Republic Services

Republic Services, Inc.
Public
Traded as NYSE: RSG
S&P 500 Component
Industry Waste management
Founded 1996
Headquarters Phoenix, AZ
Area served
 USA
Key people

Donald W. Slager
(President & Chief Executive Officer)

Chuck Serianni
(EVP, Chief Financial Officer)

Jeffrey A. Hughes
(EVP, Chief Administrative Officer)

Michael P. Rissman
(EVP, Chief Legal Officer)

Robert Maruster
(EVP, Chief Operating Officer)
Revenue
  • Increase US$8.78  billion(2014) [1]
  • Increase US$ 1,233.1 million (2014) [1]
  • Decrease US$ 1,210.3 million (2013) [1]
  • Decrease US$ 547.9 million (2014) [1]
  • Increase US$ 589.1 million (2013) [1]
Total assets
  • Increase US$ $20.09 billion(2014)[1]

Republic Services, Inc founded in 1996 is the second largest non-hazardous solid waste management company in the United States after Waste Management, Inc since 2008. It has been hailed on Wall Street for its increase in share price, and attracted celebrity investors Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states' Department of Environmental Protection have levied several high-profile fines against it; In 2013 the Missouri Attorney General filed a lawsuit about an uncontrolled underground fire at the Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill, polluting air and water and threatening adjacent West Lake Landfill which contains nuclear waste, scheduled to go to trial.

Company history

In June 2008, Republic became the second largest waste management company in the U.S. following the acquisition its larger competitor, Allied Waste Industries, for $6.1 billion in Republic stock. The merged company retained the Republic name.[2] On July 14, 2008, competitors Waste Management, Inc announced a $34 per share offer to acquire Republic Services.[3] which the Republic Services board of directors rejected 4 days later stating it "remains committed to the Allied Waste transaction."[4] Republic rejected a second offer of $37 per share on August 15, 2008.[5] The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2010 that Republic Services’ $4 billion acquisition of Allied in December 2008 "has been successful from the start", delivering at the high end of the annual savings projected when they did the deal ($191 million), a 27% increase in share price. In mid-2009, Warren Buffett accumulated about 10 million shares equaling a roughly 3% stake, while Bill Gates remained one of the largest investors, with a roughly 15% stake.[6]

Market share

In December 2008, Republic Services, Inc. relocated its corporate office from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Phoenix, Arizona (Allied's headquarters) and controlled the following combined operations, compared with their larger competitor Waste Management, Inc:[7]

 RepublicWaste Management
Employees3600043500
Landfills219283
Transfer stations242370
Collection operations427413
Recycling plants86131

As of 2008 Republic served more than 10 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across 128 major markets in 40 states and Puerto Rico.[8] As of 2006 when taken together with Waste Management, Inc, it was handling more than half of all garbage collection in the United States.[9]

Operations

As of 2008 Republic Services owned and operated the largest landfill in the United States at 2,200 acres (890 ha) located in Apex, Nevada.[10]

On June 14, 2010, long time Republic CEO James O’Connor said he would step down in January 2011. Donald Slager, a former Allied executive and Republic’s current chief operating officer who started his career as a trash truck driver, was to become the new chief.

On May 6, 2010 Allied Waste, a Republic Services company, upgraded its Pacific Region Compost Facility (PRC) with the state’s first food composting facility, accept all food waste including meat, bread and vegetable products, which per the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is almost 15 percent of the material landfilled in Oregon. Allied Waste paved 2 acres (8,100 m2) purchased and installed a composting system that has been used successfully in Washington and California called “aerated static pile technology”. It captures and controls emissions from the composting process using a negative air system has a smaller footprint than other methods, and reduces the amount of storm water runoff.[11][12][13]

Environmental track record

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states' Department of Environmental Protection have levied several high-profile fines against Republic Services. In 2002, Allied Waste was ordered to pay a fine of $782,550 by the EPA and spend $2.3 million on an environmental project to improve air quality for violations of the Clean Air Act in Roxbury, Massachusetts.[14]

In 2007, Republic Services was fined $725,000 by the State of California related to hazardous waste leaking from a closed landfill into San Francisco Bay.[15]

In 2008, Republic Services agreed to pay a $1 million fine and up to $36 million in remediation costs for violations of the Clean Water Act at a closed landfill in Clark County, Nevada.[16]

In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency of Ohio levied a $10 million fine after Republic "failed to extinguish" an "aluminum dross reaction/fire" at their Countywide Landfill.[17]

On September 21, 2009, Newsweek released their "Green Rankings",[18] a ranking of the 500 largest corporations on their track record on a number of environmental issues. Republic Services was ranked 448th out of 500 overall, and 46th out of 50 in their industry.[19]

In January 2010, the EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) selected three Republic Services landfill gas-to-energy projects (LFGTE) as LFGTE Projects of the Year for 2009. Ox Mountain Landfill in Half Moon Bay, California; Jefferson City Landfill in Jefferson City, Missouri and Oak Grove Landfill in Winder, Georgia were honored at the annual LMOP conference in Baltimore in January 2010.

Republic Services developed LFGTE projects at 74 of its 213 landfills, including 52 electric generating plants, 13 medium Btu plants that provide LFG to industrial users, 6 high Btu plants that produce pipeline quality gas and 3 leachate evaporators; The 52 electric projects generate 323 MW of electricity, enough to power about 192,000 homes. The 22 other projects provide or process more than 58,000 scfm of gas, energy needed to heat almost 200,000 homes, the combined benefits equivalent to removing about 4 million cars off the road.[20]

Since at least 2010, Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill in a suburb of St Louis, Missouri, has been burning as a subsurface smoldering fire. The landfill was served a violation notice in July 2012,[21] after people complained about "horrific odors". EPA air quality monitoring in August 2012 showed unhealthy levels of acetaldehyde and benzene. The landfill has been generating about 150,000 gallons of leachate per day, which has "seeped into the limestone rock at the bed of the landfill and flowed into the surrounding groundwater". In 2013, the Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a lawsuit against the company.[22] In 2014, the landfill was capped and a new wastewater treatment facility installed.[23] In June 2015 the state of Missouri and Republic Services reached an agreement, before the case goes to trial in August. Republic will have to construct more flares to burn off odorous gases and install a vapor recovery system, more extensive monitoring, also to understand movement of the underground fire.[24]

Republic owns the West Lake Landfill, adjacent to the Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill, a Superfund site containing nuclear waste since 1975. As of 2015, the EPA has not decided if the toxic waste should be removed or encapsulated.[24]

Lobbying

In 2014, Republic Services gave $50,000 to Missouri Republicans to their House and Senate campaign committees and $20,000 to House and Senate committees for Missouri Democrats. Weeks after the company’s 2014 donations, Bill Gates’ investment firm, Cascade Investment acquired more stock to become one of its largest investors.[23]

References

{{cite web|title=2014 Summary Annual Report (10-K)|url=http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1060391/000106039115000010/0001060391-15-000010-index.htm}}</ref>; -webkit-column-width: 2[1]; column-width: 2[1]; list-style-type: decimal;">
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "2014 Summary Annual Report (10-K)".
  2. ↑ Stewart Bailey. [Republic Agrees to Buy Allied Waste for $6.1 Billion. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSFcQM.YihGc&refer=home] Bloomberg.com. June 23, 2008.
  3. ↑ Waste Management offers to buy Republic Services Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
  4. ↑ Republic Services, Inc. | Investor Relations | News Release July 18, 2008,
  5. ↑ Republic again rejects Waste Management buyout bid Yahoo! Finance, August 15, 2008
  6. ↑ Corkery, Michael (2010-06-29). "Trash Talk: Why Republic-Allied Merger Worked". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  7. ↑ REPUBLIC SERVICES/ALLIED WASTE FACT SHEET. http://www.republicallied.com/downloads/factsheet.pdf. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
  8. ↑ Allied partners with Bridgestone Firestone, Bandag Mar 4, 2008, retrieved 14 May 2008
  9. ↑ Aseltine, McRea, Modi, Shukla, and Sullivan. A Strategic Case Analysis: Waste Management Inc. Spring 2006. http://www.uhv.edu/bus/conference/samples/WM1stplace.pdf. 3.6.3. Summary of Competitive Analysis. "The three largest national companies, Waste Management, Allied Waste and Republic Services together handle more than half the solid waste generated in the United States today."
  10. ↑ Schoenmann, Joe (2008-12-17). "Official calls for sort reform". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  11. ↑ Hall, Bennett (2010-05-06). "Out of the landfill, into the garden". Gazette-Times. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Melica (2010-05-06). "New facility aims to transform table scraps to compost". KATU News. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
  13. ↑ Lathrop, Steve (2010-05-07). "Allied unveils food compost facility". Albany Democrat-Herald. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
  14. ↑ Agreement between Allied Waste, EPA Reached, October 31, 2002 | Recycling Today
  15. ↑ Landfill Owners, Toxics Agency Settle | San Francisco Chronicle, Jane Kay, October 23, 2007
  16. ↑ Republic to Pay Fine, $36 Million to Fix Site | Las Vagas Sun, 7 August 2008
  17. ↑ Countywide Landfill Owner to Pay $10 Million Fine | CantonRep.com
  18. ↑ Newsweek, Greenest Big Companies in America – The 2009 List September 21, 2009
  19. ↑ Newsweek | Green Rankings | Republic Services
  20. ↑ Republic Services LFGTE Projects in CA GA MO, MSW Magazine
  21. ↑ "Subsurface Smoldering Event - Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill". Solid Waste Management Program, MO Department of Natural Resources. 15 March 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  22. ↑ Kevin Held (March 27, 2013). "Bridgeton Landfill lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General". 5KSDK.com (Gannett). Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  23. 1 2 Collin Reischman (September 24, 2014). "Republic Services drops $70,000 into 2014". The Missouri Times. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  24. 1 2 "Missouri, St. Louis-Area Landfill Reach Agreement". New York Times (Associated Press). 19 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.