ABOVE: Clayton Mitchell stands with one of the two garbage trucks emblazoned with the CM Sanitation logo, as he begins providing garbage pickup services to the people of Martin County.

GRANADA – After 30 years on the road, Clayton Mitchell is ready for a new chapter.

His new business, CM Sanitation, is looking to serve towns across Martin County. Mitchell currently offers 35-gallon, 65-gallon and 96-gallon carts for a monthly fee. The plan is to pick up trash weekly, in Fairmont on Fridays and in Truman, Granada, Northrop and elsewhere on Saturdays.

Mitchell has worked with sanitation companies on and off, but has spent most of his life as a semi-truck driver. The idea of starting his own business began around a year ago, as he sought something new.

“I just decided I didn’t want to get up driving over the road,” Mitchell said. “Trying to try this and see if it’ll work out.”

Regarding equipment, Mitchell found two garbage trucks on Facebook Marketplace for around $95,000 total. He’s purchased around 250 garbage carts from a supplier in Kansas, and is looking to get around 450 more.

While the operation is currently a solo gig, Mitchell has his son helping out on weekends. Mitchell said the support is big, as he wouldn’t be able to do it without him.

The background work took Mitchell approximately six months to complete, including obtaining licenses and permits from the Department of Transportation and individual cities. Going through all of it, Mitchell said the goal for CM Sanitation is to provide this service while being affordable.

“I wanted to try to keep it as well as we possibly could,” he said. “Give everybody a fair price. Here in town, a lot of people had just one bag, then Waste Management quit doing the bags. People had to go to the bigger carts. It was quite a jump in price for them.”

It’s only been a week since CM Sanitation opened for business, but Mitchell said they have received pretty good reception and demand thus far.

Currently, they are only looking to do the cans and stick to Martin County. If all goes well, Mitchell said CM Sanitation will definitely look at offering commercial dumpster services. There’s also consideration of offering trash removal services elsewhere, but Mitchell said they would not stray far from Martin County.

Due to the additional paperwork and legwork it would involve, CM Sanitation said it is not looking into recycling as an added service.

Generally, Mitchell said the 35s are best for the elderly or those who don’t go through a lot of garbage, the 64s are best for one or two-person residences and the 96s are best for those who go through plenty of garbage, such as a family with kids.

It’s $16 per month for a 35, $23 per month for a 64 and $29 per month for a 96. For more information, call 507-848-1160 or email CMSanitation@icloud.com.