Our story starts with the Scraps Family; two local entrepreneurs and their familes who teamed up to create a company that could impact the lives of others in a positive way with the simplest of ideas, picking up trash. One of the owners sons is on the autism scale, so they understand the uniqueness of the autistic community in a way that not every employer gets to.
Everything at Scraps is designed for two things: convenience for the customer, and simplicity for what we hope will one day be the largest employer of autistic people in the South.
People with autism are wonderfully smart, talented, highly creative individuals with a propensity for receptiveness and sometimes social anxiety that can lead to fewer jobs for them in the marketplace. We wanted to focus on their many amazing strengths while trying to minimize areas that might make them uncomfortable. The routes are set and the actions are very repetitive- Get out of the truck, go get the can, empty trash into the trailer, return the can. What makes for a very convenient trash pickup service in York County, South Carolina for the consumer creates a unique and valuable job for someone with autism. We ask that consumers bag all trash- not to make it more difficult, but to make it easier and more predictable for our autistic employees. We run the route with a second person, the driver. The driver goes through training to work and interact with people with autism, creating a unique working experience that will help encourage and support our autistic partners in the workplace.
This is our story; this is what we can do to give back, this is how we can create a positive change. Something else we can do? We can help get your story out there too! We want the community to get to know all about their autistic neighbors, so tell us about you! Every month we will feature a new blog post highlighting one amazing autistic person from our community. If you are autistic tell us your story, what do you love to do, whats your favorite food, your favorite song, tell us all of it! If you know someone with autism, this is a great way to recognize them for what makes them unique, so tell us about them and you might see their story featured in the next blog post!
Looking forward to getting to know all of you! With all our love and admiration,
The Scraps Family