For independent haulers, competing with larger, publicly traded firms for the accounts of national chain stores always has been a concern. Retailers such as Target and Home Depot may strive to offer their customers a high level of shopping convenience, but for moderate-sized waste companies, they can be inaccessible when it comes to contracts.

However, smaller waste firms can get a chance to service the nearby outlet of a national retailer by working with companies that function in part as middlemen between chain stores and haulers. East Hartford, Conn.-based Oakleaf Waste Management and The William-Thomas Group, a division of Cincinnati-based Rumpke Consolidated Cos., are two such companies.

Neither company refers to itself as a broker, in part because the scope of their services, which includes advising clients on how to make their waste streams more efficient, is broader than simply connecting generator and collector. Yet, an additional motivation could be that some haulers have negative connotations associated with the word “broker” because of problems receiving payments and requests to bid on contracts for sites that already have a collection contract.

Founded in 1995, Oakleaf works with 4,600 haulers in North America to provide collection and recycling services for 85,000 retail, industrial, apartment and healthcare sites. Clients include Arby's, K-Mart and Albertson's. The company expects to bring in $300 million in revenue this year.

Oakleaf refers to itself as a waste outsourcing firm. It does not own any trucks or landfills. Waste generators, such as chain stores, hire Oakleaf to, among other things, conduct evaluations of their waste streams, customize a disposal and recycling program, and contract with haulers to service their individual properties.

For instance, when conducting an audit of a generator's cash flow, Oakleaf may break down a retail chain's various stores into large, medium and small trash-producing sites. If Oakleaf determines that one small-trash producing site has a 10-yard dumpster and all of the other small-producing sites are using a 6-yard bin, the firm will instruct the generator to replace the 10-yarder with the 6-yarder.

The firm also rents cardboard balers to retailers and services the equipment, and provides its generators a 24/7 customer service hotline. Overall, Oakleaf guarantees its clients a savings of at least 5 percent compared to what they were previously paying for trash and recycling services.

For haulers, Oakleaf offers access to national accounts. “These aren't the guys the local haulers have a great relationship with,” says Jim Barnes, founder, president and CEO of the firm.

In order to become part of Oakleaf's Certified Hauling Program and service one of the firm's clients, a hauler must undergo an evaluation in which Oakleaf officials visit and inspect the hauler's facility. If accepted, the hauler can start bidding on contracts, but is only given small routes at first.

“We don't just on day one give them 500 locations,” Barnes says. “We give them a few and then measure how they do through a scorecard system.” The scorecard includes assessments of how long it takes to do a dump and return and complaints per 100 pickups.

Furthermore, a hauler that makes the lowest bid on a contract may not necessarily be the one that Oakleaf chooses, Barnes says. “The lowest price is not the absolute driver — it's consistent, good quality service,” he says. “Let's say that I have a hauler that does 300 to 400 locations and another guy who can do three to four of those locations cheaper. I'm not just going to switch over to them.”

As for billing, “we send them [haulers] one wire transfer a month for their locations — some have up to 500 a month,” Barnes says. “Invoices are eliminated. It's consistent cash flow.”

Some of the waste industry's giants, such as Houston-based Waste Management and Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Allied Waste Services, no longer service accounts handled by Oakleaf, saying they grew tired of losing accounts to the firm and then being “re-hired” by Oakleaf to handle the accounts at a discount.

Three years ago, Rumpke formed its William-Thomas Group to give independent haulers a better chance at providing collection and recycling services to national companies. As firms do with Oakleaf, companies such as Kroger and Circle K contract with William-Thomas to handle waste services for multiple sites across the country, and the group lines up service providers for each site.

William-Thomas's Haul Pass Network consists of nearly 5,000 haulers that are eligible to service sites. Currently, about 1,100 of the firms are handling about 11,000 different locations.