rumpke: leading the way in the waste industry

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20 WasteAdvantage Magazine February 2010

In the Spotlight

Lading th Way inth Wast Indstry

Rumpke:

The Rumpke amily members pose in ront o aRumpke truck. Clockwise starting rom ar right:Je Rumpke, vice president, Cincinnati Market;

Andrew Rumpke, vice president, Central Ohio

Market; Bill Rumpke Sr., President and CEO; MikeBramkamp, vice president, Northwest Market; BillRumpke Jr., Chie Operating Ofcer; Todd Rumpke,vice president, Southeast Market; Phil Wehrman,Chie Financial Ofcer.Photos courtesy o Rumpke Consolidated Companies, Inc.

Rumpke ounders William F. Rumpke andBernard Rumpke.



In 1932, WIllIam F. Rumpke opeRated a coal and junkyaRd busIness In

Carthage, OH. Ater receiving a payment o hogs, his business ocus changed to hog

arming. During the hog-arming days, he collected trash rom local residents to eed his

hogs. Inedible items were removed and recycled while the rest was ed to the livestock.

In the 1940s, William’s brother Bernard joined the business and the two o them began

making decisions that would impact their amily or generations. A ew years later,

the arming business ended as the company shited its ocus solely to waste collection,

recycling and disposal—and Rumpke was born.

Headquartered in Colerain Township, OH, just outside o Cincinnati, Rumpke is one o

the nation’s largest privately owned residential and commercial waste and recycling rms

today. It employs 2,300 people and owns or operates nine landlls (MSW and CDD only),

eight material recovery acilities (including two buy-backs), one tire recycling acility and

20 transer stations. Rumpke’s landlls accept municipal solid waste and constructiondemolition debris. Through their Rumpke Portable Restroom division, they work with

companies to properly dispose o liquid waste within their Cincinnati market. Throughout

their service region, Rumpke also oers recycling solutions or residential, commercial,

industrial and construction customers.

During the past 30 years, the Rumpke amily has successully expanded its service

area and added several divisions such as Rumpke Recycling, Rumpke Portable

Restrooms, Rumpke Hydraulics, The William-Thomas Group and Rumpke Park in

Harrison, OH. William and Bernard’s sons, Bill and Tom, were actively involved in

the business as well and initiated the company’s commercial container service. Duringthe 1970s, Bill and Tom bought the residential business rom their athers and

served as co-owners and co-presidents until Tom passed away in January 2004.

Rumpke services customers throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia

(see Figure 1, page 24). The national chain accounts division, The William-Thomas

Group, uses its Haul Pass Network (a network o smaller haulers) to service chain business

locations throughout the country.

In These Economic TimesConstant communication played a key role in Rumpke’s success during 2009. While

it’s no secret that the economic climate was rather dicult throughout late 2008 and2009, the challenges it presented urther united the Rumpke team ensuring progress.

“These past 12 months presented a variety o challenges including lower landll volumes,

decreased roll o loads and plummeting recycling markets, but we met these obstacles

with solutions and determination. Our team introduced and implemented cost cutting

measurements that worked,” says Chie Operating Ocer, Bill Rumpke Jr.

Rumpke continued implementing sotware to serve as a platorm or the development

o line o business scorecards. These scorecards have renewed Rumpke’s ocus on the most

important nancial metrics. Quarterly reviews or each line o business helped the team

become more pro-active and maximize opportunities.Meanwhile saety statistics continued to dene their culture o saety. Rumpke also

developed additional educational opportunities or employees such as employee relations

training programs, a variety o sales programs and more saety seminars or drivers,

mechanics and equipment operators. At the same time, environmental compliance records

improved despite increasing scrutiny rom regulators. Internal audits ensured that any

potential issues were quickly addressed.

ChallengesBeing a member o the waste industry or the past 78 years, Rumpke has seen their air

share o challenges including recessions, constantly evolving governmental regulations,

WasteAdvantage Magazine February 2010 21

A Amily-owned And

operAted business

since the 1940s,

Rumpke focuses on

helping society find

a safe and healthy

way to dispose of

theiR waste.

A scene rom Rumpke’s Colerain Township landfll in the 1950s. Today,

the Colerain Township landfll is the largest MSW landfll in Ohio.

As Seen In



22 WasteAdvantage Magazine February 2010

rising business costs, a spike in costs related to

diesel uel and petroleum-based products, more

challenging landll siting criteria, developmento new employee training programs, sotware

and equipment upgrades, stronger demands

or recycling options and, as always, continual

competition within the business marketplace.

However, despite these challenges, Rumpke,

Jr. maintains a positive outlook on the business.

“We have done our best to take a pro-active

versus reactive approach. The Rumpke amily

takes great pride in its operations and service.Family members, as well as our extended amily

o approximately 2,300 employees, experience

the business by working their way up. We

are always looking orward, building on what

we’ve previously learned and progressively

researching and implementing new technology,

purchasing strategies, maintenance programs,

compliance objectives, saety training and

employee development strategies.”

It is by working with determination and

ocusing on innovation that Rumpke has begun

working with companies such as Montauk

Energy to build and operate the world’s largest

landll gas-to-direct-energy pipeline system

at Ohio’s largest landll, Rumpke Sanitary

Landll, just outside o Cincinnati (see Just the

Facts sidebar).

In addition, Rumpke has partnered with

the Ohio Department o Natural Resources

(ODNR) and the EPA to participate in tire

cleanups and initiate a tire recycling program,

a state-o-the-art glass processing acility and

to partner with RecycleBank to incorporate

Ohio’s rst incentive-based recycling program.This year, Rumpke will work with ODNR once

again to use recovered landll gas to create

R: lig h W i h W Ir

• 15,000,000: mak’ a af ga g aa a rk saa laf,

aa , a a a a . b a ’ ag

af ga-- g a.

• 25,000: t ca a a v aa dk eg

aa ga v mak g a a a aa.

• Rumpke Sanitary Landfll: t af a aa ga

avaa dk eg ca aa. i a gfa a j

g a avaa a .

• Local Work Force: A k mak’ ga a a

a a - k a aa

a, a a a.

• Green Energy: t g v ra .

laf ga f u.s. epA a a ra .

• Renewable Fuel: t af ga a ra u.s.

g ; -a “G Ga” k a a a

x a ga ag; -a g

a a, aa ga a ; a a ; a a a j.

• 1986: t ga ga g a a a a rk saalaf 1986. i a xa v 1995 a

ga a. t a av a ag va a

a a .

• Pressure Swing Adsorption: t a g mak a rk

saa laf aa a x af ga a. laf ga a

g 50 a x. rvg a x af ga a

v qa ga. t a v, a- g

v ga ’ aj a ga f.

• 2,000: rk ca ca, i. axa 2,000

Ga ca aa.

Landfll Gas Operations Summary

laf ga aa rk saa laf g

a va ga a g af . hza g

v af ga mak’ ga g a a a a

af. mak ga fa dk eg

g . t , vg ca

aa a a, a a a g g.

1986: a

1995: s a a

2007: t a , akg rsl ’ ag af

ga- a.

Major Project Contractors and Vendors

• S/D Engineers, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.): Engineering and Construction Management

• Radius Construction Co., Inc. (Covington, Ky.): Civil/Structural

• Artisan Mechanical (Cincinnati, Ohio): Mechanical, Piping and HVAC

• Sargent Electric Company (Terre Haute, Ind.): Electrical, Controls and Instrumentation

• Quest Air Technologies (Vancouver, BC, Canada): PSA

• Rumpke Consolidated Companies, Inc. (Cincinnati, OH)

• Montauk Energy Capital (Pittsburgh, PA)

Just the Facts:

The World’s Largest Landfll Gas-to-PipelineEnergy Production Facility

A Rumpke driver services a residential waste customer.

As Seen In



WasteAdvantage Magazine February 2010 23

The frst load o recyclables sorted at Rumpke’s newly remodeled Cincinnati Material Recovery acility. Rumpke invested $6 millioninto the acility to update the equipment with the latest sorting technology.

natural gas that will uel 10 garbage trucks. They

also have implemented smart purchasing strategies,

top o the line internal and external saety programs,

and continual upgrades to truck and equipment

maintenance programs to maximize productivity

and keep costs to a minimum.

“Our most crucial challenge is maintaining

a ocus on each line o business to be certain we

are doing all that we can to be as cost-eective

and productive as possible despite a lagging

economy, rising costs, turbulent recycling markets

and increasing regulations,” stresses Rumpke,

Jr. “Essentially, we must remain attentive to our

mission, which is to provide excellent customer

service while ensuring compliance and growing our

business.”

Current and Future ProjectsFrom ueling their trucks with landll gas,

to expanding recycling operations, Rumpke is

constantly implementing innovative technologies

to make operations greener. Even with issues they

are currently acing—successul implementation

o new recycling technology, more scrutiny rom

regulators, a challenging economy and the necessity

to densiy market share throughout their service

region—stimulus unds and the push or green

energy have oered some additional opportunities

or Rumpke. Possibly, as soon this year, Rumpke

will begin compressing the natural gas collected

rom its Cincinnati landll or truck uel.

Rumpke recently partnered with Clean Fuels

Ohio to obtain grant unding rom the U.S.

Rumpke Awards And Honors

• Environmental Industry

Aa ha a:

wa . rk a ba

J. rk, 2000; wa J.

rk s. a ta b.

rk, 2009

• Solid Waste Association of North

Aa ex laf

(Bronze Award): Rumpke

saa laf ca

t, oh

• Cincinnati Better Business

ba t Aa, 2005• Dayton, OH, Better Business

ba t Aa, 2005

• Keep Cincinnati Beautiful Iron

e c Aa, 2004

• Alcoa Preferred Supplier Award,

2004

• The Ohio Department of Natural

r, dv rg Av ex

Aa



R: lig h W i h W Ir

Rumpke has been committed to keeping neighborhoods and businesses clean and green since 1932 byproviding environmentally-riendly waste disposal solutions.

Department o Energy (DOE) Clean Cities Ohio. The

grant derays a portion o the cost associated with

purchasing 10 compressed natural gas (CNG) reusecollection trucks, as well as the cost to construct a CNG

ueling station. Total budget or the improvements is

about $3.1 million. Rumpke will receive a ederally

unded grant totaling almost $800,000 and will

provide matching unding o $2.3 million to complete

the project. I the program is successul, Rumpke will

continue to expand its CNG feet.

Waste is a renewable energy source that Rumpke

has been harnessing since 1986. Ohio is home to theworld’s largest landll gas-to-direct-energy pipeline

acility, which supplies enough gas to power up to

25,000 homes. As communities continue to generate

waste, more opportunities arise to power homes,

businesses and vehicles rom gases produced inside

their landlls.

Recently expanding their acceptable items list

to include all plastic bottles and jugs at all o their

recycling acilities, Rumpke also continues to look or

markets or additional materials to allow customersto recycle more than ever beore, as well as research

and implement ways to increase recycling among

their neighbors, whether it is by oering larger

recycling carts or incentive-based programs. “We

know recycling is our uture, and we will continue

to invest in our material recovery acilities to install

the latest in sorting technology to maximize results,”

says Rumpke, Jr. “In 2009, we invested $6 million to

install new state-o-the-art equipment rom Bollegra Manuacturing as well as TiTech Optical Sorting

equipment at Rumpke Recycling Cincinnati.”

Although Rumpke began its business as a hog

arm, they’ve managed to develop into one o the

largest privately owned waste and recycling rms in

the United States and take a lot o pride in doing the

right thing by their employees, customers and the

environment. Ater all, waste and recycling rms are

society’s true environmentalists, inventing the green

movement that has become very popular in today’sculture.

Beyond having two generations o amily leadership

being inducted into the Environmental Industry

Associations’ Hall o Fame and other prestigious

honors (see Rumpke Awards sidebar, page 23),

Rumpke’s crowning achievement will always be

helping society nd a sae and healthy way to dispose

o their waste. “It’s about making this world a better

place today and tomorrow,” remarks Rumpke, Jr.| WA

For more information about Rumpke, call (800) 582-

3107 or visit the Web site at www.rumpke.com.

Rumpke’s service map.

As Seen In

©2010 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved.Reprinted rom Waste Advantage Magazine.Contents cannot be reprinted without permission rom the publisher.

rumpke: leading the way in the waste industry

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