Mergers & acquisitions

LRS announces acquisition

Lakeshore Recycling Systems (LRS), Morton Grove, Illinois, announced Oct. 4 that it has acquired Madison, Wisconsin-based Royal Container Service, a dumpster and recycling services provider. According to the LRS, the acquisition creates a scalable waste and recycling platform in southern Wisconsin and expands the LRS service area. Financial terms were not disclosed and the acquisition is effective immediately.

As a result of the acquisition, Royal’s 50 employees, 25 trucks and more than 1,000 roll-off dumpsters will now be a part of LRS. The company also will oversee control of three facilities previously owned by Royal located in Madison and its surrounding communities, including one of the few automated construction and demolition (C&D) recycling facilities in Wisconsin. Royal manages nearly 100,000 tons of material and successfully recycles or diverts in excess of 75 percent of that material.

“We welcome all Royal employees and customers to the LRS family through this milestone acquisition as we expand into southern Wisconsin,” LRS CEO Alan Handley says. “We look forward to offering Royal customers access to all LRS services, including residential and commercial waste collection, roll-off dumpsters, portable restrooms, street sweeping and on-site storage. Royal’s leadership team has always run a first-class customer-focused operation, and we look forward to working with their senior leadership team as we continue to execute on our aggressive geographic expansion.”

Royal has been led through its transition by owners David Vander Velde, Steve Olsen and Kim Lindholm. Effective immediately, Velde will remain part of the Royal team managing daily operations and Olsen will remain on as an active shareholder in LRS. Through their efforts and leadership, LRS says Royal has outrivaled other local waste providers and is the hauler of choice for contractors throughout Dane, Sauk and Columbia County, serving approximately 80 percent of construction hauling needs for Madison-area contractors. With more than 1,500 customers, Royal will utilize this key knowledge and pride of service as it works alongside LRS.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the LRS family and look forward to offering our customers more services than ever before,” Velde said.