Countywide : Trash Hauler Files for Reorganization

GI Industries Inc., the largest hauler of residential trash in eastern Ventura County, said Friday it filed for reorganization under federal bankruptcy laws because of the company’s heavy debt burden.

The Simi Valley-based company, which serves nearly 50,000 customers in Simi Valley, Moorpark and Thousand Oaks, said it filed under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws. The company will be protected from creditors’ lawsuits while it works out a plan to pay its bills.

GI said its sole trash-hauling subsidiary, Conejo Enterprises Inc., did not file a bankruptcy petition along with the parent company. Conejo’s operations should not be directly affected by GI’s filing, the company said.

GI, which had revenue of $16 million last year, is struggling under the weight of more than $14 million of debt--a financial hangover from its failed effort to diversify into other businesses during the 1980s.