Talkin’ Trash

Talkin’ Trash with Montecito’s Borgatello Family

It’s an all too familiar sound—the whine of the compactor and beep of the back-up alarm—as the truck maneuvers the driveways, byways and back alleys of Montecito. For some people it’s a reassuring signal that what’s been discarded, thrown away, used up, is being removed from their property in a quick, efficient process. And on the scheduled day. But for most it’s a sound that’s taken for granted and given as little attention as the service the truck is providing: garbage pickup. Trash collection. And, of course, the pickup of recyclable materials.
In Montecito, as well as from Carpenteria to Isla Vista, the moniker Marborg Industries is displayed boldly on the sides trucks. Sometimes imposing, and even at times annoying due to the truck’s size and cacophony of operational sounds, these seemingly mobile compactors accommodate the first step in a refuse disposal program that begins with a backyard can being emptied into a truck, and ends with the recycle process and myriad engineering complexities of landfill management and operation. In today’s in-and-out pace of life, Marborg Industries delivers a sophisticated, high-tech process of transferring garbage from your back yard to the dump, and it’s a process that seems to belie the possibility that any garbage collection process was ever accomplished with just a wagon and two horses—sometimes just a wagon.
In the early thirties there was no future vision of a business the magnitude of Marborg Industries for Charles Borgatello and his younger brother Mario. It was a humble business seed that was planted when Charles took advantage of an opportunity to haul wet garbage with a hand-drawn, two-wheeled wagon from the Bliss estate to a small hog farm on the Barker property on School House Road. It was a routine chore for the young Barker brothers, Jamie and Jesse, and Charles was asked to continue to pickup while the Barker family was on vacation. It was a chore that blossomed into an opportunity.
Through word of mouth referrals, and what would today be considered "networking," Charles began acquiring a number of his own accounts. Using a Model T Ford, he officially entered the business of garbage collection. By 1931 the number of new accounts had increased enough to warrant the purchase of a new Chevrolet pickup truck and he named the business Borgatello Disposal.
Though still in school, and without yet firming up any future career plans, Mario worked for his brother on holidays and summer breaks.
"We were in the middle of a depression," Mario said, "and I just welcomed the opportunity to have any kind of work during school breaks."
After graduation from high school in 1936, Mario was invited to join his brother in the family business. With existing accounts firmly in place, and boasting a fleet of four green, open-staked pickup trucks, the business prospered and grew. In 1940, Mario and Charles formed a partnership and renamed the business Borgatello Brothers Refuse Disposal.
But the Borgatellos were not the first, nor the only, garbage service in Montecito. In the 30s it was still unregulated territory and wide open to competition. Otto Hopkins had several accounts, as well as P.I. Moten, and in 1934 George Taverna and Leno De Lorenzi purchased the garbage service that Taverna’s father Joseph owned—along with his brothers Frank and Louie, and Steve Raffetto—and named their new company The American Montecito Garbage Company.
"In those days," recalls Borgatello, "it wasn’t unusual for our company to be picking up on one side of the street while Taverna and De Lorenzi were picking up at one of their accounts across the street, and Moten picking up two doors down."
Taverna and De Lorenzi began their operation with two Dodge pickup trucks, bright red. They divided up the service accounts, each taking half, and established rates according to particular areas. For a twice-weekly pickup in the Goleta area, the rate was $1.50 a month. But in Montecito the rates were $2 and higher, depending on the more frequent garbage pickup needs of the large estates.
When someone was sick or when extra help was needed, De Lorenzi usually hired outside help. But for Taverna, as with the Borgatellos, it was considered a family business and family members jumped in to help when needed.
"I remember driving one of those trucks," said Adeline Taverna Tomberg, one of George Taverna’s sisters. "I don’t think it was much of a truck, but all I had to do was drive the route. The men used large tubs to collect the garbage and I just stayed in the truck at each stop. George had jerryrigged a cutout on the truck he drove.(A cutout is a capped, pipe extending out form a point in the tall pipe before it connects with the muffler, and is controlled, opened and closed, from a device in the truck cab.). It made the truck give off this loud blast and the men used to play with it to get the attention of pretty girls walking by. It was silly, I know, but I didn’t mind as long as George didn’t do it when I was driving."
The Taverna’s and De Lorenzi’s America Montecito Garbage Co. also prospered from the 30s to the 50s, and they eventually ended up with eight trucks in their company fleet, as well as a new generation of family members to draw upon to help out in the business.
Arlene Figone, George Taverna’s niece, remembers the anxiety of trying to handle one of her uncle’s dump trucks without any experience. "I took my kids with me on a dump run, once," she said. "If you could have seen me trying to unload that truck without a hoist that was working properly, you’d have laughed. I just prayed we’d all get home safely."
The 1930s brought the Borgatello and Taverna-De Lorenzi companies through the economic wave of Montecito’s Golden Era. As opposed to having only the modest garbage collection needs of single-family dwellings to help build a strong customer base, this period of time created a window of opportunity that allowed a new business to thrive within circumstances unique to the Montectio area, its wealthy residents, and the challenging collection needs of many of the large estates. And often a customer service was provided that is unheard of by today’s standards.
"We used to line garbage cans with newspaper after we emptied them into the truck, and we made sure there was newspaper on the bottom of the can so garbage wouldn’t stick to the bottom," Borgatello said. "Sometimes we even washed out the cans. It wasn’t even considered unusual to go right into the kitchen of one these large estates to collect whatever garbage was there."
The highly recognizable names of DuPont, Armour, McCormick, Knapp and Fleischmann represent only a few of the many wealthy industrialists who built and developed spectacular estates in Montecito after the turn of the century. And on most estates, a large and permanent staff was required to maintain not only the house and grounds, but also the affluent lifestyles that were second nature to many of the families. On just the Bliss estate alone, on Olive Mill Road (now the Casa Dorinda retirement community), at the peak of its residency, Francis Bliss maintained a staff of more than 45—cooks, housekeepers, maids, secretaries, gardeners, chauffeurs. Combined with lavish entertaining, the generation of garbage was enormous and constant.
"In those early days we usually picked up six times a week at both the Bliss and McCormick estates," recalled Borgatello. "And that doesn’t include special pickups."
This daily pickup schedule remained constant up until the war years (World War II) when rubber and gasoline were rationed, as well as a significant number of food products. Most of the large estates pulled back and entertained less, thereby generating a smaller amount of garbage. Pickup schedules dropped to two or three times a week. If an extra pickup was absolutely necessary, premium rates were charged, and it might end up costing a Borgatello Brothers Refuse Disposal customer up to $15 a month for all the combined regular and extra pickup service.
For the average, non-commercial customer, especially on the large estates, the preparation and handling of garbage to be disposed was a considerable task, due to the large amounts often involved, but it was still a simple and uncomplicated process compared to contemporary refuse disposal consideration. The toxicity of certain products hadn’t yet been established, as well as terms such as "biodegradable," and the idea of a kitchen garbage disposal was still the stuff of science fiction. "Recycle" was not yet a politically correct, marketing buzzword since people naturally recycled their own garbage.
In not yet having to deal with the plastics, resins, polymers and chemicals contained in the products we throw away today, garbage was primarily "wet" garbage or "dry" garbage. Burning trash in Santa Barbara County was routine, and legal at that time, and many of the estate gardeners either composted or burned garden waste. Tin cans and glass products were separated (recycled) from the rest of the garbage. If they weren’t reused, and after a sufficient amount had accumulated, an estate housekeeper would order a special pickup. The garbage company saved the bottles that could be recapped and sold them to Solomon’s Junk Yard, which in turn sold them back to the beer and soft drink industries. The bulk of the refuse left to be picked up was wet garbage, which was then transferred to a "hog farm" on a parcel of land in Goleta where the University of California is now located.
"It’s all so different now," Borgatello commented. "Back then all the big estates were wide open. We could drive right in and out without any problems. Today, properties are closed up and guarded, and we have to deal with things like electric gates, security systems, and even surveillance cameras."
Throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, the Borgatello Brothers Refuse Disposal company continued to grow, and in 1952 the company bought out Otto Hopkins’ service accounts. By 1958 Mario and Charles had incorporated and renamed the company Channel Disposal.
In 1960, after almost 30 years in business, George Taverna and Leno De Lorenzi sold their American Montecito Garbage Company to the Borgatellos, who wanted to further expand the operations of Channel Disposal.
In 1974, the Borgatello brothers dissolved their partnership and divided Channel Industries into 2 companies. Mario used a contraction of his name (Mar-borg) for his share of the business.
After the death of Charles Borgatello in 1993, the two companies rejoined. Though today he considers himself officially retired, Mario still monitors the ongoing growth and expansion of operations at Marborg Industries, but leaves the day-to-day management of the company to his sons, David Borgatello and Mario (Tote) Borgatello, Jr.
In looking back through the years her family owned the American Montecito Company, Arlene Taverna Figone underscored the common thread that contributed to the success of both her uncle’s and De Lorenzi’s company, as well as the Borgatellos.
"It was a family business," she said, and added playfully: "It’s where we got all our family heirlooms!"
—Michael Vizzolini