadly-dump-
trucks-don%E2%80%99t-bother-federal-safety-officials/)

------
BillSaysThis
For residential there's already companies like Junk King, 1-800=Got-Junk and
the like. I moved twice in the last seven months and made use of a pickup
service like this each time. Admittedly they might not be available in the
moment but I had no problem with next day service.

------
jelder
This is great but what if, hold on, we paid taxes.

~~~
Tharkun
I pay roughly a 50% income tax, and in spite of that municipal garbage
collection is, well, garbage.

Regular waste is easy enough: weekly collection is OK. Larger items which can
be incinerated are OK-ish: need to make an appointment two weeks in advance,
and pay by weight.

Anything else and I'm screwed. I'd like to get rid of a metal ladder, but it
can't be incinerated. I'm supposed to take it to a municipal recycling centre,
but I can't because it's too heavy and I don't drive.

Yet this same ladder, years ago, was delivered to my doorstep after a one-
click purchase on some website. Why shouldn't I have a one-click disposal?

~~~
degenerate
You do, it's called throw it in the front yard. Anything metal will be picked
up and melted down for $ by junk seekers.

Used motor oil, insulation, car batteries, and other toxic stuff, I could see
a door service being useful.

~~~
warent
There are plenty of neighborhoods where you'll be fined by the HOA for doing
that. Just "tossing in the front yard" isn't a feasible sustainable solution.
Anyway if he's paying 50% in income taxes then it's unlikely he even lives in
a neighborhood where junk collectors drive around

~~~
jimmaswell
I don't think I could live in an HOA even if I was paid to. Those things are
atrocities. To anyone in the market for buying a home, watch out for those and
never buy one if it's under an HOA. You can find lots of horror stories about
them online with a quick search.

A good tip for anyone suffering through one: they can't legally interfere with
amateur radio towers, so if you're dissatisfied with having to live with your
HOA, you can put up as big of an amateur radio tower as you can afford and
they can't do anything about it.

~~~
ryuker16
Usually they will ding you on every other HOA law to make up for it.

------
fnord123
At first I read this as "Uber for garage" and thought it would be about the
excellent Parkopedia:

[http://www.parkopedia.com/](http://www.parkopedia.com/)

------
xkcd-sucks
Too bad those stupid NIMBYS killed off 'AirBNB for landfills'

------
OliverJones
Hmmm. I wonder how trash haulers are going to take to having a big chunk of
their profit margin extracted by Sili Valley style investors?

Uber drivers seem to go for it, but not without grumbling.

~~~
jeddawson
I think it will really depend on how they approach and work with the haulers.
It sounds like they are providing them with an app that will help them manage
their other accounts more efficiently so some haulers might really enjoy the
trade off.

Also, it's important to view this initiative as a rebirth of the waste broker.
They're already super common in the industry handling the waste collection
services for all the locations of large corporations, they negotiate with
haulers to service each site then make sure services are performed. They tack
on a fee for streamlining/managing this service for each company.

One of the larger brokers was purchased by Waste Management a few years ago.
Since WM is a hauler too, they're now gathering tons of data about each market
that can be used when bidding against smaller/independent haulers. Lot's of
haulers would be happy to help another broker succeed to get WM out of their
affairs.

------
yitchelle
Coincidentally, I just listened the pitch podcast S2 E3 where the company
Industrial Organics was also describing themselves as Uber for Garbage.
However, they are niching into garbage from restaurant kitchens.

[https://gimletmedia.com/episode/industrial-
organic-s02-ep03/](https://gimletmedia.com/episode/industrial-
organic-s02-ep03/)

------
buro9
A YCombinator S09 company was in this market, Tuxebo. They were looking to
connect people to local companies that offered refuse collection and disposal,
etc.

~~~
jeddawson
I did some googling to see how it worked out for them and found this:
[https://blog.listia.com/2011/01/16/a-startup-turning-
trash-i...](https://blog.listia.com/2011/01/16/a-startup-turning-trash-into-
treasure/)

From that it looks like their domain isn't in use now so my assumption is they
closed up shop. Does anyone know if they pivoted further out of refuse market
or were acquired by someone?

------
koolba
This is an awesome idea and if I had known about it would have used it last
month. My garbage creation varies widely from next to nothing (default state)
to significantly more than fits in a single pickup (lots of guests, back to
back parties, etc). I'd pay a premium to get rid of the extra trash the next
day rather than waiting till the next local pickup or spacing it out myself.
Ditto for paying less for less often pickups.

------
awad
If they started in New York and their major customers tend to be other flashy
companies I seriously worry about their long term viability. I know that tech
folks like to think they have the answer to everything, especially with asset-
light software based companies, but for very many reasons waste management in
the North East isn't that simple.

------
cdolan
While potentially a useful service for a consumer, the majority of waste is
generated by businesses, who already have access to comparable services with
their current provider (except when a CRT tv is involved!)

Seems this company raised based off an old business model of 1800 Got Junk and
Junk King, on the coat tails of Rubicon Global's massive fundraising amount.

------
Pica_soO
A private garbage initiatives: They had those in italy for quite a while. And
they are always cheaper.

[https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/3b7m9n/the-mob-made-
south...](https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/3b7m9n/the-mob-made-southen-
italy-a-toxic-wasteland-0000555-v22n1)

------
mikesickler
I love this idea. Waste Management is the big player in my region, and I've
been very dissatisfied with them. They'll jack up the prices, I have no
confidence that their 'single stream' collection results in effective
recycling, and their pricing is completely opaque.

This is a classic disruptive solution and I wish them the best!

~~~
axaxs
I live in a city with 4 competing trash services, WM being one of the largest.
There's been countless small players start up here, and it really is a
lucrative business. WM bought them all.

------
zitterbewegung
Out of all the Uber for X things I have heard about this actually sounds
viable. Having to go out and buy garbage stickers for random things is
annoying. If I just have an app on my phone to do this not only would the
experience would be better but I would have better feedback to assess if the
thing I am throwing out would be accepted.

------
partycoder
You know, waste management is not so trivial in some cases.

Some items are classified as hazardous materials, and it's hard to get rid of
them. You need to do a dump run, but many platforms do not allow you to do
business involving hazardous materials (e.g: Craigslist).

I hope they have an answer to that. e.g: Getting rid of batteries and such.

------
mindslight
I really like this idea since, being "An Uber", they most certainly take a
destination address. "Please go dump this garbage on city hall!". I just hope
I don't have to leave my phone in the bag.

------
Animats
What, your garbage isn't picked up by robots yet? [1]

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCTyasDmWrs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCTyasDmWrs)

------
dyeje
I recently had to get rid of a lot of concrete and lumber. Turns out it's a
big pain and really expensive. Wouldn't be surprised if something like this
took off.

~~~
ryuker16
Post on Craigslist, somebody will take it.

------
pritam2020
Reminds me of its always sunny:
[https://youtu.be/wCQ1_vHvzGY?t=3m5s](https://youtu.be/wCQ1_vHvzGY?t=3m5s)

------
backtoyoujim
I wonder what is the reality of organized crime being a part of the
contemporary garbage collection and recycling landscape.

And I wonder if these two have had any cover from it.

------
agumonkey
The society is shedding into the ubiquitous network era like a snake.

------
jordache
how is garbage pickup fit with the on-demand model? How many people's garbage
generation rate vary so much from cycle to cycle to make an on demand model
worth while?

~~~
skylark
> A high-tech garbage service may sound ridiculous to the uninitiated. But
> it’s no joke to customers like WeWork, Whole Foods and SoulCycle that have
> signed multi-year contracts in exchange for RTS’s flexible pricing options,
> along with notifications about when a truck has arrived and reports about
> exactly where their waste is being sent.

Their target seems to be commercial waste removal, which seems like a better
play than residential.

------
qwepoiru
> uber for garbage.

> yearly contracts.

ok.

------
sschueller
So if they run their business like Uber there will be no difference between
them and the mob.

------
nosequel
I'm confused, I thought "Uber for garbage" was just Uber.

~~~
nebabyte
I mean, if you're garbage...

------
biggestlou
Time to kick your current waste management provider... TO THE CURB.

------
quirkot
> Investors like that it’s an asset-light business, too. Instead of purchasing
> its own trucks, RTS is partnering with a growing number of mid-size,
> independent haulers

Please, son. The Bezos Whole Foods don't pay no externalities!

