King of the heap 1800-got-junk?

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure – a saying that rang true for an 1800-GOT-JUNK? rubbish collector who removed two cases of ‘off’ 1991 French Bordeaux Chateau Laffite which ended up being the finest wine he ever tasted.

However, that hasn’t been the only out of the ordinary job that full-service junk removal company, 1800-GOT-JUNK? has worked on.

According to Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast 1800-GOT-JUNK? Franchise Owner, Justin King, his exclusively Isuzu truck fleet has been loaded with every imaginable item, including some of what the company calls, ‘weird junk’.

“Some of the weirdest junk we’ve seen includes coffins from a morgue, a full McDonald’s Playground set and a truck load of denture moulds,” Justin said.

“Once we removed 12 truckloads from a hoarder which amounted to 120 m3 of old junk accumulated over a 20 year period.

“We also rescued a one-month old kitten named Freon from a fridge at another job.

“Our removalists never know what they will find when they arrive onsite!”

1800-GOT-JUNK? prides itself on providing a complete service. The removal team does all the lifting, loading and recycling of the items to be removed and they charge only by the space the customer’s junk takes up on the truck.

The company’s clients include offices, retail locations, residential houses and farms.

All the collected junk is either recycled, donated or disposed of responsibly. The company boasts saving almost 900,000 kilograms of rubbish from landfill since it was established over two decades ago.

The company was founded in 1989 in Vancouver, Canada, by Brian Scudmore who started out with a second-hand pick-up truck.

Since 1998, the company has grown to approximately 200 locations across three countries, having adopted franchising in 1999 as the way to achieve rapid market penetration and revenue growth.

The company arrived on Australian shores in 2006, and today there are 75 employees spread across the company’s Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide based operations.

1800-GOT-JUNK? has 17 Isuzu trucks on the road in Australia.

“All our trucks are Isuzu NPR 300s and are well suited for transporting any sort of junk that comes our way,” Justin said.

“As with all fleet-based companies, there are many considerations when deciding what manufacturer to entrust your business to.

“Price is an obvious decision maker, but you have to look at quality, reliability, resale value and dominance in the light-duty truck market – everything that Isuzu offers and more.”

The NPR 300s are fitted with custom built container bodies that include an electric-hydraulic hoist and electric tarp system.

The bodies are built by A.H Peters and Picca bodies, located in Condell Park, New South Wales and take up to eight weeks to build.

Justin is impressed with the high quality features included in the Isuzu NPR 300 model.

“The truck’s engine (SiTEC Series III 155) has not let us down, especially with its power output (114kW @ 2,600 RPM),” Justin said.

The NPR 300s are tough little trucks, he added.

“Most of the time, they are seen driving on roads and freeways around the city areas. However, they also drive through mud, loose metal, and assorted debris to get to landfill locations several times a day.

According to Justin, the relationship with Isuzu has been very successful.

“We’ve been very happy with our choice in having an exclusively Isuzu fleet.

“As we look towards the future, we are excited about keeping Isuzu as our regular workhorse regardless of where we expand in the world.

“With Isuzu we have quality and reliability, which makes it easy for us to deliver our value promise to our customers.”