Wendell (Wendy) E. Yonker

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Wendell (Wendy) E. Yonker is the original founder of Homewood Disposal, a refuse and recycling hauler located in Homewood, Illinois.  He founded Homewood Disposal in 1956 as a one truck operation and hasn’t looked back since.  Wendy made a commitment to build the company on family values, a sense of loyalty and his faith in God.  These values are still present amongst the third generation family members involved today.

Born on January 15 1924, Wendy grew up in the Roseland area of Chicago with his two brothers Kenny and Norris.  After high-school he worked at Acme Steel until the age of 22, when he enlisted in the Navy. He was educated while in the Navy to be a “radioman” and served until the conclusion of World War II.

After his service, Wendy got married to Dorothy and became an apprentice carpenter in hopes of learning the trade. After three years he started his own company, ”Lawndale Construction”.  Over the next seven years he worked as a carpenter until the opportunity arose to get into the waste industry.  He jumped at the opportunity. With help from his family, Wendy was able to purchase the original assets from a couple of local businessmen and started Homewood Disposal.

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Through the early years it took a lot of hard work to get Homewood Disposal off the ground.  Over time Wendy’s philosophy of hard work, loyalty and great customer service started to pay off with continued growth.  Wendell cultivated relationships with customers, vendors, communities and other haulers.  Many of those relationships still exist to this day and others led to acquisitions which helped in Homewood’s growth over the last 50 years.

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Wendell and his son, Tom Yonker.
 

It is because of Wendell and his impact on Homewood Disposal that Wendy the Waste Truck was created in his honor.

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Wendy the Waste Truck is a garbage truck that runs completely on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).  He loves to recycle and is all about keeping the environment clean and safe for his friends!  Wendy is also the mascot for our new education program.  He, along with our team of recycling experts are visiting schools to help educate students about the different ways they can help protect the environment.