Trash Probe Nets Another Guilty Plea
The ongoing probe of price fixing between certain Connecticut and New York waste haulers has netted another guilty plea. Paul DiNardo, an employee of American Disposal Services of Connecticut admitted that he and others conspired to fix prices in a scheme known as the "property rights system.'' He and competitors parceled out lucrative trash routes by trading favors to place high bids or withdraw low bids to insure that the desired company would win the contract at the highest price. Others were exerted to play along...Read More »
Recycling Doesn't Fly At US Airports
According to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, U.S. airports waste hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by discarding 4,250 tons of aluminum cans and other items that could otherwise be recycled. The two-year study examined recycling at 30 U.S. airports and found that the industry threw out some 9,000 tons of plastic and enough newspapers and magazines to fill a football field to a depth of more than 230 feet. Also according to the report, airports generated about 1.28 pounds of waste per passenger in 2004. Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a Senior Scientist at NRDC said that "airlines in the U.S. throw away enough aluminum cans every year to build 58 new 747s. It's the same story with paper and plastic...a significant amount of money...and resources that wouldn't need to be mined, logged or drilled which would save energy and avoid emissions."...Read More »
Waste Management CEO Joins Others to Call For U.S. Oil Independence
Waste Management CEO David Steiner, as a member of the Energy Security Leadership Council, has joined other CEOs and military experts in calling for a strategy to reduce US dependence on foreign oil. The bipartisan Council, a project of Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE), proposes a far-reaching effort to reduce significantly the oil intensity of the U.S. economy by 2030...Read More »
Waste Management Plans to Increase Dividend
Waste Management, Inc. raised its quarterly dividend by 9.1% to $0.24 per share from $0.22 per share paid in 2006. It will amount to about $510 million in dividend payments. "Waste Management is first and foremost a strong and consistent generator of cash," said CEO David P. Steiner. "The Board of Directors and management consider the return of cash to our shareholders to be one of our most important duties."...Read More »
Waste Services Completes Kelso Preferred Refinancing
Waste Services recently completed a previously announced $100 million refinancing of its preferred debt. The company issued about 9.9 million shares of common stock at a price of $9.50 per share to Westbury Limited, Kelso & Company and Prides Capital, LLC. At the same time, it has exchanged and redeemed all of the 17.75% Series A Preferred Stock, which had been owned by affiliates of Kelso & Company. Proceeds from the preferred shares had helped finance the acquisition of various Florida assets from Allied Waste back in July. The company has appointed Charlie McCarthy, a co-founder of Prides Capital, LLC, a director on its board. Prides Capital currently owns about 12.7% of Waste Services' shares...Read More »
Schnitzer Steel Purchases Max Cohen and Sons
Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. recently completed its purchase Max Cohen and Sons, a New Hampshire metals recycler. Max Cohen and Sons, under the name Advanced Recycling, handles roughly 250,000 tons of ferrous scrap metal annually. Terms of the deal announced in August were not disclosed...Read More »
Safety-Kleen Acquires Jacobus Environmental Services
Safety-Kleen Systems acquired Jacobus Environmental Services, a regional provider of collection services for used oil, oil filters, oily water and absorbents. Jacobus serves about 16,000 customers via a network of seven oil collection facilities owned or leased by Jacobus in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming, and owns a fleet of 27 oil-collection trucks...Read More »
GreenMan Technologies Posts Fourth Quarter
GreenMan Technologies president Lyle Jensen says that he feels vindicated by the company's fourth quarter financial performance. Net sales of the scrap tire recycler increased 3% to $5.5 million from $5.3 million last year despite a drop in processing of passenger tire equivalents to 3.3 million from 3.9 million a year ago. Gross profit remained flat due to a 4% increase in parts, maintenance and fuel costs...Read More »
World Waste Technologies Appoints David Gutacker to Board
World Waste Technologies, Inc. has appointed long-time industry veteran David Gutacker to its Board of Directors. Gutacker was formerly President and COO of American Ref-fuel, a $2 billion waste-to-energy company that recently merged with Covanta (NYSE: CVA). He plans to help World Waste capitalize on its technologies to convert waste into energy products and ethanol...Read More »
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