Rumpke celebrates record-setting year

Rumpke Waste & Recycling, Cincinnati, Ohio, set new records 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, with the eighth largest fleet, the sixth most landfills and the largest recycling center in North America. 

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

“Our goal is to acquire operations that complement our existing footprint, include essential infrastructure, and facilitate opportunities for more growth,” says Bill Rumpke Jr., president and CEO at Rumpke. “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 purchased certain waste collection assets from family-owned Sanitation Service, Inc. (SSI) in Effingham, Illinois. The acquisition marks Rumpke’s first landfill, transfer station and hauling operation in the state. 

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

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

Throughout the year Rumpke added 1,011 employees, bringing its total headcount to about 4,400. Together the Rumpke team is servicing 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 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, Ohio, was a major accomplishment in 2024. 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, Rumpke’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 adds. “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.”