The 2025 Family Legacy award goes to a local company with generations invested in keeping the environment clean.

The FOBA awards program was held at Pardini’s in Fresno on Tuesday, Aug. 19. The Business Journal online has featured stories about the winners over the past week.

Caglia Environmental is a waste management and recycling company that was started by Frank Caglia in 1941 after his father-in-law bought Rossi Disposal Services in 1939.

 

Caglia Environmental’s first location was the landfill on Orange Avenue in South Fresno, where they remained for more than 30 years after acquiring the business in 1939. In 1971, Caglia expanded into waste collection, which created Industrial Waste & Salvage (IWS). In 2003, Caglia introduced advanced processing services through the Cedar Avenue Recycling & Transfer Station. In 2012, the family business continued expansion, acquiring Redrock Environmental Group in Madera County.

Today, Caglia Environmental provides a full suite of integrated services — residential and commercial waste collection, processing, transfer station and landfill operations and organic material management — serving communities from Fresno to Merced with a legacy built on hard work, innovation and community values.

Caglia Environmental employs over 300 people throughout all of their facilities, six of which are members of the Caglia family still working with the company.

Richelle Caglia, executive assistant to the president, praised their entire workforce.

“Without you and your support we wouldn’t have a business,” she said. “We have a great team.”

One of Caglia Environmental’s top plans over the next five years is to become a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) facility. They started capturing landfill gas from the closed Orange Avenue landfill to help power the Fresno operations over 10 years ago. They hope to expand on this by transforming emissions into renewable energy, reducing their carbon footprint and serving as a model for environmentally responsible waste operations.

At Tuesday’s event, Owner of Caglia Environmental Richard Caglia spoke about the importance of community connections, recognizing many in attendance as customers — or hopeful one-day future customers.

“We’re very fortunate,” Caglia said. “We really, truly, deeply believe in all that we do. All of what our family has done…we cherish them, we honor them, we respect them, and we try our best every day to continue that on — that is truly a legacy.”

A fourth generation of Caglia family members are already displaying passions and focus on equipment repairs, waste processing and other business facets.

“Succession in our family isn’t a formality — it’s a way of life,” the Caglias said in their Family Owned Business Awards application. “From sweeping floors to learning the mechanics of equipment, each generation is raised with firsthand experience, guided mentorship, and a shared sense of responsibility.”

Caglia Environmental is currently in its third generation of family ownership and now operates in seven Central Valley cities, including Fresno, Clovis, Chowchilla, Malaga, Del Rey and Merced.