Company History
WASTE PRO USA, INC. (Waste Pro) is a corporation headquartered in Longwood, Florida. Waste Pro is one of this country’s fastest growing solid waste collection, recycling, processing, and disposal companies, managed by the southeastern United States' most experienced team of waste professionals.
Many years ago, Waste Pro became known as a “people company” because our employees and our customers worked hand-in-hand. We realized that our customers signed our paychecks and we strove to satisfy our customer needs and wishes. When John Jennings started his first waste collection company in 1973, he didn't think about how big his company could become - he knew only that his customers paid for a service and he wanted to provide the best service he could. He wanted to distinguish himself from the other companies. And he did! His business began to grow and expand. He started in Orange County, Florida, in the residential business and soon expanded into the commercial business. In 1976, he expanded into Seminole County and in 1981 opened a site in St. Cloud in Osceola County. By 1983, he ventured into Volusia and Flagler Counties. In 1986, Fred Wood joined the team to head up the now demanding area of equipment maintenance and procurement. By 1992, the Jennings companies had expanded operations to include municipal consulting and sales. To more adequately describe the total services being offered by the group, John incorporated Jennings Environmental Services, Inc., in March of 1992 and used this as an agent for expansions and acquisitions
John Jennings met John Drury, then a Regional Vice President for BFI, in 1979. John Drury later became President of BFI and subsequently Chairman and CEO of USA Waste Services, Inc. (USA). As both companies grew, a professional friendship developed between the two men leading to the transaction in 1996, in which Jennings Environmental Services, Inc. became the first tier subsidiary of USA, and John Jennings headed up corporate activities for Florida and the Caribbean.
At this time a new addition, Bob Hyres, was added to our senior management team. Bob had been involved in the solid waste business in Florida since 1972. He was very well known and respected in the Industry. He was the Chairman for the Florida Chapter of the National Solid Wastes Management Association. He was also the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Wastes Study, a University of Florida research center. Bob has had personal management oversight for over 160 City and County contracts in Florida. JENNINGS and USA grew rapidly and, in fact, acquired Waste Management, Inc. in July of 1998. Because Waste Management dwarfed USA in size, the board of directors elected to change the USA name to Waste Management.
John Jennings became the Regional Vice President for the combined operation and the senior team consisting of Bob Hyres, Fred Wood, and Dave Danford headed up their respective areas in the combined organization. The Jennings Team members were people who preferred day-to-day contact with both our employees and our customers. Our philosophy was drastically different than the corporate bureaucratic makeup of the big national companies. Our adherence and dedication to customer service differed from the dictates of an out-of-state policy. Our preference to deal with local vendors was deemed unacceptable. Our personal touch with our employees and their families was thought to be old fashioned.
Our entire team decided that we needed to sever our relationship with Waste Management and begin to offer our type of customer service relationships to all our customers. We left en mass in January 2000 and agreed to stay out of waste collection in North and Central Florida for one year. We decided to provide consulting, demolition, land clearing, and site work in Florida and began waste collection in Georgia and South Carolina. As we grew, more key personnel joined the team, including: Don Phillips, CFO, who heads Waste Pro's financing and banking area; Jim Cinelli, Regional Vice President for Northeast FL & Coastal GA; Bob TenHaaf, Regional Vice President for North and South Carolina; Tim Dolan Regional Vice President for Central Florida; Keith Banasiak, Regional Vice President for Southwest Florida; Russell Mackie, Regional Vice President for Southeast Florida; Ralph Mills, Regional Vice President for Northwest Florida, Georgia, and Alabama; Wally Carter, Regional Vice President for Louisiana and Mississippi; and Adam Glasgow, Vice President for Waste Pro’s Recycling and Processing Operations.
Additional senior corporate staff members include: Ron Pecora, Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing; Larry Argiro, Vice President of Human Resources and Risk Management; Judi Craigo, Vice President Human Relations; Cort Sabina, Vice President Corporate Controller; and Jeannie Dubinski, Corporate Counsel.
In the summer of 2008 Waste Pro acquired American Recycling with operations in Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama. Contingent with this acquisition Waste Pro was awarded a long term contract for the Atlanta Hartsfield airport for all of its recycling and waste collection. As Waste Pro has grown and evolved, we have pro-actively entered the GREEN age by purchasing environmentally conscious vehicles to help reduce the carbon footprint, creating LEED certified pick up for our customers, and powering our facilities with solar collectors... In 2011, Waste Pro announced the transition of our diesel powered fleet to natural gas with and investment of $100 million.
Today, we are proud to offer services from over 70 locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi. Waste Pro holds over 150 exclusive City and County franchises and is currently contracted to provide solid waste and recycling services to over 1.5 million residential customers and over 35,000 businesses.
