The chief executive of Republic Services Inc. refused Friday to discuss Waste Management Inc.'s attempt to buy shares of his company as part of a takeover bid.

James E. O'Connor, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based trash hauling company, told investor analysts in a conference call that his company is moving ahead with a roughly $6.07 billion stock purchase of Allied Waste Industries Inc. of Phoenix.

He spoke during a conference call about Republic's second-quarter earnings, which fell 29 percent because of an environmental clean-up charge.

"As we stated in our response, we believe our merger with Allied Waste is in the best interest of our stockholders because it creates significant value-generating opportunities," O'Connor said.

Executives of Republic, the third largest waste services company, and officials of No. 2 Allied are working to combine the two companies' operations. O'Connor said he has instructed them to wrap up the details by Oct. 1.

The deal is being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Houston-based Waste Management made an unsolicited $6.19 billion for Republic on July 14 in an effort to halt the Republic-Allied deal. Republic rejected the bid within days, saying it undervalues the company.

Waste Management announced Thursday it will seek to buy Republic shares, triggering a separate regulatory review.

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