The first oil crisis in the mid-1970s opened David Carabetta’s eyes to the reality that earth’s resources are finite and need responsible stewardship.
The epiphany launched his company, United Industrial Services, in Meriden, Conn. It operates on a “total recycling” business model, reusing everything from the wastes the company collects to the containers they are shipped in.
It’s an ideal setup for a diverse business that includes industrial cleaning and vacuum loading of waste from customers and internal processes. How these processes fit into the company’s larger mission is a lesson in planned, scaled, service diversification.
A strong, clear vision, combined with hands-on management, has helped the company secure its bottom line in an uncertain world.
Born of necessity
Carabetta formed United in 1976. It is now a privately owned company with 12 facilities in five states. “We started in the agricultural business, looking for alternative fuels in the 1970s fuel crisis,” Carabetta recalls. At that time, there was a need for more industrial services, so the firm expanded into spill cleanup as United Oil Recovery.
Carabetta soon realized that waste products had potential value as fuel, and he created methods to process those materials to fulfill that potential. That led to calls for more services, says Tom Pappalardo, special projects manager.
The firm now offers dozens of services, from emergency spill response and industrial vacuum loading to transportation, storage and treatment of various hazardous and regulated wastes. The firm serves New England and the northeast corridor states, and customers include companies in manufacturing, aeronautics, construction and demolition, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and property management, as well as municipalities.
United owns and operates transfer, storage and treatment facilities in Meriden and Bridgeport, Conn., and Stoughton, Mass., that have permits from the federal EPA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Part B. The company also has transfer and storage facilities in Northborough, Mass., and Newington, N.H. The main office and vehicle maintenance facilities remain in Meriden.
Sustainable growth
Though expansion has been rapid at times, it has always been planned. “Our growth was a combination of various acquisitions, and our desire to minimize our environmental footprint,” Carabetta says.
What comes in as waste may leave as a saleable product. What comes in as a waste container may leave as a processed bulk material headed for a recycling plant. “What we collect, we transport,” Carabetta says. “We generate waste from some of our field service projects, and then we treat it. Our treatment plants then generate fuel, such as when we capture thermal energy from the incineration of hazardous materials.”
The real advantage is that this diversity evens out the highs and lows in activity and cash flow: Some areas may be slow, while others remain busy.
The company’s waste analysis plan requires that all material entering the facilities be sampled and analyzed before shipment. The firm’s laboratories assign a specific material profile, which determines proper shipping, storage and treatment. Waste is analyzed again before the truck is off-loaded to verify that the material matches its profile and satisfies permit criteria.
One of the marketable products created through the waste treatment process is Norlite, a lightweight, porous ceramic material, produced by expanding and vitrifying select shale in a rotary kiln. This process, using waste-derived fuel, produces a consistent quality aggregate that’s strong, stable, durable and environmentally inert. Engineers and designers use Norlite to reduce dead loads, lower thermal conductivity of building products, improve fire ratings and enhance soils.
Tools of profit
The operation depends on a large fleet and equipment inventory. United operates more than 150 waste transportation vehicles, including vacuum trucks, bulk tankers, tractor-trailers, box trucks, and vans. For cleaning and pumping, the company has seven high-capacity vacuum trucks, with liquid ring pumps that enable simple and efficient handling of liquid and heavy sludges. Four are fitted with baghouse dust collection and filtration systems to allow loading of dry materials.
United built one truck of each style in-house. The rest use Hibon pumps delivering 3,700 to 3,800 cfm. Two have bodies by Keith Huber Inc., one with a 3,500- to 3,700-cfm pump from Kaiser Pump & Valve Inc., and the other with a liquid ring 3800-cfm pump from Gardner Denver Nash. These trucks also carry secondary low-vacuum blower pumps delivering 400 to 750 cfm.
Besides high-capacity vacuum trucks, United fields about 35 pumper trucks with 3,000- to 4,000-gallon stainless steel waste tanks on Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner and Mack chassis.
Beyond trucks, Pappalardo says United’s operation depends on smart growth, and that depends on strong management and staff. “You don’t want to grow too fast and get out of control, because you need to maintain quality and efficiency,” he says. “That’s always a concern.”
Building a family
Carabetta adds, “We’re very fortunate to have a seasoned group of individuals we’ve developed over more than 30 years.” Like other companies, United finds it challenging to locate quality people, but has no trouble holding on to them. “We treat them well and they take care of us,” he says. “We pay well, but it’s more than that. We like to look at it as one big family.”
Staff development includes exhaustive training for new hires and ongoing professional development. Employees receive hazardous material handling and confined-space entry training. Annual training includes confined-space rescue. United’s field employees receive 40-hour OSHA Hazardous Waste Oper-ations and Emergency Response Standard (HAZWOPER) certification.
Field workers go through safety training, then shadow a veteran driver or field service technician. “All the book learning in the world is great, but you have to see the work happening to really understand it,” Pappalardo says. Supervisors decide when employees are ready to work on their own.
United extends safety training to its customers, if requested. “It’s not like what you’d see from training-only companies,” Pappalardo says. “We do our own in-house training, and customers will ask to join in.”
Leveraging experience
Carabetta says the biggest challenge is growing the customer base and offering diverse services while maintaining quality and efficiency. “Our employees are very much part of the innovation we use to deal with that,” he says. “Ninety-eight percent of our managers came from the field, and they keep their hands in the business. We have always promoted from within. That’s how we keep our team tight and retain our employees.”
Pappalardo adds, “Facility workers will occasionally express interest in moving to a different position. Within reason, you want to put people where they want to be.”
United management is active and involved. Every morning, managers talk to field personnel about what they are doing, who they are doing it for, and what safety precautions they are taking.
Carabetta is clear-eyed about the state of the industry, and cautions would-be cleaning contractors who think of it as an easy target for instant profits. “You need a strong infrastructure to really get into this industry,” he says. “Anyone can buy a truck and the equipment, but you really need the trained employees, a large and viable customer base, so many things.
“I think there’s a desire out there for higher quality companies,” Carabetta says. “There are a lot of people who supply service, but I think customers are looking for their best option. And that’s not always just a price.”
Pappalardo agrees. “Just because you have the low bid doesn’t make you the best,” he says. “It’s all about getting in and out of your customers’ plants and giving them the least downtime possible. There’s lost profit when they have to shut down any longer than necessary. We’ve been through that learning curve. In presenting quotes, we go over experiences from similar jobs, and show why we’re more economical.”
He believes the most immediate issues facing environmental cleaning contractors is diversification – giving customers what they need, when they need it.
Carabetta says the most important element of a successful future is the ability to think creatively and innovate. “For instance, we’re in the process of a major upgrade at one of our treatment facilities,” he says. “The object is to do as much biological treatment as possible, and we let that drive the way we’re doing the upgrades. In this industry, you’ve got to be innovative, so you can be ahead of the curve and not behind it.”
