GFL acquires Colorado-based Bestway Disposal

GFL Environmental, Ontario, Canada, has acquired Bestway Disposal of Colorado Springs, Colorado, including the company's commercial and residential collection services, container rental and compost programs, transfer station and recycling facility. The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The merger comes after Bestway was sold in December to Denver-based Alpine Disposal Inc., which had been acquired earlier that year by Waste Industries of Raleigh, North Carolina. Then, GFL merged with Waste Industries in October of last year to form a combined company that included 98 collection operations, 59 transfer stations, 29 material recovery facilities (MRFs), 10 organics facilities and 47 landfills.

“Bestway is a great company and compliments GFL’s existing footprint in Colorado,” says John Griffith, a regional vice president of GFL. “This merger is an exceptional fit for both companies, because it allows for Bestway to access to GFL’s greater resources, capital, and expertise in things like safety and sustainability, while still allowing Bestway to maintain its culture of excellent customer service and its special relationship with the Colorado Springs community to remain intact.”

Bestway Disposal was founded in 1950 and has been owned by the Kiemel family since 1967. The company services thousands of residents in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and the Fountain Valley.

National companies now own three of the four largest trash haulers in Colorado Springs, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette, including Houston-based Waste Management and Ontario-based Waste Connections.

Griffith said that apart from some technological upgrades coming to Bestway’s internal systems, its existing customers shouldn't notice any change in services. All of Bestway’s 153 employees and management team were retained in the merger.

“We are proud that all of Bestway’s management and senior staff has been invited to stay post-merger and has elected to do so,” Griffith says. “With the addition of the Bestway team, the future very bright for GFL in Colorado.”