The Koch brothers (Ezra and Fred Jr.) serve in WWII—Ezra as a flight training instructor, Fred as a German interpreter.
A bucking young fellow, Linfield student Bob Emrick (now WOW CEO), hired as summer help.
WOW begins curbside recycling, helping to reduce the amount of material headed for landfills.
WOW begins servicing Clatsop County.
WOW’s yard debris depot/compost facility gets on its feet.
WOW processes more than 16,000 tons of yard debris, creating a high-quality garden compost which is sold throughout the region.
Service to Tillamook County begins Nov. 2003. WOW marks 75 years of “WOWing” customers and changes it’s name (from Sunset Refuse and Recycling to Western Oregon Waste!).
Fred Koch, Sr., of German descent moves his family from Russia to Oregon and begins a food scrap collection service—it’s the logical way to feed their hogs!
Ezra founds Oregon Sanitary Service Institute, the state’s first waste trade association, now the Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association.
Fred Koch, Sr. dies, and the Koch brothers purchase the trash collection business from their mother.
