PHOENIX BUSINESSMAN HONORED FOR SERVICE TO

SOLID WASTE INDUSTRY

James VanWeelden, Senior Vice President at Republic Services, Received Special Trustees Award from National Trade Association

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, May 4, James VanWeelden, senior vice president for environmental development and compliance at Phoenix-based Republic Services, Inc., was honored with a Special Trustee Award by the Environmental Industry Associations (EIA),  the non-profit trade association that represents for-profit companies in the waste service and equipment industry throughout the United States.

Republic Services is a leading provider of solid waste collection, transfer, recycling and disposal services.  It operates 376 collection companies in 40 states and Puerto Rico and provides top-quality services to commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers. Republic serves millions of residential customers under contracts with more than 3,000 municipalities for waste collection and residential services. Its headquarters are located in Phoenix, Ariz.

Solid waste has been in the VanWeelden family business for decades.  In 1981, after graduating from Midland Lutheran College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, VanWeelden joined his brother, Tom, at VanWeelden Brothers, a solid waste collection and landfill company in Central Illinois. Ten years later, VanWeelden Brothers merged with National Scavenger Service and Allied Waste, forming Allied Waste Industries.  VanWeelden spent the next two decades at Allied in several capacities, including district manager for Central Illinois, director of landfill development, regional vice president for the Great Lakes region and senior vice president for market planning and development.  VanWeelden remained with Allied through its merger with Republic in 2008. 

“Jim has been an active and valued contributor to the wellbeing of the entire solid waste industry, having served on the EIA Board of Trustees for four years,” said Bruce J. Parker, EIA’s president and CEO.   “We are pleased to recognize him for his service.”

The awards ceremony took place in Atlanta as part of the waste industry’s national trade show, WasteExpo 2010 (www.wasteexpo.com).

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For more information about how innovation in the solid waste industry is helping to solve today’s environmental challenges, visit www.environmentalistseveryday.org.