Phillip Nappi founded the company on September 9, 1999. In the beginning, Tennessee Waste had a 1984 model truck, forty-two dumpsters and one employee, Nappi. Now, Tennessee Waste employs more than fifty people, with nineteen trucks on the road and more than 800 dumpsters on site. Tennessee Waste has grown its business by providing the highest level of service in the market and participating in the largest construction projects in Nashville. Today, Tennessee Waste is the largest privately-held hauling company in Middle Tennessee.

In the summer of 2001, Tennessee Waste opened a recycling facility in West Nashville to process wood, metal, cardboard, and concrete. Over fifty-percent of the materials collected by their trucks were recycled, diverting over 250,000 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris from local landfills. In the spring of 2003, Tennessee Waste purchased twenty-eight acres in Antioch to open a more extensive construction and demolition recycling center. Since the opening of that facility in March 2005, the additional space and equipment boosted the overall recycling rate. A screening process captured a higher percentage of the recyclable materials and made it possible to reuse a by-product of the recycling process as well.

In addition to the hauling and recycling, Tennessee Waste is involved in the marketing of aggregate construction products as derived from the recycling of concrete. Along with the environmental benefits, these products are offered to the marketplace at a discount to traditional aggregate resources.