Veolia Steps up Hazardous Waste Business in North America

Veolia, through its subsidiary Veolia North America, announced it has signed an agreement to take over Alcoa USA Corporation’s Hazardous Waste Treatment Site located in Gum Springs, Ark. With this operation, Veolia continues the global expansion of its hazardous waste treatment and recycling activity, with a step further in North America, and adds a flagship site to its existing portfolio.

The facility, located on a 1,350-acre site, currently employs 73 people. The Gum Springs facility has traditionally treated spent pot liner, a hazardous waste byproduct of the aluminum production process, for the North American smelter industry. As part of its global growth strategy in difficult-to-treat pollutions, Veolia will be looking at expanding the type of waste, as well as volume, handled at the site, as it is already permitted for the treatment and final disposal of nearly all categories of liquid and solid hazardous waste. While remaining a key service provider to Alcoa through a multiyear dedicated agreement, the facility will also be expanding its services to customers throughout North America, according to Veolia.

Veolia is a global leader in hazardous waste treatment, from collection, to disposal, to circular recycling and reuse. Veolia treats and recycles around 6 million tons of hazardous waste and employs 8,000 who operate a comprehensive network of more than 140 facilities on five continents.

In North America, Veolia’s hazardous waste operations support industries from pharmaceutical to petrochemical and other generators ranging from defense, healthcare and universities to households. The company operates four major incineration facilities on two sites in Texas and Illinois.

“The integration of this facility and its disposal site into Veolia’s North American network will significantly increase the company’s North American treatment capacities and contribute to Veolia’s ambition of developing state-of-the-art solutions to protect the environment,” said Veolia in a statement.

This transaction is valued at $250 million and closing is expected in the first quarter of 2020.