Rumpke Waste & Recycling has acquired a family-owned waste hauler that owns a landfill and transfer station in Illinois, the latter company announced Sunday.
Sanitation Service had been run by three families for 63 years. In a recent Facebook post announcing the deal, owner Brian Hayes said that changing regulations have made it more difficult to operate a landfill as a small business. He said that when the company first began operating its Landfill 33 in 1981, post-closure liability was five years, but today it’s expanded to 30 years.
"Unfortunately, the days of the single family owned landfill have faded away. We have however outlasted most all other single family owned landfills in the Midwest," Hayes wrote.
Sanitation Service has been expanding in recent years. In 2016, it acquired another locally-owned hauler, Sutter Sanitation. After the deal, the new owner was responsible for the Effingham County Transfer Station and contracts providing curbside trash pick up, roll-off containers and recycle drop boxes for several counties in Illinois, according to the Effingham Daily News.
Sutter Sanitation’s owners said at the time of the deal that at least two out-of-state companies had reached out about acquiring it, but ultimately they wanted to keep ownership local.
Rumpke began folding Sanitation Service into its portfolio on Feb. 19. The Ohio-based private Midwestern hauler operates 14 landfills, 14 recycling centers and 25 transfer stations, including some that are located in southern Indiana to the east of Effingham.
"We are very excited to expand our services into the Effingham area," said Jeff Rumpke, area president of Rumpke Waste & Recycling, in a statement. "Sanitation Service has been a successful and well trusted business in the community, and we look to build upon their success while ensuring Effingham County and the surrounding region continues to have access to cost-effective and environmentally sound disposal options."
In 2022, the Effingham County Board unanimously approved a vertical expansion of Landfill 33 that's projected to keep it in operation until mid-2027, the Effingham Daily News reported. Sanitation Service is also constructing the adjacent Effingham Crossroads Landfill, which is expected to add 3.1 million tons of disposal capacity that can serve the area through 2053, according to a public notice from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Hayes said in his post that he was “confident” customers in Effingham County would continue to receive the same level of service, noting Rumpke is also a family-owned company. Disposal rates and service days will remain the same despite the change in ownership, he said. Employees of Sanitation Service will continue to stay in their roles to manage the Effingham services.
Rumpke, a family-owned business for more than 90 years, generated more than $1 billion in revenue in 2022. It serves more than 1.9 million customers and employs more than 4,000 people, according to the National Waste & Recycling Association.
