New trash service comes to county
Staff writer
Two rural Tampa men put on their running shoes to get trash service started for their neighbors after a Wichita waste collection company dumped rural northern Marion County customers.
Calvin Wiebe and his son, Jaren, had contemplated starting a sanitation service for more than a year but didn’t think there was enough of a customer base to make the idea work.
When Waste Connections sent letters to its rural Marion County customers that the company was dropping them, the Wiebes decided the time was ripe.
They checked into the regulations they would need to meet, gave their company the name “Sunflower Sanitation,” bought a supply of dumpsters and polycarts, and bought a trash truck.
The Wiebes started loading dumpsters and trash carts onto a semi and taking them out to their 65 new customers last week.
They hope their customer base will grow as word gets around.
So far, they haven’t taken any loads to the county transfer station.
“By the time we get all these dumpsters out, we’ll probably start Tuesday,” Jaren said.
They hope to run a regular route north of US-56 from Lehigh and Hillsboro to Durham, Tampa, and as far east as Lincolnville.
Most of their customers are west of K-15.
The used truck the pair bought is in good condition, but needs a bit of attention for its appearance.
“It shows a bit of rust on it,” Calvin said. “I’d like to repaint it and make it look better, but it is in good shape as near as we can tell.”
The Wiebes also farm, do custom haying and swathing, and run a small welding shop that produces feeders.