Dive Brief:
- In the 1970s, Richard Van Hattem began a commercial collection route in Chicago, IL, called National Scavenger Service. Operations consisted of one truck, one route and himself.
- Van Hattem became aware of a core issue facing landfills: They were reaching capacity and communities did not want sites in their backyard, so landfills transitioned to more rural areas, creating longer distances for trucks delivering waste to sites.
- Van Hattem worked to streamline waste collection services, building a transfer station to boost efficiency, and sorting and selling discarded paper and aluminum. He also acquired smaller companies, which eventually led to a merger with Allied Waste in 1992. The company is now known as Republic Services.
Dive Insight:
Republic Services has customers across the nation and is a multi-billion dollar company. The National Waste & Recycling Association recently named Van Hattem as a pioneer in the sanitation field, and inducted him into the National Waste & Recycling Hall of Fame due to his innovative contributions, many of which have become industry standards.
