Go to the homepage for the Sylva Herald and Ruralite

Webster Enterprises switches control of county recycling to Thomas' Country Collections

By Rose Hooper
Webster Enterprises director of operations Arlene Stewart Herald photo by Rose Hooper

Webster Enterprises director of operations Arlene Stewart, right, switches controls of the Dillsboro recycling business to Gregg Thomas, owner of County Collections. Though Webster Enterprises will maintain the county contract to collect recyclables, officials there have subleased operation to Thomas effective July 1. See related story on page 2A.

Webster Enterprises has turned over its recycling operations to County Collections, a garbage collection and recycling company owned by Gregg Thomas of Cullowhee.

Webster Enterprises still maintains the county contract to handle the county's recyclables and will be subleasing that contract to Thomas.

"Our relationship with the county will not change," said WE's director of operations Arlene Stewart. "At Webster Enterprises we were concerned about so much of our energy going into recycling, and we needed to concentrate more on our medical devices operation."

While only 20 percent of WE's operations deals with recycling, Stewart said some folks have the misconception that is all they do.

"We have 125 employees, but only five work with recycling," she said. Of those five, one has been reassigned at WE and the other four will continue to work in recycling with Thomas.
Webster Enterprises workers Herald photo by Rose Hooper

Webster Enterprises supervisor of maintennce and safety Doug Lamb (right) and director of operations Arlene Stewart (second from right) switch over controls of their recycling operation to Gregg Thomas (fourth from right), owner of Country Collections. Meeting June 23 together for the first time as a group, WE recyclcing staff joins forces with those from Country Collections. From left are Robert Lee Rogers, Bill Franks, James Mason, Roy Bryant, WE controller Eileen Wheeldon, Matthew Brown, David Wall, Robert Gunter, Billy Franks, Marvin Sheehan, Loanne Hibbard, Thomas, Sheila McCarty, Stewart and Lamb.

"As we train employees at Webster Enterprises, Gregg has agreed to maintain slots for them, and thatıs a perfect mesh for the both of us," Stewart added.

The county contracts yearly with WE at $110,000 to handle its recycling. That $110,000 will now go to Thomas as he picks up the subcontract. Any revenues from the sale of recyclables will also go to Thomas. However, the county will not subsidize Thomas's business, as it did WE, if the operation loses money.

"Basically, what it means is that the county now only pays strictly for services. I will assume all profits or losses," said Thomas, whose company has been in operation two years.

In turn, as part of his six-year subcontract, Thomas will pay $81,000 a year to WE. At the end of that period, Thomas will have purchased the business and all machinery and equipment. WE retains title to its Dillsboro property, which he is leasing. Thomas, who also collects for the town of Sylva, will consolidate his operations at the Dillsboro location.
"We collect for 5 percent of the homes in Jackson County ­ thatıs 600 households, in addition to the town," said Thomas, "and our goal all along has been to do recycling for the county."

Stewart said Webster Enterprises "weighed the undependability of the recycling market with the dependability of Greggıs trash business, and it seemed like a sensible move for us. Obviously, we're extending a lot of faith in Gregg.

"Itıs not an easy move though," she said, " because we've been in the recycling business for 15 years, and itıs a little hard to let go. But now we'll be able to concentrate more on medical device activities."

The transfer takes effect July 1.

Back to Archive: 06/29/00.