FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Amanda Pratt, Rumpke Consolidated Companies, Inc. 513-741-2637; Bruce Parker, EIA, 202-364-3720

Environmental Industry Associations Honors Rumpkes with Life Time Achievement Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, June 9, William J. Rumpke Sr. and his cousin and business partner Thomas B. Rumpke (posthumously) will be inducted into the Environmental Industry Associations’ (EIA) Hall of Fame.

EIA is the nonprofit trade association that represents for-profit companies in the waste service and equipment industry throughout North America. The

EIA Hall of Fame is for industry leaders who over the course of more than 20 years have made significant contributions to the industry and their community.

William (Bill) Rumpke Sr. is the president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board at Rumpke Consolidated Companies, a company his father started in 1932. Thomas (Tom) Rumpke was an owner, co-president, and chief executive officer of the company until his death in 2004. Before becoming a waste services company, the family business was originally a hog farm where Bill and Tom at a young age helped collect garbage to feed the family’s hogs. In 1965, Bill and Tom partnered to create Rumpke Container Service. About 15 years later with the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, they formed the corporation’s environmental affairs and compliance department, recognizing the need to further point their business toward long-term environmental sustainability.

In the 1970s, the company expanded to include service markets in Indiana and Kentucky and in the late 1980s; the Rumpkes developed their own hydraulic systems (Rumpke Hydraulics & Machining), container shop (Rumpke Industrial Equipment Service Center), and then purchased a recycling company, Pickaway County Community Action Recycling, which later became Rumpke Recycling in 1989. Following more than 200 acquisitions, Rumpke Consolidated’s revenue exceeded $270 million annually. Today, the company’s revenue is $376 million and the firm is one of the largest privately-owned waste and recycling hauling companies in the United States with 2,300 employees, 1,700 trucks, 8 landfills, 7 recycling centers, and 20 transfer stations.

In addition, in 1984, the Rumpkes partnered with Getty’s Synthetic Fuel (now Montauk Energy Capital) to collect methane gas, a clean renewable source of alternative energy, from the company’s largest landfill in Ohio. Thirty-three thousand homes are heated every day with this renewable fuel, and the company is also investigating technology to fuel their collection fleets with methane if feasible, which helps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

At the same time the company was expanding its waste collection and disposal services, Bill and Tom formed Rumpke Amusements and built a ballpark in Cincinnati, called Rumpke Park, which today still serves the local community for softball and youth baseball.

Over the years, the Rumpkes have funded the local boy scouts, built a new weight room for a Cincinnati high school, and regularly made donations to schools, hospitals, and other local events, a practice that continues at the company.

“People pick up on a company that cares and Tom and I wanted them to know that caring is what our company is all about,” said Bill Rumpke Sr. “I’m 69 years old, but still enjoy coming to work.”

Bill’s and Tom’s accomplishments have been recognized. In 1999, they received an Entrepreneur of the Year award from Ernst & Young. They have received annual recognition from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful and Great American Clean-Up for their commitment to local environmental clean-ups.

The University of Cincinnati Goering Center awarded them with a 2004 Tri-State Family Business of the Year Award. Bill has continued the company’s community spirit winning the 2005 Cincinnati Better Business Bureau Torch Award in Marketplace Ethics and a 2007 Dayton, Ohio Better Business Bureau Eclipse Award in Business Ethics as well as a Volunteers of America Ohio Valley Award. The company’s largest landfill was recognized with a 2007 Landfill Excellence in Operations Award.

According to Bill and Tom’s sons some of the company’s success is a result of a great love for their work and the employees who form the Rumpke organization. “I gain more respect for my dad each and everyday. He always leads by example. He shares the care and consideration he shows his children with his team of employees. His integrity and commitment to doing the right thing, as well as his drive to strategically develop the Rumpke organization, is a testament to his strength and courage. I admire and cherish the values he has instilled in me and the overall Rumpke organization,” said Bill’s son Bill Rumpke Jr., Chief Operating Officer at Rumpke.

“My father loved working at Rumpke and talking with the employees; whether it was a driver, landfill operator or one of the managers. He considered every employee part of the Rumpke family, he will always live in the heart of Rumpke,” said Todd Rumpke, Tom’s son and regional vice president of Rumpke’s Southeast Market.

“We are honored to recognize Bill and Tom for their life-time of dedicated service to the waste industry and the communities they serve,” said Bruce Parker, President and CEO, Environmental Industry Associations. “Their dedication and positive achievements in professional and community initiatives has made Bill and Tom a powerful example of leadership in the waste and recycling industry. Remarkably, they are the second generation of Rumpkes inducted into the EIA Hall of Fame, as their fathers received this honor in 2000.

The awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday, June 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of the waste industry’s national trade show, WasteExpo 2009.