April 1, 2006

1 Min Read
Name of the Game

Bill Wolpin, Editorial Director

THE NATION'S FOURTH LARGEST solid waste management firm, Milwaukee-based Onyx Waste Services, as well as its siblings at Onyx North America, have been renamed Veolia Environmental Services (VES), reflecting the name of its Paris-based corporate owner.

The new VES businesses divisions are Solid Waste, Technical Solutions, Industrial Services and Waste-to-Energy. Collectively, they will continue to provide solid and hazardous waste services to local governments and industrial customers, according to Veolia Environmental President and CEO Michel Gourvennec.

Veolia entered the North American market more than two decades ago with its purchase of Montenay Power and bought the ChemWaste division from Waste Management in the late 1990s, Gourvennec says. That company became Onyx Industrial Services and Onyx Environmental Services. The company added solid waste to its portfolio when it purchased Superior Waste in 1999, which became Onyx Waste Services.

“Today, VES' revenues are $1.6 billion annually, roughly $700 million for solid waste, $400 million for industrial services, $300 million for hazardous waste and $200 million for Montenay,” Gourvennec says.

Parent company Veolia Environnement changed the names of its four divisions late last year. In North America, only Houston-based Veolia Water previously used the family name. Gourvennec says the name change was to “boost Veolia as a bundle of environmental services for cities.” Because of its size and scope of operations, though, Gourvennec says that its North American services also can be sold as part of a multinational contract.

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