About Park’s Garbage Service

Imagine a neighborhood or main street without regular trash collection and service, a place where every family or business had to handle waste disposal themselves. It wasn’t long ago that Pennsylvania had zero professional waste and recycling management options. Pennsylvania was home to over 1,000 unregulated dumps, according to the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association.

But in 1960, Jesse Park saw a big opportunity.

Jesse Park starts a business in 1960 by going door to door, asking if people would like to have their garbage removed from their homes.

Park, a warehouse employee, regularly transported people’s trash to the dump in Huntingdon Borough on his way home from work.

Word caught on and soon more and more people were asking Park to take their trash to the dump.

Demand for the trash service was so great that Park made a fulltime business out of it. His son, Ralph Park, accompanied him in the business, as early at age 11.

Eventually, Ralph and his wife, Josie, purchased Park’s Garbage Service, which consisted of 420 customers, two trucks and a garage.

In 2012, Park’s Garbage Service was purchased by Apple Valley Waste, but continues to operate under the same management and name

As of today, Park's Garbage services more than 11,000 customers in the Mt Union and Lewistown areas with 16 trucks running on a daily basis, servicing residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

In 2012, Park’s Garbage Service was purchased by Apple Valley Waste, but continues to operate under the same management and name

As of today, Parks Garbage services more than 11,000 customers in the Mt Union and Lewistown areas with 16 trucks running on a daily basis, servicing residential, commercial, and industrial customers.