California haulers sell to Burrtec citing new organics legislation

A handful of family-owned waste management companies in California have sold their businesses to Fontana, California-based Burrtec Waste Industries, citing anticipated difficulties in complying with new organics legislation in the state, according to Bakersfield.com. The deal, which was finalized Oct. 1, positions Burrtec to serve the municipal garbage, recycling and organic waste needs of Kern County, California.

The deal includes haulers Howard's Garbage Service Inc., Lamont Sanitation Inc., Mountainside Disposal Inc., Price Disposal Inc., Superior Sanitation Service Inc., Varner Bros. Inc. and Varner & Son Inc.. Additionally, the deal includes a pair of aggregates producers—Kern Refuse Disposal Inc. and Metropolitan Recycling Corp.

The specifics of the deal were not disclosed, but Burrtec owner Cole Burr told Bakersfield.com that he did not anticipate any personnel changes with the acquired companies.

Kern Refuse President Larry Moxley, serving as a representative of the acquired companies, noted that a larger company like Burrtec was in a better position to comply with SB 1383 legislation taking effect Jan. 1, 2022, which requires residents and businesses to divert organics from landfill.

"We had to make a business decision based on the regulations [that] were changing, how we do business and the cost of doing business and meeting all those new regulations," Moxley says.

Burr noted that the company’s infrastructure and experience processing organics via composting and anaerobic digestion will allow Burrtec to handle incoming food and green waste from customers of the acquired companies.

An application was filed Oct. 6 notifying Kern County of the intent to switch waste service providers through a contract transfer agreement. Although there's no indication of when the county board might vote on the transfer, Moxley anticipates that it will be approved.

"We have no expectation that there will be any issue with … the county," he says.