鈥淚 said, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to be a trash man.鈥櫶�� The $10 an hour convinced him otherwise, and not only was a career born, but a passion, too.
That鈥檚 why Spencer has now started听Air Capital Waste, a residential and commercial trash and recycling company. 鈥淚 have been in the trash business in Wichita for 35 years,鈥� Spencer says.
He was working for a company that听Waste Connections purchased, and then in late 2015, Spencer says Waste Connections 鈥渄ecided it was time for me to retire.鈥�
鈥淚 tried that for a couple of years and quite frankly was bored.鈥�
He says he 鈥渏ust had a passion to get back into the trash business.鈥�
For someone outside the business, it might be a challenge to find the passion in trash, but not for Spencer. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 virtually all I鈥檝e ever done.鈥�
He started on the back of a truck and quickly worked his way up. 鈥淪ome people think, oooh, gross,鈥� Spencer says. 鈥淚 enjoyed it. I thought it was fun.鈥�
He still has a license to drive a trash truck and may sometimes still do that. Spencer has started his business with only three employees, although they鈥檙e all ones who have been with him for many years or decades.
鈥淭he four of us combined have 99 years of Wichita trash experience,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like we鈥檙e jumping into something we don鈥檛 know anything about.鈥�
Air Capital Waste is operating out of an 8,000-square-foot building at 3515 N. Topeka that sits on a five-acre lot. Spencer says it鈥檚 big enough to hold up to 20 trucks and service a big part of south-central Kansas.
鈥淚鈥檇 like to grow it as big as I can,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think this market is right for an independent hauler that is local. 鈥� Everything we do is going to be all about Wichita.鈥�
Spencer says a lot of start-up trash services try to save money by starting with used equipment.
鈥淚鈥檝e never been a mechanic, so we decided to go the route of buying all new equipment.鈥�
Fortunately, he says, 鈥淲e actually started having people calling us before we even had trucks on the ground.鈥�
He launched his website and听Facebook听page on Friday and has been deluged with requests.
鈥淚t just went crazy with people contacting us and wanting to start service,鈥� he says.
To read the full story, visit .