WCA Waste Corp. purchases Advantage Waste

WCA Waste Corp. is continuing its consolidation of the local solid-waste management industry.

The Houston-based company acquired Springfield-based Advantage Waste Service on Oct. 2. The purchase is WCA's third of a Springfield waste company since early 2007; the company bought Klean Way Disposal in April of that year, three months after it acquired Sunrise Disposal.

The latest deal includes three facilities: Advantage's Springfield operations, its transfer facility in Verona called New Day Environmental, and Pittsburg, Kan.-based Page Trucking, which Advantage purchased in January.

"It will take several months to get the integration totally completed, but we're looking forward to it," said WCA Regional Vice President Kevin O'Brien, who declined to disclose the purchase price. He said the acquisition brought WCA 24 employees - including General Manager Scott Blanford, who was named GM of the merged Springfield operations - and Advantage's 7,000 customers in Springfield, Nixa, Ozark, Willard, Ash Grove, Verona, Monett, Mount Vernon and Aurora. Advantage operated 15 routes in those communities, which are now added to WCA's 70 local routes.

"It allows us to expand our services in the market areas that we're already in, and it also allows us to expand (geographically)," O'Brien added.

WCA Waste Corp. operates 24 landfills, 22 transfer stations and material recovery facilities, and 28 collection operations in 12 states including Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

O'Brien said Advantage Waste, formerly a subsidiary of Republic Financial Corp., approached WCA in the spring about the purchase. RFC, based in Aurora, Colo., is a private equity and holding company with assets in numerous industries including computer technology, metal manufacturing and aviation. An RFC spokesperson did not return calls seeking comment on the sale.

The acquisition moves WCA, the second-largest trash hauler in the Springfield area, closer to No. 1 area company Allied Waste. WCA now has about 100 employees and 65 trucks, while Allied employs 135 in Springfield and operates 100 trucks.

Industry consolidation has extended to Allied, the second-largest nonhazardous solid waste services company in the country, as well. The company announced in June that it plans to merge with the third-largest national trash hauler, Republic Services Inc. - not related to Republic Financial Corp. - by the end of 2008.

Those two are not alone in their desire to consolidate. Waste Management Inc., the industry's leader nationally and not related to WCA, also had made a bid to merge with Republic, though WM announced Oct. 13 that it was withdrawing that proposal.

David Kamenesky, assistant to the general manager for Allied's Springfield operations and a 19-year industry veteran, said consolidation is a common occurrence in the waste management field.

"In general, it's a trend that has been going on as long as I've been in the industry," he said. "It happens, usually, because of changes in the economy - that's probably the majority of it."