Covanta acquires two New Jersey transfer stations

Pictured from left, front row: Yarmouth Assistant Town Administrator P. Johnson-Staub; Covanta Vice President  S. Diaz; President and COO Mass Coastal Railroad P. C. Podgurski. Back row: Municipal Bundled Services Sales Manager T. Cipolla; Covanta's M. Ruder; Yarmouth Assistant Director of Public Works R. Angell; Massachusetts Coastal Railroad General Manager E. Ciborowski; General Manager for ECovanta J. Moffitt

Covanta Holding Corp., Morristown, N.J., has acquired two transfer stations in New Jersey from Advanced Disposal, Ponte Vedra, Fla. Combined, the stations are permitted to accept 2,500 tons per day of municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste and recyclables. The facilities are located in Paterson and Totowa. Covanta now owns or operates 15 transfer stations in the United States.

"This is an attractive acquisition that provides increased stability and flexibility of fuel supply to our energy-from-waste facilities in the region," says Derek Veenhof, Covanta Waste Solutions’ executive vice president. "The transfer stations will also allow us to provide an array of sustainable waste management services to customers in an important market."

The company also has announced that its Covanta SEMASS LP subsidiary has signed a waste management deal with Yarmouth, Mass., for bundled sustainable waste management services as well as the operation of Yarmouth’s transfer station.

Covanta will provide disposal of the town's 10,000 tons of municipal solid waste at Covanta SEMASS’ energy-from-waste facility in Rochester, Mass. Additionally, the facility will handle the recycling, electronic scrap recycling, organics and composting, secured destruction of prescription medication and bulky waste disposal for southeastern Massachusetts. The agreement is slated to begin Feb. 1, 2014, with the contract running for 10 years with mutual extension options after the initial term.

As part of the agreement, Covanta also will assume control of Yarmouth’s transfer station, which provides municipal and commercial customers with access to rail transport of solid waste from throughout the area to SEMASS’ Rochester facility. The station will continue to accept recyclable material with Covanta assisting municipal and commercial customers with opportunities to increase recycling through bundled services offerings.

“These agreements represent a continuation and expansion of what has been a mutually beneficial public-private partnership between the town of Yarmouth and Covanta SEMASS,” says William Hinchey, Yarmouth town administrator. “The town benefits financially by securing a reasonable price for transportation and disposal of solid waste and by reducing solid waste through expanded recycling initiatives including e-waste and organics.”

Solid waste delivered to the transfer station will be processed and shipped by Mass Coastal Railroad to Covanta SEMASS’s Rochester facility. A 10-year agreement between Covanta and Mass Coastal will provide new opportunities to increase rail utilization for waste and recyclables.

“Mass Coastal is pleased to work with Covanta and the Cape Cod Communities to provide dependable and energy efficient transportation of waste from the Cape to the SEMASS Facility,” says Christopher Podgurski, president and COO for Massachusetts Coastal Railroad. “One of the most obvious benefits of our 'Energy Train Service' is avoiding over 10,000 truck trips along the Route 6 Corridor and the Canal Bridges. We also work in tandem with the MASSDOT Rail Unit and the Army Corps to ensure that the railroad infrastructure remains a viable means of transportation of waste along with other rail-borne commodities.”

Covanta SEMASS processes about 1million tons of municipal solid waste into clean, renewable electricity for approximately 75,000 southeastern Massachusetts homes and recycles nearly 50,000 tons of metals annually.

“Covanta is extremely pleased to be expanding our partnership with the Town of Yarmouth. The Yarmouth Transfer Station provides Cape Cod communities and commercial haulers a convenient location for disposal and recycling and by partnering with Mass Coastal Railroad, we are able to minimize truck traffic on Cape Cod roadways and bridges,” says Stephen Diaz, Covanta Waste Solutions vice president.