UT outsourced garbage collection effective July 5, 1979. The first contractor for the service was Browning-Ferris Industries of Knoxville. According to John Parker, executive director of the Physical Plant, the move was precipitated because UT needed to replace three trash collection machines at a cost of $250,000, and the Physical Plant did not have the funds. Browning-Ferris contracted to pick up the garbage and deposit it into the city’s landfill, just as UT had been previously doing, but using their equipment. The contract with Browning-Ferris was for $216,000 for the year, which was more than the UT cost to provide the service but approximately $50,000 less than it would have cost UT if the new equipment had been purchased. The six employees who had operated the service were absorbed into other vacancies within the Physical Plant Department.