Sharon Watkins’s career adds up to 35+ years in the waste industry

Sharon Watkins, Customer Service Representative, has handled accounts payable at GFL’s Garner, North Carolina hauling station for 35 years—and counting. Over that time, she has seen many changes across the industry and within her own job.

“It’s always changing,” Watkins said. “The job I started with isn’t the same as the job I have now, even though I still work in accounts payable.”

When Watkins began her career, she handwrote purchase orders, balanced a checkbook, and made trips to the bank twice a week with the cashbox.

“Technology has evolved over the years and now we have credit cards and online systems,” she said.

She’s also witnessed many changes to the industry itself, such as the awarding of municipal contracts, and the adoption of new government regulations and recycling practices.

Watkins didn’t plan a career in the waste industry. She graduated from Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC, with a degree in sociology and a minor in English. Her first job out of college was writing product information before she moved on to banking.

“I got a job in Raleigh in the banking world, which had nothing to do with my major and I developed a love for finance,” she said.

During her six and a half year banking career, Watkins worked on commercial loans, mortgage financing, and escrow accounts.

But having her daughter changed her life in more ways than one. Her banking hours sometimes meant that she couldn’t get to her babysitter’s on time to pick up her daughter, so Watkins decided to look for a different job with more accommodating hours. Her financial experience led to her job in the waste industry where she found her niche.

Although her job has evolved over the years, the one thing that hasn’t changed is Watkins’s passion for her work and her coworkers.

“I love what I do,” she said. “The GFL team is like my family away from home and I feel that I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

In her free time, Watkins visits her 92-year-old mother every weekend. She’s also an avid reader who especially enjoys mysteries. She loves piecing together the clues to figure out who did it.

Congratulations, Sharon!

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