INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
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INNOVATOR<br />
Bull Sweeper<br />
SDT Waste & Debris Services<br />
Key innovation: the Bull Sweeper is a compact suction<br />
sweeper that can vacuum leaves and trash in<br />
tight spaces along sidewalks or streets<br />
Biggest client: city of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong><br />
Where they’re based: offices in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>, Chalmette<br />
and Jefferson Parish<br />
Top executive: Sidney Torres, president<br />
Year introduced: 2008<br />
2007 company sales: $28 million<br />
PHOTO BY FRANK AYMAMI<br />
SIDNEY D. TORRES IV, president of SDT Waste and<br />
Debris Services, is helping to alter the stereotype of <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Orleans</strong> from that of a dirty city to one that employs innovative<br />
means to keep the streets clean.<br />
One way they are doing this is with the Bull Sweeper,<br />
which the company introduced for Jazz Fest.<br />
“The Bull Sweeper is designed to be more efficient<br />
and effective to clean the sidewalks of the city,” Torres<br />
said. “It is small and compact and able to clean areas that<br />
SDT’s larger equipment can’t reach. It allows us to do an<br />
even better job of keeping <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> clean.”<br />
About as small as a Smart car, the machine is a compact<br />
suction sweeper that can vacuum leaves and trash in<br />
tight spaces along sidewalks or streets, particularly in the<br />
French Quarter. It also partners with SDT’s bull washer,<br />
which pressure washes sidewalks.<br />
Other popular SDT inventions introduced at the 2008<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> Jazz and Heritage Festival were the VIP comfort<br />
stations, or air-conditioned trailers that house bathrooms.<br />
“The comfort station addresses the dilemma at festivals,<br />
weddings and other outdoor social events for the<br />
need for a comfortable restroom,” Torres said. “It features<br />
the music of your choice, airconditioner and is<br />
clean and comfortable.”<br />
Two of these stations at Jazz Fest were equipped with<br />
granite countertops.<br />
Since 2005, the Chalmette native has opened offices in<br />
Chalmette, Jefferson Parish and <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>, where he<br />
lives. SDT began in the days after Katrina when Torres,<br />
like many <strong>New</strong> Orleanians, needed a Dumpster. But, the<br />
post-storm price was triple what it had been pre-Katrina.<br />
Torres decided to rent a truck, purchased a few 30-yard<br />
roll-off containers and put his initials and logo on the side.<br />
“Three years later, we are doing business all over<br />
south Louisiana and are the largest waste provider to<br />
schools in Louisiana.”<br />
His innovations, he said, are the result of his efforts to<br />
always find better ways in which to do his job.<br />
“The Bull Sweeper has enabled us to clean decades of<br />
dirt and grime in the Quarter,” he said. “It’s a tool we use in<br />
addition to power washing the Quarter with lemon-scented<br />
disinfectant, regular garbage pickup and sweeping.”<br />
As for the comfort station, he said, it has set the standard<br />
for mobile restrooms.•<br />
— Amy Ferrara Smith Sidney Torres, president of SDT Waste and Debris Services, had the Bull Sweeper created to more efficiently clean the city’s sidewalks.<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> <strong>City</strong><strong>Business</strong> 13A