Jim Yerhart cannot emphasize it enough: Local is better.

“You don’t have to buy from other communities to save money in order to stay competitive,” he said. “It’s just greed.”

Yerhart, 27, of Brownsdale is the owner and operator of Y Waste Removal, the third garbage hauling business to serve Mower County.

He is a truck technician at McNeilus Companies Inc., of Dodge Center, a company that assembles garbage trucks.

Now, he is bringing 12 years of knowledge into his own company.

“It was just something I wanted to do for myself,” Yerhart said. “What I knew best was garbage trucks.”

Y Waste Removal is temporarily based in Austin pending zoning permit approval from Mower County. Joseph Co. has allowed Yerhart to store his truck there, and the office is in Austin as well.

After the permit request is processed, a permanent shop and office will be constructed in rural Lyle.

Since business began in the first week of April, Yerhart and employee Jay Akkerman have been serving about 40 customers.

Yerhart’s business philosophy is to buy local, serve local and keep it local.

“We are going to utilize trucks that are made in this community,” he said. “We’re going to keep our service in Mower County. When we use our transfer station, it’s going to keep it here in Mower County.”

The county does not have regulations regarding where garbage is hauled; therefore, the local transfer station does not have to be utilized.

Yerhart said he believes his rates are lower than his competitors — Triple J and Waste Management. Discounts are available for veterans of war, active soldiers and seniors. Residential carts come in 35-, 65- and 95-gallon models. Commercial Dumpsters are also available.

Yerhart said the goal for his business now is “getting our facility up and running … getting more trucks, more customers.”

“It’s all about staying local,” Akkerman said. “That’s our goal — we are a service industry.”

For more information about Y Waste Removal, call 433-1702 or visit www.ywasteremoval.com.