Watts is an independent refuse hauler serving customers in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Louisiana. WTS Corporation was founded in 1948 and began with one truck. The Founder’s son had joined the company in 1963 took over management when the Founder retired in 1973. The Company employs approximately 440 people including 28 located in its corporate offices in Rock Island, Illinois. In addition to refuse hauling, the Company is vertically integrated in certain areas.
Star manufacturing fabricates containers in Houston, Texas supplying what management believes to be superior to those available on the market. The Company operates a truck rebuilding operation in Cedar, Rapids, Iowa which rebuilds Mack trucks to like new specifications for Company use at approx. half the cost of a new vehicle. The Company owns two landfills. One Landfill is located in the vicinity of Rock Island, Illinois.
The other is the Sangamon Valley Landfill serving the Springfield, Illinois marketplace. This landfill is not in operation as it is awaiting government approval to open a new area. In December of 1999, the company closed on a QCREDA bond in the amount of $6,500,000 to expanded solid waste disposal operations by upgrading of an existing landfill, purchased equipment, waste hauling equipment and related containers.