Rumpke: Leading the Way in the Waste Industry
Transcript of 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.
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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.
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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
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1986: a
1995: s a a
2007: t a , akg rsl ’ ag af
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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.
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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
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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.