Paine readies garbage-disposal business for next generation as he trashes tolls

From Hartford Business Journal. In its early days, Paine’s Inc. Recycling and Rubbish Removal had a different idea of waste-to-energy. “When my grandfather started the business, he picked up garbage from two private schools, and fed it to the pigs at the family farm,” said the trash-hauler’s current owner, Michael Paine, of the company circa…

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From Hartford Business Journal.

In its early days, Paine’s Inc. Recycling and Rubbish Removal had a different idea of waste-to-energy.

“When my grandfather started the business, he picked up garbage from two private schools, and fed it to the pigs at the family farm,” said the trash-hauler’s current owner, Michael Paine, of the company circa 1929. “Here we are now, nearly 90 years later, talking about organic collection from homes.”

In addition to switching to swine-free disposal methods, the company has ballooned in size and influence since Paine started working at the family business in the early 1970s. The current fleet of 53 trucks dwarfs the company’s disco-era count of four, and at the beginning of this year Paine began his first term as chairman of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut (MTAC), which represents companies with commercial vehicles traveling state roads.

His timing for stepping up on the MTAC pedestal coincides with Gov. Ned Lamont laying the groundwork for tolling Connecticut’s highways, an initiative Paine says is short-sighted and informed by flawed logic. It would also cost his company more money.

Read the full article at the Hartford Business Journal website.

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