Waste Management Building New Single-Stream Facility in AZ
Waste Management Inc. announced that it has broken ground on a new 65,000-square-foot single-stream materials recovery facility in Surprise, Arizona. The enormous facility will be capable of processing 150,000 tons of recyclables per year and employ state-of-the-art recycling technology, including optical scanners, automated sorting, screens and magnets. Dan Vermeer, area vice president for Waste Management said that the facility will process material collected from residential and commercial recycling programs in the Phoenix metropolitan area and northern Arizona. The company currently operates 33 single-stream plants across the country...Read More »
Valero Energy Invests in Waste-to-Fuel Company
Texas-based oil refiner Valero Energy Corp. has recently become the lead investor in waste-to-energy developer Terrabon LLC, a company that is developing and testing a technology to create gasoline from waste and biomass. Terrebon said it intends to use the funds to accelerate commercial deployment of its MixAlco technology which involves an acid fermentation process to convert biomass materials such as municipal solid waste into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Last month Valero became the largest player in ethanol ownership with its $477 million purchase of seven VeraSun Energy plants...Read More »
The NRC Says it Can't Prohibit Foreign Waste
In response to Congressional inquiry regarding EnergySolutions plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy's shuttered nuclear-power program, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it lacks the authority to prevent waste from being imported into the United States. According to the Associated Press, the NRC wrote to Reps. Jim Matheson (D-UT) and Bart Gordon (D-TN) that the Atomic Energy Act does not distinguish between domestic and foreign waste, provided that it is handled safely and that there is a willing recipient. The two are sponsoring a bill that would ban the import of foreign radioactive waste unless it originated in this country or was needed for a strategic national purpose...Read More »
Veolia Solid Waste Names New CFO
Veolia ES Solid Waste, the solid waste division of Veolia Environmental Services (VESNA) has appointed Ray Bruckert Vice President and CFO effective April 1. He also serves as treasurer of VESNA, where he coordinates tax functions for the parent company. "Ray Bruckert has been a great asset and resource to our company for many years," said Richard Burke, president and CEO of Veolia ES Solid Waste, in a press release. "He has steered the company through countless acquisitions, demonstrating an innate competency in and knowledge of detailed financial issues. His leadership skills will serve him well in this new role." Bruckert joined the company in 1996...Read More »
Waste Industry Worried About California Landfill-GHG Rule
Waste industry officials in California are urging the state's Air Resources Board (CARB) to ease requirements or at least delay significant changes to their proposed climate change regulation requiring improved methane-capture rates at landfills. The industry is concerned the rule will mandate significant and expensive changes to methane monitoring without enough time to make these adjustments effectively. They contend that a proposal to reduce an existing 50-parts-per-million (ppm) surface standard at landfills to 25 ppm is too drastic of a reduction, especially because there is little understanding about the impacts of such a move. Moreover, the expense may not be justified at some projects which may have to revert to flaring the landfill gas instead...Read More »
TVA Girding for Immunity From Lawsuits Over Ash Spills
Following the December 22 spill at its Kingston, Tennessee site in which more than 1.1 billion gallons of ash sludge leaked onto nearby rural farmland and the Emory River, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is in federal court seeking immunity. According to the Chattanooga Times, attorneys for the TVA agreed to an April 17 deadline to file a motion to dismiss all of the cases in their entirety based on TVA's claim of "discretionary function" immunity as a federal entity. Meanwhile, the TVA has spent $20 million quietly purchasing more than 70 properties collectively representing 225 acres adjacent to the plant where the spill occurred...Read More »
BFI Canada to Announce First Quarter Results on April 30
BFI Canada plans to announce first quarter financial results on April 30 prior to its annual shareholder meeting and will host a conference call the following day at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern) to discuss them...Read More »
Waste Services, Inc. to Release First Quarter on April 21
Waste Services, Inc. will release its first quarter results after the close of markets on Tuesday, April 21 and hold a conference call the next day at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern)...Read More »
Sign up to receive our free Weekly News Bulletin