‘We run it like a small Iowa company’

When Steve Smith was a high school student in the late 1970s, he just wanted to make some extra cash.

He teamed up with a friend to haul loads of yard waste and other items for anyone who would pay them to do that.

'After high school, he moved to California,” Smith said. 'I continued to haul pickup loads.”

As he continued hauling loads, he started getting calls from people asking for weekly garbage pickups.

As a result, he started Johnson County Refuse in 1982.

'My grandma was answering the phones,” Smith said. 'We started with the rural stuff, then commercial.”

The business kept growing, and in the mid-1990s, the company picked up its first city contract.

'Tiffin was our first city,” Smith said.

Knowing that Iowa City and Coralville did their own residential garbage collection, Johnson County Refuse set its sights on surrounding cities, eventually picking up North Liberty.

In the late 1990s, they branched into Washington County, picking up the trash collection contract with the city of Riverside.

'We're very pleased with the service they provide,” Riverside City Administrator Christine Yancey said. 'They go above and beyond what a larger company might do.

'They're always willing to work with people.”

Later, the company started servicing the city of Kalona, which they have done now for more than 10 years.

'They do a wonderful job,” Kalona City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh said. 'It's been a great relationship.”

Good service has long been a hallmark of Johnson County Refuse. Smith credits his company's focus on service as the key to their growth.

'Service is a big thing,” Smith said. 'We always try to be as on time as we can be, and be dependable and competitive.”

What is his secret to providing great service to his customers?

'We're a small company, although we've gotten bigger,” Smith said. 'We run it like a small Iowa company rather than some big conglomerate.

'We're always trying to give the best service.”

And the company has continued to grow, now serving 16 cities, including Washington, a contract they picked up about a year and a half ago.

Washington City Administrator Brent Hinson said that the company's experience using automated trash pickup – where the trucks are equipped with arms to lift and empty trash carts – was a consideration in awarding the contract to Johnson County Refuse.

'It made sense when we went to an automated system,” Hinson said. 'They have a lot of experience in that area.”

On trash pickup days, their familiar blue carts can be seen lining the streets of their cities – Mondays in Riverside and Kalona and Monday through Thursday in Washington, which is divided into service quadrants.

Smith said that he is still looking for ways to grow business.

'I'd like to do some more commercial accounts in and around Washington,” he said.

He did not rule out adding more cities in Washington County to the fold.

'We've had some calls from some other towns,” Smith said, careful not to disclose too much information. 'We'll see where that goes.”