Santa Rosa-based Ratto Group selling North Bay garbage empire to Recology of San Francisco

Kevin McCallum, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Buyer: Recology
Headquarters: San Francisco
Founded: 1921
Employees: 3,000 (est.)
Owner: 100 percent employee owned

James Ratto, owner of Sonoma County’s dominant but embattled garbage hauler, is selling his waste and recycling empire to a San Francisco-based rival in a multimillion dollar deal that promises to reshape the region’s garbage business.
Ratto on Friday agreed to sell his companies, which handle garbage and recycling services in eight of Sonoma County’s nine cities as well as parts of north Marin County, to Recology, one of the largest solid waste firms on the West Coast.
“He’s getting out of the garbage and recycling business,” Ratto spokesman Eric Koenigshofer said Saturday. “It’s a major event in the history of Sonoma County.”
The deal sets in motion several months of review and calls for Recology to take over Ratto’s entire North Bay garbage operation, including its Santa Rosa recycling facilities, dozens of trucks and a workforce of 440 employees.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It would bring to a close the remarkable career of an Italian immigrant who began collecting garbage cans on the streets of San Francisco at the age of 16 and through tenacity and competitive drive became rich building and selling solid waste businesses in the North Bay.
Read more at: Santa Rosa-based Ratto Group selling North Bay garbage empire to Recology of San Francisco | The North Bay Business Journal