Weekly News Bulletin: Jan. 5-11, 2021
Despite All - a Surprisingly Good Year for Mergers and Acquisitions
Despite the significant pressures on all aspects of the economy, including double-digit declines in second quarter GDP caused by the pandemic, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity roared back to life in the third quarter before settling down at year's end. Third quarter transaction values increased by 160 percent compared to the previous quarter and, perhaps more remarkably, by 33 percent year over year. Pent-up demand and the delay in some deals meant to happen earlier, especially as lenders and borrowers waited out the initial market uncertainty, were contributing factors...Read More »
Republic Bows Out on Deal with Nikola for Electric Refuse Trucks
Republic Services and electric truck maker Nikola said they have "discontinued their collaboration on refuse truck development," according to a press release. Last August they announced plans to design and build at least 2,500 fully-integrated electric collection vehicles for Republic. The announcement may have been a more elegant way for Republic to back out of the deal following a scandal surrounding Nikola and its charismatic founder and chairman Trevor Milton...Read More »
Data Shows Decline in Waste Industry Fatalities
The waste industry is now the sixth most dangerous occupation in the US, an improvement from being number five in earlier years. This is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) most recent "2019 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries" report released Dec. 16. According to the report, the workplace fatality rate for "refuse and recyclable materials collectors" declined from 44.3 per 100,000 full-time-equivalent (FTE) workers in 2018 to 35.2 in 2019. However, this is still higher than 35 in 2017 and 34.1 in 2016. There were a total of 43 worker deaths in 2019, down from 57 in 2018, but well above the previous eight-year average of 36.6...Read More »
Biden Team Names New EPA Chief
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has chosen Michael S. Regan, North Carolina's top environmental regulator, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. He will join former EPA chief Gina McCarthy, who will lead a new White House Office of Climate Policy to coordinate domestic efforts, and John Kerry, the former secretary of state, will be Mr. Biden's international climate envoy...Read More »
Wheelabrator Acquires United Materials Management, sells off UK Business
Recently, Wheelabrator Technologies Inc, based in Portsmouth, NH, acquired Westborough, MA based United Material Management (UMM) and sold its UK division Wheelabrator UK. This event results in a major shift in the ownership of collection and disposal services in both New England and the UK...Read More »
Michael Sangiacomo
Sal Coniglio
On December 31st, 2020, Michael Sangiacomo retired after working for Recology for 37 years. He spent 30 years as the CEO, one of the longest tenures at that position across the industry. Sal Coniglio, who was appointed to the position of chief operating officer in June of 2020, will take over as CEO. The news of this role transfer comes months after Paul Giusti allegedly was involved with influencing a San Francisco official to receive better contracts for the company. Recology maintains that the two events are unrelated and that Sangiacomo had long planned to retire after his long and distinguished tenure as the CEO...Read More »
New Study finds Electronic Waste on Decline
According to a study conducted by the Yale School of the Environment's Center for Industrial Ecology, published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, the overall mass of electronic waste generated in the US has fallen since 2015. This is due in large part to the phasing out of older, larger cathode ray-tube TVs and computer monitors...Read More »
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