Just two years after joining Ground Force, an environmental site remediation company, Robert Cooke Trucking has purchased the assets of Chameleon Environmental and will be rebranding both the Chameleon and the Robert Cooke bin division as RCT BINS.
The acquisition will be a brand-name change only, as customers should expect the same level of service, said Jeremy Michel, sales and manufacturing manager with Robert Cooke Trucking.
Originally an Elmira-based, family-run operation, Robert Cooke Trucking provided bins for waste disposal to millwrights and other manufacturing companies for over 20 years before joining Ground Force.
The newly branded RCT BINS is a Kitchener-owned roll-off disposal container company which is a Ministry of Environment (MOE) licensed carrier for standard waste disposal with the capabilities of transporting and disposing contaminated soil, spill clean-up materials, industrial waste, bulk asbestos and liquid hazardous waste.
With the additional assets from Chameleon the company will be adding a variety of new equipment, including four roll-off trucks, 77 disposal bins and a wood transfer station to the growing business.
“This is a great fit for our company as it increases the number of trucks and bins. It also gives us the wood transfer facility where people can dispose of their wood,” said Michel.
The combined fleet of RCT BINS now includes six roll-off trucks and over 150 disposal bins of various sizes to meet the demands of the Township of Woolwich, and the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, and Cambridge.
Chameleon Environmental began in 2009 as a one-truck bin disposal company owned by Blake Schmitt. The main focus of company was recycling and reusing waste to reduce the volume of waste heading to the landfill, which made it a perfect fit into the larger environmental clean-up umbrella.
Over the last three years he grew his business to include the wood transfer station, trucks and bins as well as growing his area of service to include residential, commercial, construction and industrial sectors throughout the region.
“The business was expanding fast and this purchase just made sense for me and my team,” said Schmitt.
Schmitt will be staying on with RCT BINS taking over as the business manager and overseeing the day to day operations.
“The addition of Chameleon’s small hook trucks will allow RCT BINS to offer an even greater range of services to our customers, including the residential bin rental market,” said Michel. “Up until now we have only had the large scale roll-off trucks and often times it is hard to get into the small residential areas because of the low lines but with the small hook trucks we are able to service everywhere in the region.”
Over the last few years Robert Cooke Trucking has made numerous additions to its own service, including an advanced tracking and routing software program giving their clients reliable information about the arrival of their rental bin and their budget. The company has also purchased new equipment including a float, dump truck and roll-off trailer.
“This purchase has made our company better as we have increased our fleet, increased our clientele and we can now show the public the rebranding of the bin division that includes both the Chameleon and Robert Cooke trucks,” said Michel.
