Award Recognizes Exceptional Growth, Impact, and the Power of Mentorship in the Bay Area Small Business Community
SCORE San Francisco & East Bay has announced that Trash Scouts has been selected as its 2025 Client of the Year, recognizing the company’s outstanding business growth, operational excellence, and effective use of SCORE mentorship.
Founded by brothers-in-law Pedrito Gella and Brandon Serrano, Trash Scouts has grown from a small operation serving a handful of properties into an industry leader in onsite waste management across the Bay Area — achieving 204% revenue growth over three years, earning a spot on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list (#2106), and expanding to a 20-person team supported by a specialized equipment fleet. In December 2025, the company moved into its new headquarters in Oakland to support continued growth.
“We owe an enormous amount of our growth to Nathan and the SCORE organization. Nathan has been a selfless mentor from the very start — always willing to provide guidance, genuinely invested in our success, and there for us through both challenges and milestones.” — Pedrito Gella, Co-Founder of Trash Scouts
Trash Scouts’ success reflects the impact of strategic mentorship. Working closely with SCORE mentor Nathan Burkhardt, the founders focused on brand development, financial management, staffing strategies, tax planning, process documentation, and company culture. Regular mentoring sessions helped guide the company through key growth stages and operational decisions.
The Client of the Year award, established two years ago by SCORE San Francisco & East Bay, recognizes clients who demonstrate measurable success— such as revenue growth, job creation, market expansion, or operational scale. This year, five clients were nominated by their mentors, making the selection process highly competitive.
In 2024 alone, SCORE San Francisco & East Bay served more than 2,300 individual clients through nearly 6,000 mentoring sessions, with 147 volunteer mentors representing thousands of years of combined professional experience.
SCORE San Francisco & East Bay congratulates Pedrito Gella, Brandon Serrano, mentor Nathan Burkhardt, and all of this year’s outstanding nominees.
About Trash Scouts
Founded in 2016 in Oakland, California, Trash Scouts specializes in on-site waste services for apartments and commercial properties, delivering Push and Pull Dumpster Services, Overflow Management, Contamination Sorting, and other tailored on-site support. Our hands-on approach takes stress off property managers, frees up maintenance staff, and keeps buildings cleaner and compliant with local waste and recycling requirements.
About SCORE
SCORE is a nonprofit organization that provides free, confidential business mentoring to entrepreneurs starting or growing businesses. SCORE San Francisco & East Bay’s 147 volunteer mentors offer thousands of years of combined professional experience to support the region’s small business community. Entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing a business are encouraged to connect with a SCORE mentor at no cost. For more information, visit www.score.org.
