About Us
A Simple Sustainable Idea
Back in 1991, our founder Troy Lautenbach was an unemployed college graduate who had an idea. Instead of dumping scrap drywall in the landfill, Troy asked the question: “What if you could take that drywall and turn it into bedding for dairy cattle?”
From that first simple idea, and from Troy’s passion for sustainable waste management, reusability, and stewardship, T & T Recovery was born.
When the business had outgrown its early days, Troy’s brother, Torrey, joined him in business and T & T Recovery became Lauts, Inc.
Today, 30 years later, and as Lautenbach Recycling, Troy and Torrey continue to ask the question “What If”, continue to innovate, and continue to provide outstanding service and waste solutions for homes and businesses throughout Washington state and the surrounding Pacific NWR.
Lautenbach Today
As a society, we’ve all become more and more accustomed to convenience; we’ve also become complacent to the waste that we create. We continue to see plastic drink bottles, canned foods, product packaging, glass bottles and jars being discarded. Our landfill space is limited, and in some cases shrinking rapidly.
At Lautenbach Recycling, critical to our mission of stewardship is to develop new ways and find new technologies to handle our region’s ever-increasing waste, including:
- New ways to assist businesses in containing and recycling their waste.
- Partnerships that work together to find big solutions for big issues.
- More community engagement and education on how we all can make a difference.
We’ll continue to be tenacious in our pursuit of solutions, and passionate about sustainability.
Leading With Innovation
- Safety We are committed to a safety-first mentality through education, equipment, and personnel. We all prioritize the health and well-being of our co-workers, customers, and business partners.
- Quality We value quality, reliability, and consistency. We will ensure quality through education and communication and will maintain the highest quality standards of our industry.
- Partnership We build strong partnerships with our regulators, customers, and business partners by understanding their needs, respecting their values, and establishing trust by doing what we say we will do.
- Leadership We are a sought-after company for applicants, and a company where employees feel supported, rewarded, and proud to come to work. Our employees are involved in decision-making and building connections. We create growth opportunities to maximize personal and professional development.
- Creativity We take great pride in knowing and understanding the bigger picture. We strive to provide a roadmap, yet remain flexible and creative so we can provide cost-effective and efficient ways to do business.
- Commitment We commit to getting the job done. We establish reasonable expectations, create individual and organizational goals, hold ourselves and co-workers accountable, and maintain a staff of employees who have the drive and fortitude to follow through.
- Investment We invest in ourselves and our processes and tools. We are committed to providing education, opportunity, quality processes, and tools to enable us to create unique value.