The term fast growth may conjure images of tech companies with sleek offices and catered lunches. But there are plenty of growing, thriving businesses out there in the real world, getting their hands dirty. Here are six from the Inc. 500. Click for more

Let's Get Physical

Someone Has to Do It

Wastren Advantage, No. 335

 

Talk about a dirty job. Wastren Advantage, a waste-management company in Piketon, Ohio, specializes in cleaning up hazardous materials. Today, 200 of Wastren's 350 employees work at the Department of Energy's waste-processing center in Lenoir City, Tennessee. Shown here are Wastren employees using robotic arms to sort radioactive waste, including gloves and sample bottles contained in 26-inch-thick glass "hot cells." Wastren also handles waste from the Manhattan Project, the program that led to the development of the first atomic bomb, at this site. The $104.9 million business, founded by engineers Phil Grant and Dale Uhl in 1987, also offers environmental consulting and remediation services. "We're handling some of the most unique and interesting stuff man has made," says CEO Steve Moore.



Issie Lapowsky is a reporter at Inc. magazine. She has covered lifestyle and entertainment for the New York Daily News, and her work has been published in BlackBook magazine and The Brooklyn Rail. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.