SWEDEN. With a mileage of 58 0000 the car should be replaced but what do you do when it just runs and runs? By Lars Krantz. Translation Ellen Kay Krantz.
Grand Slam
Fiveteen years old and still the eye-catcher of the bunch and that’s pretty spectacular in the fleet of well oiled machinery Sten Olofsson runs. The big sludge truck is the warrior that shows: The best defence is waste.
It’s eight o’clock and the still frozen ocean keeps the pedestrians cool on the dock of Soraker. A tractor with pallet forks smoothly navigates back and forth and is repeatedly transforming itself inside out in a race against the clock. A sudden stroke of wind chases the laid out sand on dry asphalt. There he comes!
The springtime sun is bleak and plays off the varnish. It earlier made an effort to dance across the tired brick buildings without success. But now! Now the light sparkles in tune with Grand Slam when he enterers to the loading dock in shiny aluminum rims dressed in black tires, gives a turn and shows off an astounding side in metallic and stainless steel.
It’s so beautiful it makes you wish he had something really pretty in that tank.
Perfume maybe. 1200 cubic feet Chanel would be suitable. Or wine or why not the best from Rose and Bella. 1200 cubic feet cold milk. Yummy. But if appearances ever are deceptive it’s this time. Sten Olofsson is filling this truck with refuse, more precisely with oil water from the waste depot at Rangn-Sells.
He backs it up with precision and enters the building, tips the flatbed a tad, drags out a hose and slurp, slurp. Tons of hazardous waste straight down the tank.
It’s not a three-toothed hillbilly with oil up over his ears that climb out of the truck either. No, Sten Olofsson is wearing white socks in brown sandals and is definitely a man you could run into working in a bank. 
Clean, well spoken, sharp with a perfect tan.
– Are you pedant Sten?
-Yes, he answers politely.
I head into the plant at Ragn-Sells to find out more from the personnel.
– We give Sten a call when we need to drain. He comes directly after that and always does a smooth job. He’s the best.
Outside Sten is finishing up, moving the huge hose back in place.
– Want some coffee, he asks and heads to the break room.
After stepping over the threshold we remove our shoes on shiny floors and surf our way down to the computerised coffee machine, navigate out way through beverage, strength and condiments. Sten Olofsson is from Delsbo. Originally he was a hired driver but overtook the company when the owner retired. At that time, in 1995 they had one car. Today he has eighteen cars in rotation for different purposes .
The garage and headquarter are located in Iggesund and that is also where he built the brand new in-between storage facility that is going to give him a totally different flexibility. He won’t longer be standing with waste in “wrong car” but control in-between storing and logistics as he pleases. Sten talks fast and precise and is constantly interrupted by phone calls. All cars hold high standard and finish.
– I mean its fun, to have nice things I mean, he says.
– It’s my best advertisement and can’t be measured with ads. Plus it’s fun.
Initially, I was going to paint it tweety bird yellow but then I decided to go “environmental green”. The color comes from Mazda and the overcoat from Ford which according to Sten is a must who wash it every night. Sometimes he uses the hard stuff to remove stains before they set. He gives praise to Hestra in Tranås that did the paint job.
– Guaranteed paint everywhere which truly is an accomplishment considering all the piping on a truck like this, he says.
The motives are made by Thomas Jacobsen in Hudiksvall. Sten has seen a distinct change in turnover since 1995. Back then he could drive a truck with 400 cubic feet sludge to Koping (370 miles round-trip) and get a great return on the trip. Today he needs to pull the three double to reach the same profit.
– Guess that’s good also, Sten says who welcomes environmental awareness and the efficiency it brings.
He glances at the watch. The truck should be filled soon and he is off to Gavle to empty. After that, he returns home to give the truck another wash down before its lights out for the day. The haulage has no regular routes, its more of a day-to-day operation.
– Doing regular routes means the clients would want to negotiate the prize and take some off here and there. We are called out on short notice and the client get happy and are appreciative to fast and efficient service and passes the occasional invoice automatically. Although, sometimes I guess it feels a little bit Wild Wild West, Sten says.
Nine trucks are on route today – all badass and dressed to impress.
– One F riday we all gathered at the garage at 2.30 pm and celebrated an early weekend. Then the phone rang. A 211.337 gallon waste tower had a leak on a factory in Iggesund. “Bring all you got, they shouted in the phone”. We had to pull an all-nighter and a great bit of Saturday. He climbs up on to his seat.
– What do you do on your spare time, I ask.
Sten looks like he didn’t get the question. The fast thinking entrepreneur looks at me with a blank stare.
– Hunting, fishing, sailing … I try, helping the search of a response.
– Naw, nothing like that, he mumbles and starts the truck. Can you hear how smooth he runs! Turbo-six with trim chip, 500 hp. How am I ever going to let go of this, he says and roll on.
Hej! Tack för ett mycket trevligt reportage! Det kanske är dags att göra om det, det känns lite föråldrat, vi har idag 18 ekipage efter nyår är det troligen 20, så man kan säga att det rullar på! Du är välkommen in om inte annat för en kopp kaffe, ring innan så jag kan vara där bara. Med vänlig hälsning Sten