Lisa Green picks up a D&L Trash Removal trash can. D&L serviced several counties, including Johnson, for 19 years.
Provided by Lisa Green
After celebrating 19 years in business just last month, D&L Trash Removal customers will now be serviced by Rumpke Waste & Recycling.
The Trafalgar small business sold its waste collection assets to Rumpke, including its fleet and the right to serve residential and commercial customers in Brown, Johnson, Marion, Morgan and Shelby counties. Rumpke began serving D&L customers on April 20.
The decision didn’t come easy for owners Dan and Lisa Green. The small business has struggled to find employees, causing a lot of work to fall back on Dan, Lisa Green said. Dan Green was working anywhere from 60 to 80 hours a week, she said.
“We’re not young, we’re starting to get closer and closer to 60, so not something that we knew we could do forever,” Green said. “It was just starting to take a toll on his body.”
The process has been emotional for them, she said. The last 19 years have been filled with ups and downs and highs and lows, but the Greens wouldn’t trade the memories and friends they’ve made for anything else, she said.
A highlight has been watching kids grow up over the years, including their own, Green said.
Green worked while pregnant and then has brought their daughter, now 17, along in the truck ever since. In the cab, their daughter learned to count, learned her ABCs and about all of the different crops growing in the fields around Johnson County. The business has been her life, too, Green said.
“We’ve had moments when we cried. We’ve had moments when we’ve said ‘Boy, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that anymore, that sort of thing,” Green said. “First day when we got up, it was like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders. We’ve had one week’s vacation in 19 years. So, this has been our life. Our whole lives have been dedicated to business and the customers for the last 19 years.”
Now with some extra time on their hands, Green said they hope to travel and take care of small repairs around the house that have been neglected in the last few years.
All of D&L’s employees were offered employment with Rumpke and many will be serving the same customers, Green said.
Rates and service days will initially remain the same, Rumpke said. Customers will soon receive a mailer with more details about the service transition.
Reactions to the news have been mixed since the announcement was made on social media. Green said the support coming from the community is special. It is great to know how much the community has appreciated their services over the last two decades.
“Our phones have been ringing off the hook from people calling us,” Green said. “Because they know that they can. They don’t just call the office number, they have our personal cells, they have our personal Facebook pages.”
Green encourages anyone who is upset by the decision to be patient and give Rumpke a chance, she said.
“Nothing is supposed to change for a year, so pricing and scheduling. Everything should be pretty close to what we were running as possible,” Green said.
They still consider all of their customers as friends, and hope customers continue to reach out to them as friends, Green said.
“We still live in the community. We still are part of the community and we still plan on doing whatever we can for the community,” Green said.
For questions about services, contact Rumpke at 1-800-828-8171.
