Dive Brief:
- Arcwood Environmental announced its third acquisition in six months: buying Virginia-based MXI Environmental Services/Dynamic Recycling. The company nets Arcwood an enhanced footprint in the mid-Atlantic region and additional capabilities around latex paint and solvent recycling.
- Last year, Arcwood acquired New York-based Innovative Recycling Technologies and Michigan-based ERG Environmental Group. Together, the acquisitions have helped expand Arcwood's geographic footprint beyond its Midwest origins.
- Arcwood CEO HP Nanda said the acquisitions are part of the company's broader plan to become a truly national provider for hazardous waste services. He noted the additional technologies gained from companies like MXI will be rolled out to other regions over time.
Dive Insight:
Arcwood Environmental, backed by EQT Infrastructure, rebranded from Heritage Environmental last year. Since then, it's been growing through investments both in its own assets and M&A.
The MXI acquisition adds more than 150 employees to Arcwood. MXI operated facilities and services under three entities: a MRF as MXI Environmental Services; two facilities focused on ethanol recycling as Dynamic Recycling; and a hazardous waste trucking company as Maumee Express.
The company began as a drayage provider in the New York commercial zone in 1960 before expanding to its present size and service offerings. Federal data shows Maumee Express owns more than 60 vehicles. Arcwood's total fleet now includes more than 2,000 vehicles, according to Nanda.
He said Arcwood is also eager to incorporate MXI's household hazardous waste business, which includes both community collection events and permanent drop-off programs.
Arcwood plans to grow those household hazardous waste services into a nationwide platform. The business currently constitutes a “single-digit percentage” of Arcwood’s overall revenue, but that could change over time, according to Nanda.
He noted that MXI and ERG, which also collected such material at locations in Michigan and Ohio, can handle household hazardous waste "probably way better than Arcwood." He said Arcwood is willing to learn from its freshly acquired companies, and that has reassured sellers during the transaction process.
"It is not about expecting them to do everything the Arcwood way," Nanda said. "Many times, it is about learning what they do well, and we could learn from them and really amplify that for the entire company."
The company continues to invest in growing its existing assets as well, such as by hiring more people and expanding capabilities at facilities like the Joplin, Missouri, energetic waste disposal facility it acquired in 2024. Nanda said many of the intially planned improvements there, as well as at other facilities in Texas and Ohio, are complete, but the company is constantly looking to innovate. Arcwood is now focused on bringing online expanded capacity at its aerosol processing facility in Benton, Arkansas, Nanda said.
Nanda believes there are opportunities for acquisitions of a similar size moving forward, since the hazardous waste industry remains fragmented. As the company works to expand its footprint, it's particularly focused on regions like the West, Mountain West and Gulf Coast.
