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For parking garage sweeping, Ross uses a smaller, combination broom and vacuum sweeper. Garage sweeping has a lot more space and size restrictions, so this smaller unit allows the sweeper to get around easily and into spaces full-sized sweepers could not.

Going green
Last year, Ross decided he wanted to certify his company as a green business. "For me it offers a satisfaction that we're doing our part. But being certified also opens up a lot of other opportunities. Especially any local, state, or federal jobs that are coming up where you have to be green certified in order to participate in the bidding process." Certifying an entire company as green means every aspect of the business follows green principles to help the whole business run more efficiently, Ross adds. This can include practices as small as changing to energy saving light bulbs to larger options like running fuel efficient vehicles.

For Millennium's sweeping division, the biggest green practice Ross has incorporated is recycling. Millennium had been recycling swept up materials before the Green Movement really took off, Ross says, and it's always been something he has preferred to do. But when his disposal costs started to skyrocket he knew he had to capitalize on his recycling program. Once you remove all the recyclable materials there's often very little that needs to be disposed of, Ross says.

"Spend a little bit of time recycling and you could actually turn a profit on some of these materials," he adds. At one point in time, companies were purchasing cardboard that Millennium had recycled.

Now, everything his sweeping crews sweep up goes through a recycling process. All of the materials get sorted through a screening process. Large materials such as plastic, cardboard, glass, etc. get caught in the screen and then sorted by hand. Smaller, non-recyclable debris and sand go through the filter and are then taken to a landfill where it is used as a cap for the landfill, Ross says. "About 5% of the debris swept up is taken to the landfill," Ross adds. The other 95% is recycled and sold for extra profit.