The Newberg Graphic Online

Newberg Garbage Service sells to Waste Management

Business news — Deal to close in March; corporation says local staff will be retained at Wynooski Street site

• By: David Sale  
• Published: 12/18/2009 2:09:05 PM

Photo By: Gary AllenChanging hands —
Waste Management officials say the 34 people that currently work at Newberg Garbage Service on Wynooski Street will be retained when the corporation takes over the facility in March.

   Waste Management Inc., which owns the Riverbend Landfill in McMinnville as well as outlets across the United States, announced Monday that it will purchase Newberg Garbage and Recycling Service from company owners Merlin and Sandra LaJoie of Newberg for an undisclosed sum.
   Assets included in the sale are Newberg Garbage’s trucks and collection operations, as well as the recycling and transfer station at 2904 South Wynooski St. The deal is expected to close in March.
   “I chose Waste Management because I value the company’s leadership position in the industry and its commitment to sustainability,” Merlin LaJoie said. “I am grateful for my customers’ support over the years and I am confident Waste Management is capable of providing our community with high quality service and sustainability solutions for the future.”
   While word of an impending deal had surfaced nearly a year ago, WM spokeswoman Jackie Lang said the timing of the announcement was unconnected to the Yamhill County Board of Commissioner’s recent approval of the Riverbend expansion.
   A family-owned business since 1941, Newberg Garbage presently employees 34 people as drivers, mechanics, customer service representatives, transfer station personnel and support staff. No payroll cuts are planned, according to Adam Winston, WM’s regional director of operations: “We expect a smooth transition for both customers and employees,” Winston said.
   “We are pleased to have the opportunity to serve the good people of Newberg and the surrounding area and we look forward to helping advance sustainability in this community,” he added.
   Ramsey McPhillips of Waste Not of Yamhill County, a longtime critic of WM, said he feared potential future rate increases for Newberg-area clients — but saw a silver lining in the sale.
   “Newberg Garbage service maintains a compacting transfer station on land already zoned for industry,” he said, adding that if Riverbend expansion (now remanded to the Land Use Board of Appeals) was overturned, the site would facilitate low-cost, out-of-county waste shipment.
   “In fact, Waste Not believes Waste Management bought Newberg Garbage Service to hedge their bet with that probability very much in the future,” he said.
   Newberg Garbage and Recycling Service provides collection for recycling and waste in Newberg, Dundee, unincorporated east Yamhill County and a small portion of Washington County. Waste Management will provide these services as a result of the acquisition. Schedules for service and the transfer station will remain the same through the transition, company officials said.

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