Gold Medal Buys Two Waste, Recycling Operations

Waste and recycling firm Gold Medal Services LLC has purchased substantially all the assets of waste hauler Casworth Enterprises Inc. and recycler Blue River Resources LLC for an undisclosed amount.

The Deptford, N.J.-based Gold Medal said that its operating subsidiaries executed the purchase. The company expects the deals to close by the end of June, according to a news release.

Casworth Enterprises, Woodbury, N.J., provides residential and commercial waste collection in southern New Jersey. Gold Medal will move the operations to its Hauling Division in Deptford. Casworth’s principal, Frank Holsworth, and his team will join Gold Medal.

Blue River Resources operates a material recovery facility (MRF) in Wilmington, Del. The MRF processes residential and commercial recyclables and also is permitted to process construction and demolition (C&D) materials. Blue River’s management team and staff also will join Gold Medal.

“We are extremely excited about these two acquisitions,” said Glen Miller, Gold Medal CEO. “Casworth Enterprises grows and expands our hauling operations in New Jersey. The Blue River MRF opens up an expanded market and increases our capacity for recovery of sustainable materials and landfill diversion. The assets and management team of these two companies greatly strengthens our position in the region.”

Gold Medal operates residential, commercial and industrial waste and recycling services in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

Smaller waste and recycling acquisitions have been happening at a steady pace as of late. This month the former management team of Mid America Recycling purchased from Waste Management Inc. its recycling plant in Des Moines, Iowa. In May Red River Waste Solutions LP acquired two waste and recycling haulers in Glenwood, Iowa–Steve Konfrst Trash Service and Mel Konfrst Trash Service. In March Area Disposal Service Inc. bought Captain Hook Inc., an Illinois waste roll-off container business. Also that month, Winter Bros. Waste Systems has purchased the Long Island, N.Y., waste and recycling operations of Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd.

But in her June Waste360 Business Insights column, industry financial analyst Leone Young wrote of her impressions from WasteExpo 2015 that the bigger companies feel that  high seller expectations for valuations on acquisitions is a stumbling block to more deals getting done.