‘Can’t beat Brown County’: Local man serves community through waste management business

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It’s been less than one year since Brown County native Brian Miller started his own waste management company, and he’s already built a solid client base all around his home area.

He said last week that his business, Miller’s Trash Service, is more focused on providing quality service to a smaller number of clients, rather than over-expanding to deliver everyone a “poor experience.”

Miller

Because of his focus on quality, Miller decided to take on all the responsibilities of the business by himself and limit the amount of customers he will take on at a time.

“It’s just me and it will be just me,” he said.

“I don’t want to get too big and lose focus.”

Miller currently has 160 clients — just under the amount he wants to hit to be able to keep providing quality service.

“Once you get too many customers, you get too far out there and you’re not able to control it,” he said.

“Things happen — trucks break down, weather, all kinds of factors in there.”

Miller also said its important for him to ensure that his clients are met with service that expands beyond just the work. He also wants to provide friendliness.

“When I pull up in somebody’s driveway, I want to be able to say, ‘Hey, how you doing? Do you know such-and-such down the road? They just had a baby,’ stuff like that,” he said.

On top of everything else, Miller also said another reason he does it alone is so he can keep his pricing fair, because he thinks it would be hard to find employees that would be satisfied with pay based off of what he charges.

Before working in waste management, Miller was a semi truck driver. He said he enjoyed life on the road, but after a while he was ready for a change.

“I was younger then and liked the excitement — getting to see different things in different places, and experiencing those things — but you can’t beat Brown County,” he said.

“I got tired of being over the road. And I wanted a home every night. I had quite a few friends that worked in the trash business and they said, ‘Hey, why don’t you try that?’ and I just did.”

Miller earned around 15 years of trash service experience before he decided to start his own company. He said a few things led him to his decision to set out in his own, such as changes he has seen in the workforce.

Specifically, Miller said it has been difficult to find people who want to work, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said workforce numbers dropped and things have not yet gone back to the way they were before. Due to experiencing extra pressure from working in short-staffed positions, Miller said he was ready to try a different approach.

“I’ll be 52 this year,” he said.

“I kind of wanted to do it myself and help the community too.”

Miller greatly enjoys Brown County and the way of life it provides. It’s where he was raised and then had his own family — three grown sons and six granddaughters.

He said keeping the Brown County community values alive is important to him, and his approach with his business reflects that.

He said he is looking forward to hearing from people at any time.

“My phone is on all the time, and if there’s any problems, I like to help people out,” he said.

“We’re all in this together. I just want to be local and take care of the local community and that means a lot.”

Miller’s Trash Service

Phone: 812-322-0243

Facebook: Miller’s Trash Service

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