With a hard-working and nimble team and a laser focus on safety, Sprint Waste Services helps industrial and commercial customers large and small manage waste streams and meet sustainability goals.
Sprint Waste Services opened its doors on April 1, 2006—just more than 11 years ago—with a handful of trucks and employees. Operating in the uber-competitive Houston-area waste services landscape that is home to companies like Waste Management, Waste Connections and WCA, Sprint Waste sought to distinguish itself with hard work and hustle, focusing solely on commercial and industrial customers in the greater Houston area. And in the fewer than a dozen years since inception, the company has expanded across the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast and grown to be listed among the largest waste providers in the country—all without offering residential services. Today, approximately 350 bright yellow Sprint Waste trucks travel the roadways each day, the company has grown to more than 500 employees, and the organization serves customers ranging from small retailers and builders to the world’s largest refineries and petrochemical complexes, construction giants, and leading manufacturers.
Family Owned and Operated
The company is owned by Joe Swinbank, a serial entrepreneur who has been in the waste industry for 40 years, and his sons Will and Reagan, who oversee the day-to-day operations of the company. The sons have complementary strengths—Will as an accomplished operator and Reagan as a gifted salesperson—and they have surrounded themselves with a talented management team of experienced, hard- working professionals who don’t mind getting their boots dirty. The president is Dave Nelson, who has been with the company for five years. Prior to joining Sprint Waste, his 30-year career included executive roles with several Fortune 500 companies, as well as a strong business consulting background.
Over the last 11 years, Sprint Waste has grown tremendously, consistently named as one of the “Top 100,” the fastest-growing private companies in the Houston area. Most of the growth has been organic, though there have been a few strategic acquisitions along the way. The company now has 13 locations from Corpus Christi, TX to Baton Rouge, LA with a large presence in the greater Houston area. Sprint Waste Services also provides transportation services throughout the contiguous U.S., although the emphasis is on the Gulf Coast region.
Services include waste transportation/disposal (hazardous and nonhazardous), waste container rentals, industrial in-plant waste management services, sanitation services, front-load and roll-off container rental and service, landfill services, vapor recovery, and wastewater sludge dewatering. Additionally, Sprint Waste Services has two transfer stations that handle recyclable materials, including metal, wood and cardboard.
Leading by Example
Safety is Sprint Waste Service’s #1 priority. “Every decision we make starts with safety,” Nelson says. “With 350 trucks on the road, thousands of pieces of rental equipment in service, and more than 50 employees doing mechanical or welding types of work, we know we must train employees thoroughly and regularly to ensure safety in everything we do.” Starting with a highly selective hiring process, employees are put through a comprehensive orientation and training program where Sprint Waste’s passion and safety culture are instilled.
“We recently won a prestigious safety award in Houston, and it was primarily due to several of our safety best practices,” says Nelson. “Of course we take pride in awards, but we never rest on our laurels. We are always implementing new safety programs and retraining our employees.” For example, the company has developed a bonus program for operations managers based on achieving predetermined safety goals as well as more conventional customer service and financial targets. Nelson also points out that trucking companies are graded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and the scores are public. The company’s FMCSA scores have improved each year with the majority landing in the top 10 percentile for its peer group. Additionally, Sprint Waste’s total recordable incident rate (TRIR), an industry quantifier of safety performance, is significantly better than most companies in its line of business. “Our goal is zero injuries or accidents,” Nelson says.
This safety focus carries over to the organization’s maintenance practices. With shops at each of its locations staffed with qualified mechanics, Sprint Waste Services runs evening shifts so trucks can be serviced in the evening and be ready to roll the next morning. Additionally, the company maintains one of the youngest fleets in the industry, and all new trucks include the latest safety technology such as disc brakes, anti-rollover protection, forward collision avoidance and electronic fleet management computers. These computers allow management to track the fleet by GPS, receiving notices such as hard stops or instances of speeding, so safety concerns can immediately be investigated, tracked and addressed.
The company has enjoyed numerous awards and accolades over the years, but Nelson believes that the company’s greatest achievement has been instilling a strong safety culture across the entire 500-plus-person company. He explains, “As a startup 11 years ago, our focus was service. Safety was always important, but five years ago we made a conscious decision to make safety our #1 priority, developing a comprehensive plan to guide our efforts. We found the key to success was creating buy-in to our safety culture with our frontline supervisors. Of course, the owners and senior management made an absolute commitment, which they live every day, but the real ‘cultural’ change came when the frontline supervisor encountered a situation where he could either bend the rule to make the customer happy, or make the right safety decision. And he made the right safety decision. We also discovered that the customer actually appreciated it. When that started happening every day, we knew our culture was moving in the right direction. We constantly preach our vision, train our employees and recognize excellent safety behaviors every day.”
A Tradition of Giving Back
The Swinbanks have always believed in a strong commitment to the communities where they live and operate. The company supports a long list of excellent organizations and considers many different opportunities each year. The company is particularly interested in supporting underserved and disadvantaged groups, higher education and skilled trades, and law enforcement agencies and charities.
Within the past year alone, Sprint Waste Services has been honored to support the opening of a large campus of the Texas State Technical College system near the company’s headquarters, as well as scholarship programs through area fair associations, independent school districts and charities. The company supports reading programs and summer camps for disadvantaged elementary students, arts and theater groups, as well as provides donations of funds and equipment to support law enforcement and veterans. “From the top down, we encourage our team to volunteer and give back, and we lead by example,” says Reagan Swinbank. “When I look back at the last decade plus of developing and growing Sprint Waste Services, I’m beyond proud of the people we’ve assembled and how they represent the Sprint companies outside of our own walls. The hard work and strong character of our Sprint Waste family are continually on display for the community in the form of time spent on the ground to support so many inspiring causes.”
Meeting Today’s Challenges
Though Texas and the Gulf Coast region have been negatively affected by the decline in oil prices over the last few years, Nelson has seen strength in many of the markets where Sprint Waste does business. “There has been unprecedented investment in the industrial complex in East Houston, Beaumont and southern Louisiana resulting in expansions and development—and a lot of waste,” he says. “We pride ourselves on staying nimble and making fast decisions. By moving fast, we can enter markets quickly or handle emergency needs of customers that others cannot—and this differentiates us from many of our competitors.”
Growing from a handful of trucks 11 years ago to more than 350 today, challenges have included finding qualified drivers, implementing a strong safety culture, and building a top-notch management team that motivates employees through this tremendous growth. “In the end, it comes down to people. We have built a team that is empowered to make decisions quickly,” Will Swinbank says. “This has allowed us to aggressively address challenges as they arise.”
Will Swinbank believes the industry’s biggest challenge today is the labor supply and finding good talent. The average age of a trucker is around 50 years old, and according to the American Truckers Association, the industry already has a driver shortage of approximately 50,000. The company has also seen a labor shortage in other jobs such as mechanics and welders. As a result, Sprint Waste aggressively and continuously recruits quality employees. “Once hired, our objective is for our employees to make Sprint Waste Services their last job,” he says. “Our turnover rates are well below industry averages due to the employee culture at Sprint—and our focus on training, safety, challenging work, and creating opportunities for personal and professional growth.”
Swinbank adds, “A big challenge for Sprint Waste is maintaining our special ‘family culture’ as we continue to grow and add locations. Our employees are our greatest assets, and it is critical that they buy into our guiding principles, which include always doing the right thing, operating with integrity, making decisions quickly, learning from our mistakes, and being accountable. To maintain this culture, we meet with our employees regularly to get feedback and learn from them what we can do to improve and make Sprint Waste Services a place where they want to work for years to come.”
Adapting to Changing Opportunities
As an entrepreneurial business, Sprint Waste Services prides itself on being flexible and able to adapt quickly when opportunities arise. Nelson points out that the company is aggressively improving its technology and using the large amount of data it collects to help make smart business decisions quickly. Related to this, the company regularly meets with customers to understand their wants and needs, and based on findings and feedback, then develops tools and interfaces that further differentiate Sprint Waste Services from competitors. Nelson concludes, “We have doubled in size in the last four years, and expect to continue to grow, so we continue to invest in our infrastructure and hire talented people to lead us into the future.”
For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit sprintwaste.com.