World Bank Says Global Waste Bigger Problem than Climate Change
A new report from the World Bank predicts the global generation of residential garbage will surge to 2.2 billion tons per year by 2025. That compares to today's rate of 1.3 billion tons per year or 2.6 pounds per person per day. The cost to manage that waste will nearly double to $375 billion from $205 billion annually today. Low income countries, particularly India and China, will see more than five-fold increases. The World Bank calls the problem a "looming crisis" as cities grow and living standards rise around the world. "When you add the figures up we're looking at a relatively silent problem that is growing daily," said Dan Hoornweg, a co-author of the report. Waste management is often the largest single budget item for poorer communities. Managing that problem comes at the expense of more complex services such as health, education and transportation, according to the report. Uncollected waste contributes to flooding, air pollution and public health issues such asrespiratory troubles, diarrhea and dengue fever. Moreover, post-consumer waste accounts for nearly 5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions...Read More »
Bill Gates Buys another $100 Million of Republic Services' Stock
Billionaire Bill Gates is continuing to boost his ownership stake in Republic Services which now stands at close to 20 percent of the company. His investment company Cascade Investment, LLC has acquired 3.8 million shares just since May 15 representing an investment of $100 million. His latest spree seems to be taking advantage of a stock price that had dropped by as much as 13 percent following the company's announcement of disappointing first quarter earnings on April 26. From April 30 to May 2, Cascade acquired an additional 3.7 million shares for $101.4 million. That followed a similar investment last December in which he picked up 4 million shares for about $108 million...Read More »
Taylor Biomass Energy Wins Approval for Waste-to-Energy Plant
Taylor Biomass Energy, based in Montgomery, NY has received final approval from the town board to proceed with plans to build a waste-to-energy facility on its 90-acre site. The company hopes to break ground this month and complete the facility by the end of next year. The plant will employ heated sand media to gasify waste in an oxygen-starved environment to create synthesis gas or syngas that can be converted to energy more efficiently and without significant emissions. James Rollins, vice president of business development for Taylor estimates that the system will take in about 500 tons per day of solid waste, 400 tons per day of C&D material and 100 tons per day of wood waste once it is fully operational. He said the company is forging long-term agreements for waste from surrounding municipalities in Orange County and that most of the C&D material and wood waste will come from Taylor Recycling's own C&D recycling operations...Read More »
Happy Birthday to NSWMA. The association turned 50 on May 23. On that date in 1962, an intrepid group of solid waste associations banded together to form the first national association representing the private sector solid waste industry. It was initially called the National Council of Refuse Disposal Trade Associations (NCRDTA), which in 1968 became the NSWMA and moved from Chicago to Washington DC. "We're proud of the success that our association has had during the last half century in helping America's solid waste services and recycling industry grow into the $60 billion industry," said Bruce Parker, president and CEO of EIA and the executive vice president of NSWMA. "NSWMA members continue to provide essential, technologically innovative and environmentally-responsive waste services to the communities that they serve. I am optimistic that NSWMA will continue to support our members as they find beneficial uses for waste, such as the production of renewable fuels, power industrial chemicals and other beneficial uses."...Read More »
EPA Submits Revised Boiler Emissions Rules for White House Review
The US EPA has submitted revised rules for industrial boilers and incinerators to the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for its review before they can be published in the Federal Register. The rules include national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for major source boilers and area source boilers, new source performance standards for commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (CISWI) and a non-hazardous secondary materials rule under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) to determine whether facilities are subject to the boiler or more strict CISWI rules based on the material burned. EPA first issued the rules over a year ago but initiated a stay and review to address industry concerns that the rules were impossible to meet and based on faulty data. EPA has amended the final versions of the rules in response to the concerns providing more flexibility in meeting standards. EPA also said it will expand the definition for what would be considered biomass and therefore subject to less stringent rules...Read More »
San Francisco Votes to Uphold Recology Contract
San Francisco voters rejected a proposal (Proposition A) that would have opened the city's waste collection and recycling contract, currently with Recology, to competitive bidding. Proponents of the measure were calling for an end to the "stranglehold" on the city from a no-bid contract, which has been included in San Francisco's City Charter since 1932. Recology holds all of the permits for refuse collection, inherited from its predecessor companies, including Sunset Scavenger, Golden Gate Disposal and Norcal Waste. The measure had been pushed by a retired local judge and a community activist, who had claimed that the city could reduce its waste disposal and recycling costs by allowing other companies to bid for the waste services contract. Recology generated $539 million in revenue in 2010, making it the twelfth largest waste management firm in the US, and the second largest privately-held firm...Read More »
Safety-Kleen Prepares to Sell the Company
Safety-Kleen Inc. plans to offer the company for sale while also laying the groundwork for an initial public offering, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The company's owners, which include Dallas-based asset manager Highland Capital Management LP, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and distressed-asset investor Contrarian Capital Management LLC, have hired Credit Suisse Group to advise them on the sale. Safety-Kleen had been a public company until it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000 in the wake of an accounting scandal. In 2003, the company sold its Chemical Services division to Clean Harbors Inc. for about $300 million. Since then, under the able hands of former CEO Fred J. Florjancic, the company has steadily grown its business. In 2008, Safety-Kleen registered for an IPO but pulled those plans a few months later, citing market conditions. In 2010 the company rejected an offer from Clean Harbors to buy them for $13 a share ($716 million) under the belief that it was worth at least $20 a share ($1.1 billion), according to an opinion in a Delaware Court of Chancery case related to those talks...Read More »
WM Moves Its Sustainability Services to Connecticut
Waste Management Inc. (Houston, TX), which has been evolving a more customer-centric approach to its services, particularly with its recent purchase of Oakleaf Waste Management, is moving its Sustainability Services Group there to Windsor, CT. Since the acquisition last July, the company has developed or transferred 113 positions to the Windsor offices and anticipates 67 more positions to be added in 2012. Steven Preston who was formerly CEO of Oakleaf, is now EVP of Finance, Recycling and Energy Services for Waste Management and leads its sustainability initiatives. He points to his company's objective to provide comprehensive, best-in-class environmental solutions to customers and for his company to be a one-stop shop for all of their environmental needs...Read More »
Republic Invests $19 Million in Two St. Louis Recycling Facilities
Republic Services (Phoenix, AZ) is investing $19 million to upgrade two of its St. Louis, MO area recycling facilities to single-stream. The facilities in North St. Louis County (Hazelwood) and South St. Louis County (Bella Villa) are being equipped with state-of-the-art automated sorting technologies that will triple recycling capacity to as much as 30 tons per hour. "The improvements we're making to our recycling centers in St. Louis allow us to meet current demand, and we're adding capacity to accommodate even more recycling in the future," said Tim Trost, area president, Republic Services...Read More »
Republic Services Opens Single-Stream Recycling Facility in Jacksonville, FL
Republic Services (Phoenix, AZ) announced its opening of its newly constructed state-of-the-art regional recycling in northwest Jacksonville, FL. The 70,000-square-foot facility will process more than 65,000 tons of recyclables per year collected from surrounding counties and even south Georgia. "This represents Republic Services' commitment to Jacksonville and north Florida and our commitment to planet-friendly solutions," said Andrew King, general manager of Republic Services...Read More »
Waste Industries Opens $8 million CNG Fueling Station
Waste Industries USA (Raleigh, NC) recently opened an $8 million compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station for its Durham-based fleet that includes 19 trucks and one service vehicle which run on CNG. The gas will be supplied by Gastonia, NC-based PSNC Energy. The operation is expected to save more than 38 tons of greenhouse gases within the first year of operation. "As part of our annual review of our carbon footprint and sustainability in 2011, we concluded that CNG had become a viable long-term, low-cost alternative to diesel fuel. We committed to begin conversion to CNG and decided to start with one of our largest branches," said company CEO Ven Poole. "This will be one of several conversions we will complete in the coming years."...Read More »
SWANA Wants EPA to Exempt Waste from Tailoring Rule
The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is calling on EPA to exempt biogenic CO2 emissions at solid waste facilities from accounting required under its Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V greenhouse gas (GHG) Tailoring Rule. SWANA argues that the solid waste management industry has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent since the 1970s, while total generation of solid waste has more than doubled. They say there is no scientific or policy basis for regulating biogenic CO2 emissions based on methane collection efficiency and instead should focus on accounting for CO2 sequestered by disposing municipal solid waste in landfills...Read More »
WM Partners with AbTech to Offer Stormwater Services
As part of its quest to broaden its service offerings, Waste Management, Inc. (Houston, TX) announced a partnership with AbTech Industries, Inc. to provide stormwater management to municipalities in the form of public-private strategic alliances. Waste Management and AbTech will team with municipalities to design, build, operate, and maintain stormwater infrastructure. The formal partnership follows a year-long pilot program under which the two companies worked together to develop the business model. "We determined during our stormwater offering pilot phase that the best way for the private sector to truly help municipalities meet their clean water needs was through this complete stormwater management approach," said Paul Pistono, Waste Management's vice president of public sector solutions...Read More »
Advanced Disposal Expands in Georgia and North Carolina
Advanced Disposal Services Inc. (Jacksonville, FL) announced acquisitions that expand its business in northern Georgia and Charlotte, NC. In north Georgia, the company acquired At Your Disposal Inc. (Toccoa, GA), a hauler with 326 customers. In the Charlotte area, the company bought Carolina Systems Inc. which has been doing business as Cleanwell Sanitation and the commercial roll-off business of Doggett Concrete Inc. operating as Dumpster Services. Those businesses bring another 2,200 customers. Regional Vice President Charlie Gray said the acquisitions improve "density and efficiencies," while growing the business...Read More »
Enerkem Begins Producing Ethanol from Waste at Facility in Ontario
Waste-to-biofuels and chemicals company Enerkem Inc. (Montreal, QC) has begun producing cellulosic ethanol from waste materials at its demonstration facility in Westbury, QC. "The start of ethanol production at our Westbury facility is a significant milestone", said Vincent Chornet, President and Chief Executive Officer of Enerkem. "Enerkem has already produced cellulosic ethanol at its smaller scale pilot laboratory facility in Sherbrooke. This new achievement in Westbury allows us to confirm the process design of our proprietary methanol-to-ethanol technology for its deployment at Enerkem's full-scale commercial plants in Edmonton and other locations." Enerkem, which counts Waste Management as a major investor, said it may license the technology to other companies as well...Read More »
Republic Opens New Landfill Gas-to-Energy Plant in Concord, NC
Republic Services (Phoenix, AZ) has opened a new landfill gas-to-energy project at is Charlotte Motor Speedway landfill in Concord, NC. The 11.5 megawatt plant is being built and operated by Fortistar Inc. (White Plains, NY) and will use two Solar Taurus turbines to produce enough electricity to power 7,700 homes. Duke Energy will buy the power under a long-term power purchase agreement. The project is one of 69 landfill energy plants at Republic's landfills across the US...Read More »
Chemical Company to Run on Delaware Landfill Gas
Specialty chemical company Croda Inc. has begun construction of a $6 million combined heat and power plant that will use gas from Delaware's Cherry Island landfill to meet 55 percent of the energy needs at its nearby Atlas Point chemical plant. Croda received a $500,000 grant from the Delaware Energy Efficiency Investment Fund for the project. Cummins Power will work with Casella Waste Systems to deliver the landfill gas to Croda via pipeline. The gas had been used to supplement a nearby coal-fired generation facility which subsequently switched to natural gas...Read More »
EnergySolutions Names New CEO, Unhappy about Outlook
EnergySolutions (Salt Lake City, UT), following two years of losses, is replacing its leadership and has for a second time, cut its profit outlook for the year. The nuclear power and waste services company is replacing CEO and President Val John Christensen with David Lockwood, a board member since November 2010 and a representative of EnergySolution's biggest shareholder ValueAct Capital, which owns nearly 17 percent of the company. Christensen will remain with EnergySolutions as a strategic adviser, with appointments effective immediately. "The board determined that the time is right for new leadership, so that the company is positioned to take advantage of its full long-term potential in a changing industry environment," Chairman Steven Rogel said in a statement...Read More »
Interstate Waste Services Buys Evergreen Waste
Interstate Waste Services (Basking Ridge, NJ), which operates throughout the Northeast and in the Midwest, has bought Evergreen Waste Solutions, a residential hauling company based in Norristown, PA. The Evergreen business, which includes over 7,000 customers and its employees, will be integrated into existing IWS infrastructure. "The purchase of Evergreen allows us to increase the strength of their customers' existing service," says Michael de Castro, CEO of Interstate Waste Services. "We can expand on what was offered while continuing to provide them with the great service they have come to expect."...Read More »
WM to Open $8.5 Million Single-Stream Recycling Facility in Winston-Salem, NC
Waste Management Inc. (Houston, TX) is set to open an 85,000-square-foot single-stream recycling facility in Winston-Salem, NC. The company invested $8.5 million to upgrade the plant which will now be able to process 100,000 tons of material annually, up from 36,000 tons per year now...Read More »
US Ecology Buys Detroit TSD Facility for $11.2 Million
US Ecology (Boise, ID), which provides radioactive, hazardous and industrial waste services, is buying a permitted Treatment, Storage and Disposal facility in Detroit, MI from PVS Chemicals for $11.25 million. The facility, which operates under the name Dynecol, has been in business since 1974 and provides hazardous liquid waste services to the Midwest US and Canadian industrial markets. Its revenues have ranged from $9 to $14 million annually over the last several years...Read More »
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