Weekly News Bulletin: Mar. 17-23, 2021
GFL Acquires Terrapure Environmental
GFL Environmental Inc. (Vaughan, ON) is buying environmental services company Terrapure Environmental Ltd. (Burlington, ON), excluding its battery recycling operations, for C$927.5 million (US$743.3 million). Last year Terrapure earned $365 million serving over 7,000 customers with 1,600 employees supported by a fleet of over 500 collection vehicles. Its industrial and liquid waste management business dovetails well with that of GFL. According to GFL CEO Patrick Dovigi "To be able get assets at this quality and at this price doesn't come along often. This will be as good or better than any deal we've ever done." A particular gem in the deal is Terrapure's large (750,000 ton per year) Stoney Creek industrial landfill near Toronto which recently was granted a 14-year expansion to its permitted capacity...Read More »
Administration and SEC Focus on ESG Could Benefit Waste Companies
With the Biden administration sharply focused on combating climate change, so too are efforts by the SEC to step up scrutiny of how companies report on climate-related risks as part of their reporting on ESG. In addressing what she called "tremendous shift in capital towards ESG and sustainable investment strategies," acting SEC chair Allison Herren Lee said "ESG risks and metrics now underpin many traditional investment analyses on investments of all types." She indicated that voluntary disclosure alone is not adequate...Read More »
Renewed Focus on Landfill Emissions
The newly minted Biden administration is well underway in its push to reduce US greenhouse emissions. Part of those efforts is bringing renewed scrutiny to carbon and methane emissions that originate from landfills.
Landfills are by far the largest emitter within the waste management industry. As trash stews underground, anaerobic bacteria digest the waste and produce both methane and CO2. Methane is widely known to be a much more dangerous greenhouse gas than CO2 and reducing it has become one of the focuses of emissions reduction policy aimed at landfills. However, differing calculations and tools available to both industry and regulators have created difficulties in regulating landfill emissions...Read More »
Recology and San Francisco Reach Settlement
As the San Francisco City Attorney's investigation into corrupt rate changing continues, the city has reached a settlement with Recology to provide restitution for the money taken fraudulently from ratepayers. Recology is to pay $107M, primarily to refund commercial and residential ratepayers.
The City Attorney alleges that in 2017, Mohammed Nuru, the director of the Department of Public Works, was bribed by Recology's Paul Giusti, and possibly others, to agree to raise rates on the contract with Recology. Recology allegedly used inaccurate calculations to receive a 14% rate increase, when they should have received less than a 7% rate increase. The investigation also alleges that Nuru both received and solicited gifts through nonprofits from Recology...Read More »
Michael Regan Sworn in as Head of EPA
Michael Regan has been sworn in as the 16th administrator of the EPA. One of President Biden's most prominent campaign promises was to restore science to the Oval Office and renew the focus of the EPA and administration on tackling climate change...Read More »
USA Hauling Plans $30M Recycling Facility in Berlin
USA Hauling has announced that its subsidiary Murphy Road Recycling has partnered with Van Dyk Recycling Solutions to create a $30M state of the art recycling plant in Berlin.
The plant is designed to improve the purity of recovered material it generates, using optical scanners, robotics and artificial intelligence to achieve this goal. It hopes that the increased purity of the materials will capture a higher price in a market that has struggled since China began cracking down on materials it imports. The site also aims to help recyclers adapt to a waste stream that is changing, in large part due to an influx of cardboard and envelopes due to the rise of Amazon...Read More »
Amp Americas Opens Giant Dairy Waste-to-Fuel Plant
Dairy waste-to-vehicle fuel producer Amp Americas opened its fourth and largest biogas facility producing renewable natural gas (RNG) from dairy waste in Morris, Minn. Amp Americas now boasts dairy RNG production at 12 dairies with over 66,000 cows producing a total of over 10 million gallons of RNG annually. The Morris project captures over 700,000 gallons of manure per day from three different sites, converts it into renewable methane, purifies it into RNG, and compresses it to inject into the pipeline. Houston-based EIV Capital, LLC has partnered with Amp as it builds out its business...Read More »
Plastics Recycler CarbonLite Files for Bankruptcy
CarbonLite, self-proclaimed as the largest producer of food grade recycled plastic, has recently filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The filing covers the company's main facility in Riverside, CA, and other recycling plants in Texas and Pennsylvania that supply major beverage makers like Coca-Cola Co., Nestle Waters North America Inc. and PepsiCo. The company cites issues related to the global pandemic as the primary loss driver...Read More »
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