Industry News

Financial

Rumpke celebrates record-setting year

Rumpke Waste & Recycling, Cincinnati, set a new record as its 2024 revenues topped nearly $1.2 billion. The firm also finished the year as the 10th largest waste and recycling company in the country, as reported by Waste Today’s 2024 Largest Haulers List, with the sixth most landfills, according to a 2024 Statista study. 

Throughout 2024, Rumpke Waste completed 10 acquisitions, including two new landfills and several hauling operations throughout its five-state service area of Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia. Since 2016, the company has completed 72 acquisitions, averaging one a month. 

“Our goal is to acquire operations that complement our existing footprint, including essential infrastructure, and facilitate opportunities for more growth,” says Bill Rumpke Jr., president and CEO at Rumpke Waste. “We are constantly researching opportunities, but I feel our niche is fellow private or family-owned companies. As leaders of a family company, we relate to those owners and their needs to ensure a smooth transition for their family, employees and customers. We work with each company we acquire to ensure their distinct needs are met.” 

Last February, Rumpke Waste announced its purchase of certain waste collection assets from family-owned Sanitation Service Inc. (SSI) in Effingham, Illinois. The acquisition marked Rumpke’s first landfill, transfer station and hauling operation in the state of Illinois. 

“The transition to Rumpke was incredibly smooth,” says Austin Hayes, former SSI employee and manager of Rumpke’s landfill in Effingham. “Since joining Rumpke, it feels like I’m still working with family. Everyone has been extremely helpful and supportive, from top to bottom, and the family culture Rumpke has established aided in a seamless transition for our team, customers and community.”

In 2024, Rumpke Waste opened new landfill gas-to-energy systems at its Beech Hollow Landfill and Pike Sanitation Landfill in Ohio as well as at its Montgomery County Landfill in Kentucky, bringing its total to nine landfill gas-to-energy systems. Together these plants supply enough energy for more than 70,000 homes and businesses. 

Rumpke Waste’s landfill teams constructed almost 40 acres of landfill capacity. The company developed new infrastructure including a hauling operation in Delaware, Ohio; a new office and maintenance center in Greenville, Ohio; and new transfer stations in Covington, Kentucky, and in Cincinnati and Zanesville, Ohio. In all, Rumpke Waste operates 26 transfer stations. 

Throughout the year, Rumpke Waste added 1,011 employees, bringing its total head count to about 4,400. The Rumpke Waste team services about 2 million accounts and 471 municipal contracts, including curbside recycling services for Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Throughout 2024, Rumpke forged new contracts with 38 municipalities and renewed 218 contracts. To meet the demands of its growing service regions, Rumpke Waste added 469 pieces of equipment, pushing its total compressed natural gas units to 663 and the company’s total fleet to almost 2,450 units. 

The grand opening of the 226,000-square-foot Rumpke Recycling & Resource Center in Columbus was a major accomplishment in 2024, the company says. The facility’s enhanced sorting capabilities and ability to swiftly recover 99 percent of recyclables at a rate of 60-plus tons per hour set a new standard for single-stream processing in North America. In all, the company’s 16 recycling centers processed about 1.3 billion pounds of material in 2024. 

“Looking back, 2024 was a banner year for Rumpke. I am extremely proud of our team. This new year will mean more acquisitions, more new equipment and more new infrastructure projects,” Rumpke says. “Through Rumpke’s core values of teamwork, quality, perseverance, growth and responsibility, Rumpke will continue to achieve its mission of delivering exceptional waste and recycling solutions to our customers and communities through a commitment to safety, service, the environment and the growth of our people.” 

Mergers & Acquisitions

Dynamic Renewables, BC Organics, National Organics combine to form Sagepoint Energy

Sagepoint Energy LLC, Carmel, Indiana, has announced its launch as a newly combined business focused on the development, operation and execution of waste-to-energy (WTE) solutions in the U.S.

Sagepoint brings together three existing organics-focused organizations. Dynamic Renewables is a full-service developer, owner and operator of anaerobic digestion facilities that convert dairy manure into carbon-negative renewable natural gas (RNG). BC Organics is an integrated biorefinery producing low-carbon RNG, dried fiber bedding and clean water via partnerships with 11 Wisconsin dairy farms. National Organics is a transportation and logistics company specializing in the collection and transportation of organic waste across the Midwestern U.S.

Sagepoint is led by CEO Aaron Johnson, who has served as CEO of Dynamic since December 2023. He previously held roles as CEO of Kinetrex Energy when it was acquired by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) and then as president of RNG at KMI.

“By uniting these leading organizations under the Sagepoint platform, we are creating a stronger, more comprehensive organization that can deliver integrated best-in-class waste management and energy solutions to our clients,” Johnson says.

Sagepoint’s broader leadership team comprises Brian Paplaski as chief financial officer, Nick Soncrant as vice president of business development and Christina Turro as vice president of administration, all of whom previously worked with Johnson at Kinetrex and KMI.

Dan Nemke, Sagepoint vice president of engineering, and Karl Crave, Sagepoint vice president of dairy operations, are both co-founders of Dynamic.

“Their proven track record of success in the sector will be instrumental in driving growth and delivering exceptional results for our partners,” Johnson says.

Sagepoint is supported and majority owned by Ares Management Infrastructure Opportunities funds, a Los Angeles-based alternative investment manager across the infrastructure value chain. An unregulated affiliate of NorthWestern Energy Group Inc. also is a minority investor.

Landfills

Florida county commissioners approve WM landfill expansion

County commissioners in Broward County, Florida, have approved an expansion of the Monarch Hill landfill, operated by WM, CBS News reports.

The landfill, which opened in 1965, stretches across the communities of Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach.

According to WPLG Local 10 News in south Florida, commissioners voted 5-3 to allow WM, based in Houston, to increase the height of the landfill by 100 feet and expand it horizontally by 24 acres. The decision will allow WM to raise the landfill from 225 feet to 325 feet and to expand onto a former waste-to-energy plant site, according to the report.

Broward County’s Solid Waste Authority is working on a long-term waste management plan, but officials say the Monarch Hill Landfill is approaching capacity.

“It makes sense from a regional perspective to utilize a facility that’s been there since 1965 and make sure it maximizes its space,” WM spokesperson Dawn McCormick tells WPLG.

The expansion was approved despite fierce opposition from nearby cities and residents who cited various environmental and health concerns. Coconut Creek Mayor John Doe says the city will file a lawsuit against the county to halt the expansion, and Deerfield Beach officials say they are also considering legal action.

Legislation & regulation

Minnesota selects Circular Action Alliance as PRO

Minnesota Pollution Control Authority, or MPCA, has announced that the Circular Action Alliance (CAA) has been selected as Minnesota’s initial PRO, or producer responsibility organization.

In Minnesota, the extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for packaging, food packaging and paper products requires producers in the form of the brand owner, manufacturer or importer to appoint and join a PRO to coordinate and fund the statewide recycling program.

The Minnesota Legislature passed its EPR bill early last year, making it the fifth state in the U.S. to do so. The bill was signed into law in May 2024.

As PRO, CAA will coordinate producers and implement a statewide program that encourages redesigning packaging and paper products to reduce harmful environmental and human health impacts and to reduce the overall generation and waste of these materials through reduction, reuse/refill, recycling and composting strategies.

The program will expand and improve systems needed for the collection, transportation and processing of end-of-life materials, creating more green jobs and infrastructure development, MPCA says. Through the PRO, producers will cover most of the costs associated with collecting and managing recyclable and compostable packaging and paper products and reuse and refill systems established under the law.

MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler says, “CAA is well-positioned to help producers of packaging, food packaging and paper products comply with Minnesota’s EPR law and advance the state’s efforts toward more sustainable materials management and overall waste reduction.”

Companies that expect to be producers under Minnesota’s Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act are encouraged to visit CAA’s Producer Resource Center to learn more and begin the registration process.