KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – Inflation has been hitting everyone across the country lately. As consumers, we constantly experience price increases, as do small business owners.
The owner of a tree care business in East Tennessee says his business has been particularly hard hit. Brian Robinson, the owner and operator of Perfect Grounds, called WATE’s Don Dare to explain how much more he’s paying this year compared to a few years ago. He shared that his costs have tripled since early 2020.
Emergency responders work on a house fire in Maryville
Fresh wood chips are often used for mulching around trees, shrubs and perennials. The wood chips absorb and store moisture. There are tree care companies whose main business is turning branches and wood waste into wood chips. Once finished, they turn in the chips and pay a fee to a specialized company who sells them as mulch. Lately, delivering truckloads of chips has become significantly more expensive.
The Perfect Grounds tree service team was busy clearing some fallen trees and brushwood in Farragut last week. The company performs maintenance around the First Utility District’s water towers. Some trees recently fell near one of the water tanks and Brian’s workers have cut the branches and undergrowth into smaller pieces. The branches were then fed into a wood chipper. The raw undergrowth and branches are eventually processed into mulch or wood chips used in garden landscaping.
However, Perfect Grounds does not supply the chips to landscape gardeners. Instead, Brian hands over the chips and pays a fee to a company called living earth. There are three facilities in Knoxville, and the Texas-based company is one of the largest recyclers of tree branches, brushwood, leaves and grass clippings.
Companies like Perfect Grounds and others provide raw materials for mulching, wood chips for landscaping. Brian’s business pays tons by shedding the wood chips. But Perfect Grounds only delivers the chips to Living Earth and not the whole brush. The wood chips eliminate an additional step in the recycling process.
Robinson shared that in 2020 it cost $17 to drop off a ton of chips and $33 to drop off brushes.
“Like everything else, everything is becoming more expensive. The latest is that they have done away with the difference between brush and shavings. They charge you full price for chips now, there was just another raise. “We’re at $55 a ton for chips,” Robinson said. “Quite an improvement, isn’t it?”
Claiborne County missing woman silver alert
As costs increase, Perfect Grounds is forced to pass them on to customers. But Robinson wonders how much of the increase he can handle.
“Where we used to be able to stay competitive, now I’m concerned that we’re going to be able to do that,” Robinson said. He also wants to make sure he has enough money to pay his employees.
“Many mouths to feed. They have families, wives, children. That’s exactly what you see in the foreground. We have the ladies in the office and all the families accompanying them. They definitely have the good end of the deal. You get paid to get it in and get paid to get it out. I would like to see an explanation. Why aren’t we suddenly getting a discount on bringing in woodchips when they can process it directly into mulch? It’s not like it has to go through a huge process like raw brush does,” said Robinson.
WATE reached out to Living Earth for an explanation, and the Texas company wrote back, “We base our pricing on the cost of doing business, which fluctuates with the economy.” Manufacturing industries have been particularly hardened in recent years by a dramatic increase in the cost of fuel , trucks and licensed operators.”
“In-N-Out Burger is coming to Tennessee,” announces Bill Lee
“I’m not just going to lie down and watch what I’ve worked hard for go away. I am blessed and have many good husbands. I want to watch them continue to grow and thrive,” said Robinson.
As a small business owner for 30 years, Robinson says he’s never seen prices rise as much as they have in the last 24 to 30 months just to ship woodchips. Ironically, wood chip industry websites report that there is high demand for wood chips but a tight supply across the country
In addition, many tree service operators, such as Robinson’s, have reportedly expressed concern about a lack of disposal facilities for wood chips and other waste from their tree operations.
Close modal
Suggest a correction
Suggest a correction
www.wate.com
https://www.wate.com/investigations/mulch-company-triples-knoxville-tree-services-disposal-cost/
