Kinderhook Takes the Wheel on Northeast Ohio’s Waste Chain

Kinderhook Industries has acquired Pete & Pete Container Service and Boyas Recycling & Excavating, a vertically integrated collector, processor, and disposer of construction and demolition debris across Northeast Ohio, in partnership with the founding Ristagno family, marking the sixth platform investment for the firm’s $2.75 billion Fund 8.

Pete & Pete provides roll-off and front-load waste collection to construction, commercial, and municipal customers across the Cleveland market. The company’s containers sit at demolition and renovation jobsites, where mixed loads of concrete, brick, wood, and other construction and demolition (C&D) material are hauled away for processing.

Its large fleet of trucks and containers lets the company run efficient, closely spaced pickup routes across Greater Cleveland — a region that generates a heavy volume of construction and demolition debris.

Through Boyas Recycling & Excavating, a sister company to Pete & Pete, the company operates a material recovery facility (MRF) and a permitted C&D landfill, giving it control of the full chain from the jobsite through recovery to disposal.

Material collected in the field is sorted at the MRF, where marketable commodities are recovered and recycled; residual volume is buried at the company’s own landfill, which carries substantial remaining airspace. That internalized disposal capability — rare among regional haulers — lets the company capture margin at every step and shields it from third-party tipping fees.

Founded in 1997 and built over nearly three decades by the Ristagno family, Pete & Pete has earned a reputation for reliability across a dense and competitive market. Pete & Pete, led by CEO Pete Ristagno Jr., is headquartered roughly 10 miles southeast of Cleveland in Garfield Heights, Ohio.

Mr. Ristagno and his leadership team will remain with the company and continue to run day-to-day operations following the transaction. “Our family has spent decades building Pete & Pete and Boyas into businesses our customers and our community can count on,” he said. “We are proud of what our team has built and are excited to partner with Kinderhook to carry that legacy forward and accelerate our next phase of growth.”

Construction and demolition debris makes up a larger share of the US waste stream than any other single source. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 600 million tons are generated annually, equal to roughly one-quarter of all US waste. Concrete and asphalt account for the bulk of that volume, with recovery rates above 90%. Demand is tied directly to construction and demolition activity, with volumes driven by infrastructure spending, commercial redevelopment, and residential turnover.

The market for managing that material is both large and durable. Grand View Research valued the US C&D waste management market at approximately $8.8 billion in 2025 and projects annual growth of nearly 6% through 2030. Other estimates place the market at about $9 billion in 2023, increasing to nearly $19 billion by 2033. Stricter landfill-diversion requirements and limited permitted disposal capacity continue to favor operators that control their own disposal assets rather than paying third parties to take the material. That is the advantage Pete & Pete gains from its vertically integrated model.

“Pete & Pete and Boyas have demonstrated consistent, disciplined growth and built one of the strongest C&D platforms in the Midwest. The company’s vertically integrated model and internalized disposal give it a defensible position in an attractive market, and we are thrilled to build on that momentum alongside the Ristagno family and the management team,” said Rob Michalik, a managing director at Kinderhook.

New York City-headquartered Kinderhook Industries makes control investments in middle-market companies with defensible niche positioning across environmental and equipment services, healthcare services, and industrials and manufacturing. The firm typically pursues transactions valued between $25 million and $150 million. Kinderhook has raised more than $11 billion of committed capital and completed 500-plus investments and follow-on acquisitions since its founding, and closed its $2.75 billion Fund 8 in 2024. Pete & Pete is the sixth platform investment in that fund.

“We look forward to partnering with Pete and his team to support the company’s continued growth, expand its footprint across the region, and grow into new markets through strategic acquisitions,” added Cor Carruthers, a managing director at Kinderhook.

The buy-and-build path Mr. Carruthers describes fits Kinderhook’s history in the sector: a defensible regional platform with owned disposal, a founder team staying in place, and a fragmented surrounding market that lends itself to tuck-in acquisitions. Kinderhook’s investment in Pete & Pete is the company’s first institutional capital.

Comerica Securities was the financial advisor to Pete & Pete on this transaction.