Wolbert, Brazil take over Double M Sanitation

In the United States, more than 250 million tons of trash are created every year. Double M Sanitation, an area trash removal business, is now under new ownership and ready to go to work providing sanitation services in central North Dakota.

Brad Wolbert and Mike Brazil are the main men behind the operation. Wolbert worked alongside former owner, Mark Lithun, for about a year before purchasing the business. Lithun, a longtime Fessenden resident, operated the business for 18 years.

Readers will likely recognize Mike Brazil, a New Rockford resident, on routes for Double M Sanitation. Brazil moved to New Rockford in 2010, and he previously worked at Cash and Carry Lumber. He went to work full-time with the company in January, and he and Brad are partners in the Double M Sanitation business.

Wolbert is a native of Milaca, Minn., a community near St. Cloud. He attended Jamestown College (now University of Jamestown) and pursued a degree in finance and marketing, then worked for a financial services firm in Fargo for four years. He and his wife Cara moved to her family farm near Cathay in 2015.

The pair met at Crystal Springs Bible Camp the summer before Brad's freshman year of college, and now the couple are married and have four children: Silas, Amos, Quinn and Edith.

The Wolberts are fourth generation operators of the Bibelheimer family farm, where they raise corn, soybeans, pinto beans, wheat, barley and rye. Cara's great grandfather Louis Bibelheimer began farming there more than a century ago, and her grandparents Roy and Garene, now snowbirds, winter in Arizona. Garene taught elementary music at Fessenden School for many years while Roy farmed. Cara's father, Todd, now farms alongside them.

Employee Shawn Stoll also works full-time on the sanitation trucks. Employee Hendri Von Tonder and Wolbert will also run routes as needed.

With four trucks and the resources to make it happen, Double M Sanitation is poised for growth.

"We are very interested in expanding," Wolbert said. The primary area from which they could add customers extends from Devils Lake to Carrington, along Hwy. 281 and then west, to McClusky on Hwy. 200. Communities currently served by Double M Sanitation include Bowdon, Sykeston, Hurdsfield, Goodrich, Minnewaukan, Denhoff, Heimdal and Wellsburg.

Wolbert recently approached the City of Sheyenne, inquiring when their current trash removal contract was up for renewal. After reviewing the agreement, "We felt that they were paying too much and that we could do a better service at a better price," Wolbert said.

The Sheyenne City Council approved the contract at their meeting on April 5. While price is a key benefit, local service and familiar faces are others, Wolbert says, as customers in the communities they serve will come to know their staff. Sheyenne Mayor Bob Hanson concurs. "One thing I will say is they are local," he said, when asked what made the council decide to make the switch. He also contacted officals from Minnewaukan, as they have used Double M Sanitation for several years. "They are quite pleased with them," Hanson said. Sheyenne plans to begin its contract with the company in July.

Service to residents in rural townships, including communal dumpsters, is also of interest. While they don't currently offer roll-offs, they are exploring options to provide that service in the future.

"We provide a good service, a familiar face and a positive attitude," Wolbert said.

All the trash they collect is taken to the landfill in Sawyer, 90 miles northwest of New Rockford.

Wolbert has an entrepreneurial nature Always looking for better and more efficient ways to do things, Wolbert is currently researching sustainable methods of composting and recycling. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the average United States citizen generates almost 4.5 pounds of trash every day, and about one-third of the waste can be either recycled or composted. There's a lot of legwork to be done, but Wolbert is hopeful that he can develop solutions for area residents so that less of their trash goes to the landfill in the future.

Anyone interested in exploring a local sanitation option should call Wolbert at (701) 368-9895.