In an age when many companies come and go, Waste Material Trucking Company, founded in 1945 and still owned and operated by the same family, continues to provide reliable trash collection and waste removal services to its neighbors in central Connecticut.

Our humble beginnings actually go all the way back to 1930, when Polish immigrant Taddeus Zommer first began hauling food scraps from the tiny Cunningham Diner in Plainville, Connecticut. For a small fee, he loaded up his horse-drawn wagon twice each week and hauled the scraps to his farm as a feast for his pigs.

Back in those days, organized systems of waste collection and disposal were non-existent. People took a very simple approach to getting rid of garbage from their homes and businesses. Some threw trash in the woods and composted food wastes. Some towns such as Southington, Connecticut, established landfills where residents could drop off trash.

Clearly, communities had a need for waste haulers. In 1945, Tad Zommer's son, Michael Henry Zommer, and his wife, Helen, formally established Waste Material Trucking Company. They bought their first garbage truck and entered into their first municipal garbage collection contract with the town of Plainville.

In the spring of 1956, Waste Material entered a new era when Mike and Helen's only son, Michael Anthony Zommer, took a chance on expanding the small company into new territory. Mike began knocking on doors in brand-new subdivisions springing up across Southington, Connecticut, a 36.8-square-mile town just south of Plainville. He successfully signed a number of new customers in the first year based on his persuasive offer. "Let me do you a favor and haul your garbage to the dump," Mike offered, all for the remarkable rate of $1.50 a month! Mike came like clockwork every week and hauled away his customers' household trash from curbs and backyards.

They built a family home in Southington near the Plainville town line in 1968 and raised four children. Mike's proudest accomplishment (aside from eight grandchildren) is that almost 50 years have passed, and Waste Material still serves some of the same families who answered his knock in 1956! Mike and Linda continue to actively support the communities where the company operates, contributing to schools and athletic and civic organizations. The Zommer family is committed to making the personal and financial investments that keep their hometown, family-owned business strong.
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