Abeâ€™s Trash Service - Scrap Yard in Omaha,Nebraska, United States

About Yard

Abe’s Trash Service is locally owned and operated. Abe’s started as a one man one truck company 60 years ago. We offer services to residential, commercial, and construction/demolition customers. Our goal is to provide quality, dependable service for all of our customers.

It was 1955. The weather was hot and dry. Abe Christensen had corn in his field, and the corn was all dried up. With a wife and three children to support, he knew he had to do something, anything, to raise money.
Living in Omaha’s 102nd & Maple area (which back then was rural), Abe took one of his cattle trucks, filled the slots in the sides, and drove to 40th & Cuming. Going door to door, he asked the residents of the community if he could empty their trash. He wasn’t even sure what to charge, saying “pay me what you want to.”

Though it’s hard to believe in today’s health-conscious society, in those days 95 percent of the population burned their trash. Sometimes, particularly on windless nights or if there was fog, smoke hung over the city “so thick you could almost cut it,” Abe said. So Abe would pick up the trash and haul it to his farm, where he would burn it in a below-ground silo. Soon he had set up a fee schedule – $1 a month for once-a-month service, $2 a month for once-a-week service. He went to factories and got 50-gallon drums for his customers. He carried water to wet down the paper trash to keep it from blowing away en route to the farm. His wife Arlene helped unload the truck when he got home.

It didn’t take long for his customers to realize that the air in their neighborhoods was improving. Soon, real estate agents asked Abe to have some cards printed so they could refer new home-owners to his service.

Abe bought his first packer (garbage truck) in 1958; his second in 1959. The second one was brand new and came from New York. Garbage packer trucks weren’t too common in this area yet. By now, he was picking up trash in Omaha, Blair, Fort Calhoun, Bennington, Elkhorn, Valley, Waterloo and Kennard. Then Doc Cady, Arlington’s mayor and a veterinarian, called him to pick up Arlington’s trash.

He hired neighbors as his employees. “Whenever there was a job opening, there was somebody there waiting to fill it.” He believed that employees are what makes or breaks a business. Abe built a reputation of great service, never missing a day on the route, including holidays. He was too busy to afford to get behind. Some said they could set their watches according to what time Abe’s Trash Service would arrive.

In 1959, Abe moved his family to a farm along Dutch Hall Road. Abe’s Trash Service is still located in this area today. Abe retired in 1967, selling each driver his route. In 1970, John, his son, purchased one route and has built the current Abe’s Trash Service from this single route.

John and his wife Peggy, currently own the company. All four of their children Shawn, Monte, Andy and Josh are involved in the daily operations of the company. Abe’s current location is 8123 Christensen Lane in Omaha, Nebraska. We have grown over the years and now employ about 60 employees and operate more than 40 trucks.

RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING

The truth is, it’s not always easy to find time to worry about recycling your waste at home. Between work and family obligations, who has time to sort recycling into plastics, metals, and paper and then take those items out to your nearest recycling drop-off?At Abe’s Trash Service, we understand how busy your schedule is, even when you want to make that effort to help the environment by recycling. That’s why we provide convenient residential recycling pickup services. We can even provide single-stream recycling in many areas, which makes the whole process even easier!With our convenient recycling pickup, you can do your part to reduce your impact on the environment and divert more trash from going to landfills. Customers can use an 18-gallon bin or a 95-gallon cart for recycling.

NON-ACCEPTABLE RECYCLABLES:

Rubberbands
Plastic Bags
Soiled Paper
Tissue Paper
Paper Towels
Wax Coated Paper

COMMERCIAL RECYCLING

Instead of throwing recyclable materials in with your trash simply put them in a bin, place curb side on recycling collection day. You do not have to worry about sorting them.
Recycling diverts waste from being landfilled or incinerated This conserves energy since it takes less energy to produce new products from recycled materials and saves natural resources that sometimes cannot be replaced.