Faixfax start-up puts even more trash on Internet

Washington Business Journal
By: Thomas C. Hall, Staff Reporter
May 12-18, 2000

A Fairfax consulting firm is putting trash on the Internet. No, not smut, the real thing - heaping, stinking trash. The launch of wastebid.com provides an online brokerage for trash haulers to compete for new business clients. The auction-like service puts business owners and property managers in the driver's seat, so to speak, said Harvey Gershnm, president of Gershman, Brickner & Bratton. "A lot of businesses don't realize they have a choice," he said. "About two-thirds of the property managers in this area can negotiate their own deal for trash services."

Haulers must pre-qualify for inclusion, on wastebid's list of providers that are fully insured and equipped for trash removal and recycling. From that list, businesses can shop, for the lowest rates and match haulers and services by ZIP code. Urban Services, a District trash, removal service run by Richard Carter, who previously ran the city's recycling, was the first hauler to register on the site. Haulers agree to pay wastbid a cornmission on revenue received from new business generated through the online service. Gershman said his consulting firm can't take credit for the concept. "We got the idea from a young, environmental techie," he said.

That would be Kevin Callen, 33, who is now wastebid's vice president. "We're taking an age-old industry and bringing it online and into the future," said Callen, who had been an environmental consultant on international projects for the United Nations. Callen said wastebid plans to broaden its scope of services, offering auctions for recycling and trash management equipment, as well as posting job listings within the industry. It also plans to assist local governments by posting requests for proposals and subcontractor applications on its Web site. Although the nation's $40 billion-a-year trash and recycling industry is rapidly consolidating into fewer and fewer megaproviders, Callen said wastebid can thrive by offering a tailored menu of services. "The big companies make money by selling you the most services possible," Callen said. "We try and help you find just the services you need, at the best prices."

Kevin Stearman, president of Office Paper Systems, a Gaithersburg-based recycler, said the online service should help level the playing field for smaller solid waste companies. "You survive in this business by high volume - the margins are very low," Stearman said. "We expect this to enhance our marketing and exposure - the smaller guy often gets passed over."

Wastebid initially will focus on the Washington-Baltimore region, but it plans to expand its territory incrementally. "This is a very competitive market, and it's already pretty wired," Callen said. The company's business plan is to be operating in most eastern states by the end of the year, then expand to states west of the Mississippi River next year.

For more information, contact:
Mr. Robert H. Brickner, Chief Operating Officer
WasteBid.com, Inc.
(703) 698-5001