Waste Connections

Waste Connections is an North American integrated waste services company that provides waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services, primarily of solid waste. It has operations in both the United States and Canada, and has headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas and Vaughan, Ontario. It is the third largest waste management company in North America. Near the end of 2018, the company removed "Inc." from its corporate name. The company is now known simply as "Waste Connections".[1]

Waste Connections
TypePublic
NYSE: WCN
TSX: WCN
IndustryWaste management
Founded1997 in Folsom, California
HeadquartersThe Woodlands, Texas
Vaughan, Ontario
Key people
Ronald J. Mittelstaedt, Executive Chairman
Revenue$4.92 Billion
Number of employees
16,000
SubsidiariesWaste Connections of Canada
R360 Environmental Solutions
Websitewasteconnections.com

History

The company was founded in 1997, by a group of professionals in Washington and Idaho with industry related experience. Waste Connections, Inc. expanded very quickly. Within about a year of its founding the company decided to go public, launching its IPO in May 1998. The company then slowly expanded into California and the western United States. As of 2011, It had operations in 32 of the 50 U.S states. In December 2011, the company announced that it was moving its headquarters from Folsom, CA to The Woodlands, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Chief Executive Officer, Ron Mittelstaedt, cited California's high taxes and dysfunctional legislature as key reasons for the move.[2]

In September 2012, it acquired R360 Environmental Solutions, a Texas waste company specializing in the oil industry.[3] In January 2016, Waste Connections bought Progressive Waste Services of Canada for $2.67 billion.[1] Under the deal, Waste Connections shareholders received 70% of the new company, which moved its tax headquarters to Canada.[1] It later re-branded its Canadian division Waste Connections of Canada. In January 2017, it acquired privately held Illinois waste firm Groot Industries for approximately $400 million.[4]

Operations

Waste Connections's primary business is to provide solid waste collection and disposal services. It most often does this through contracts with municipalities to collect the waste in that municipality, for an agreed-upon rate.[5] It also provides services directly to residential, commercial, or industrial customers. In addition, Waste Connections runs landfills for waste disposal (82 solid waste landfills as of September 2019).[6][7]

In Q3 2017, 67% of revenue was from solid waste collection, 21% from solid waste disposal and transfer, 4% from recycling, 5% from its oil industry waste operations, and 3% from other sources.[6] 16% of revenue was from Canada, with the rest from the United States.[6]

Controversy

In September 2019, the investigative journalism program CBC Marketplace installed trackers into bales of plastic and commissioned three plastics recycling companies to process them: GFL Environmental, Merlin Plastics and Waste Connections Canada. Merlin Plastics shredded and recycled the bales and GFL Environmental incinerated the bales in a waste-to-energy facility. However, the trackers indicated that Waste Connections dumped the plastic bales into a landfill in Richmond and a junkyard in Surrey, British Columbia instead of recycling them. The company responded "There was some miscommunication and the driver took this load to a waste facility."[8]

Corporate structure and leadership

Waste Connections' senior leadership is structured as follows:

  • Ronald J. Mittelstaedt, Executive Chairman
  • Worthing Jackman, CEO and President
  • Darrell W. Chambliss, Executive Vice President and COO

References
  1. "Waste Connections to buy Canada's Progressive Waste for $2.67 billion". Reuters. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  2. "Folsom-based Waste Connections to move headquarters to Texas". McClatchy.
  3. "Waste Connections buying R360". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  4. "Waste Connections to Acquire Groot Industries". Waste360. 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  5. Schlinkmann, Mark. "O'Fallon, Mo., council overrides mayoral veto of waste transfer deal". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  6. "SEC Filings". Waste Connections, Inc. | Investors. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  7. Agrawal, Nina. "Controversial landfill in northern L.A. County to be expanded". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  8. CBC "We asked 3 companies to recycle Canadian plastic and secretly tracked it. Only 1 company recycled the material", September 28, 2019
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