Waste industries USA finalizes privatization

Sat, 10 May 2008 00:14:11 +0100

Shareholders of Waste Industries USA, Raleigh, N.C., have approved the company�s privatization transaction for $38 per share. The transaction is expected to be complete today. The company�s shares were de-listed from the Nasdaq exchange before trading opened today. The transaction involves a merger agreement with an investment group led by Lonnie Poole Jr., the company's founder and chairman; Jim Perry, the company's president and CEO; and financial partners Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and Goldman Sachs. On Dec. 18, 2007, the company announced it had accepted the group�s $544 million total offer, an increase from the original $36.75 offer. However, the next day, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Superior Court of Wake County, N.C., alleging that the original sale price was unfair and that the company's board of directors breached their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. The suit was later withdrawn

Member states aiming to weaken waste targets

Sat, 10 May 2008 00:11:41 +0100

National governments are set for a confrontation with MEPs after rejecting their calls to include ambitious waste prevention and recycling targets in an ongoing revision of the EU's waste management rules. In its second reading vote last month the European parliament's environment committee reinstated amendments on prevention and recycling that were rejected by the council of ministers during the first reading of the law. MEPs called on member states to stabilise waste production at 2009 levels by 2012, and said half of all household waste and 70 per cent of construction, demolition, industrial and manufacturing waste should be recycled by 2020. Rapporteur Caroline Jackson said the council would have to agree to the targets in exchange for the parliament's support for reclassifying waste-to-energy incineration as a recovery operation. But a document outlining the council's position ahead of negotiations with parliament reveals that governments are attempting to significantly weaken the proposed targets. In the paper, the council rejects the parliament's proposed 2012 waste stabilisation target, and instead calls on the European commission to consider setting "qualitative waste prevention objectives for 2020". On recycling, governments call for 40 per cent of paper, metal, plastic and glass waste from "households or other origins" to be recycled by 2020. This wording suggests that recycled industrial and manufacturing waste could count towards the target, and is therefore significantly weaker that the separate household and commercial waste targets adopted by MEPs. Sources close to the council working group that drew up the document say its intention was to frame the targets in a way that avoids going beyond existing obligations under EU waste legislation, for example on packaging. An earlier draft of the document specified a 50 per cent recycling target, but this was watered-down by senior diplomats, ENDS understands. The council is also seeking to downgrade a proposed five-step EU waste hierarchy to a "guiding principle", instead of the environment committee's preferred "general rule". Governments also want to reinstate provisions on waste by-products deleted by the committee at second reading. A first informal meeting between Ms Jackson, council officials and the commission was held on Monday at which government representatives "expressed their concerns over the targets". Afterwards Ms Jackson told ENDS that the parliament was "disappointed" by the council's position, and said she intends to "pursue the 50 and 70 per cent recycling targets". The parliament has commissioned an impact assessment to determine the feasibility of meeting its proposed prevention and recycling targets. The report should be finalised before negotiations on reaching a second-reading agreement on the revision begin later this month. [b]Follow-up[/b]: [url=http://www.consilium.europa.eu/]EU council of ministers[/url] | [url=http://www.consilium.europa.eu/" href="http://www.consilium.europa.eu/">EU council of ministers, tel: +32 2 281 6111, plus