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William Tuorto, founder and chair of Global Eco-Logical ServicesInc. in Atlanta, accomplished more during the first six months ofthis year than many entrepreneurs achieve in a lifetime. While most29-year-olds are building Internet firms by cobbling together bits,bytes and strategic partnerships, he has staked his claim in thegritty business of solid-waste management.

Global Eco-Logical's genesis was actually industryconsolidation among the big boys. "Because of themergers," says Tuorto, "they got in what some could arguewas a monopoly situation. They had to divest, and that opened themid-Atlantic and the Northeast regions for us."

In rapid fire, Tuorto went on a little acquisition binge of hisown. Starting in December 1998, he lined up seven waste managementcompanies located primarily in New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvaniaand bought them all in a single transaction, allowing him toprovide near complete vertical integration from hauling to landfilloperations to waste treatment. Six months later, he bought twomore, giving him a company that, from a standing start, had grownto $10 million in annualized revenues. But Tuorto isn't done."The end game," he says, "is to build a $200 millioncompany that is 100 percent vertically integrated by2001."