photography / Troy Boman We Dump Your Junk owner Ryan Bowen stands in front of three of his trucks used to remove unwanted materials Tuesday. Bowen, a real estate agent turned junk baron, saw an opportunity for waste removal while selling houses.

by Doug Radunich

STAFF WRITER

For one local company, spring cleaning means much more than clearing out old files or scrubbing down desks.

We Dump Your Junk, as the name intimates, cleans homes and businesses inside and out of unused items, then hauls those items away for recycling and disposal. Company owner Ryan Bowen formed the business in 2003 while he was working in the real estate industry. He originally developed his knack for cleaning and remodeling from working with old automobiles as a teenager.

"When I was 15 or 16, I started fixing up old cars and reselling them for more money, and I would do things like put on new rims and tinted windows and things like that," Bowen said. "I just loved to fix things up, and I later figured that there was an even better market with remodeling houses."

Once he began remodeling and repainting homes for resale, Bowen saw another business opportunity -- in junk.

"There came a point where I got sick of pulling a trailer everywhere, so I bought a dump truck, and people started seeing me with the dump truck and always asking me if I could haul things for them," he said. "I decided to make a business out of it. I figured it would be a good business for the area because everyone has junk, whether it's stuff in their basement, an old shed or an old car."

Bowen said the company's business has grown by 15 or 20 percent every year since 2003.

"Usually during the winter we're not too busy, but at the beginning of this year we were off to a great start," Bowen said. "Once spring starts we get really busy because people start to think about spring cleanup."

Once Bowen and his crew have cleaned an area, they take removed items to Deseret Industries, the Tooele County landfill, or recycling facilities in Salt Lake City.

The company removes appliances, furniture, yard waste, cars, trucks, trailers and concrete, and also does construction cleanup and demolition for trailers, old garages and anything else that needs to go. Most of its business is in Tooele County with an occasional Salt Lake job, according to Bowen.

Bowen said jobs may take as long as 3 to 5 days, while others may take as little as 5 to 10 minutes. He currently uses four different trucks, including flatbeds, and a crew of five part-time helpers.

"We have done jobs where we've pulled 25 to 30 loads out of a place, and we've done some that have been really easy and gone by really quickly," Bowen said. "We even did one house in Rush Valley where the residents had thrown garbage out their windows for years. We got to wear gas masks and use big shovels, and I think we hauled 10 or 11 loads out of that house."

The company also does jobs for real estate firms, and cleans the homes of recently deceased individuals.

"When people pass away, the family comes in and usually takes what they want, and then they want to get the house ready to sell," Bowen said. "That's when we come in, and we'll go through the house and get rid of anything that's left in the entire house, take the carpet out if they like, and get rid of stuff that's barely standing, like old sheds or barns. We'll clean up a lot of old businesses that will go out of business and just leave their junk there, and we'll also do a lot of construction sites that don't get cleaned up like they should."

Bowen has considered expanding the business into Idaho with an uncle, but jokes about Tooele County having enough junk laying around to keep him in business for 30 years.

"We love cleaning up Tooele County and taking care of people, and it's great to be able to see the area become a better place," he said. "There's nothing better than watching an older lady who's had junk inside and outside of her house forever smile after you've cleaned it all up."

dougrad@tooeletranscript.com