Brothers started junk business with $4,000 truck; it later made $3.04m
Two brothers in Massachusetts turned a side hustle of reselling items found at the dump into a multimillion-dollar junk removal business called Junk Teens. The company has grown from a single pickup truck to a fleet of five trucks with over 20 employees.
Why it matters
It highlights the potential for entrepreneurial success through circular economy practices and identifying local service gaps.
A bike ride to a local dump led Massachusetts brothers Kirk and Jacob McKinney to start a business that has grown into a multimillion-dollar junk-removal company.Kirk was a teenager when he found a pair of working speakers at the dump and became interested in finding and reselling unwanted items, CNBC reported.The brothers launched Junk Teens in February 2021 in Norwood, Massachusetts. Kirk was 17 and Jacob was a high school freshman. The company generated $3.04 million in revenue in 2025.“I was hooked. I just kept going back to the dump and, eventually, my bedroom looked like a mini hoarder’s house,” Kirk said. He began selling items found at dumps and on Facebook Marketplace as a side business.His interest in discarded items soon connected with a local demand for junk removal.
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