The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently cleared the way for Republic Services to acquire TD*X Associates, a North Carolina-based company specializing in thermal desorption.
The deal would add to Republic Services’ hazardous waste treatment and disposal network, which includes 24 treatment, storage and disposal facilities, 15 deep injection wells, nine industrial wastewater treatment facilities and six active hazardous waste landfills, according to the company’s 2025 annual report published in February.
Republic Services declined to comment, and TDX did not respond to a request for comment. The FTC issued its early termination notice, a document allowing companies to expedite the typical antitrust review process for deals, on May 26.
TD*X was founded by Gregg Meyers, who was named in the FTC's notice. Since 1987, TD*X has developed patented technologies to facilitate the destruction of hazardous wastes contaminated with mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls and other materials, according to its website.
TD*X operates in five locations, with two thermal desorption units in Texas and one in Utah. It employs about 70 people across its TDU sites. The company also runs a hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility in Robstown, Texas, as well as a laboratory in Greenville, South Carolina.
The company says it has processed more than 1 million tons of hazardous waste and PCB-contaminated soil and sludge at its full-scale TDU since 1992, including materials from multiple Superfund cleanup sites. TD*X has also partnered with US Ecology, which Republic Services acquired in 2022.
US Ecology and TD*X were the subjects of a 2012 consent agreement and $788,120 fine issued by U.S. EPA related to hazardous waste disposal in Texas. The agreement noted US Ecology had transferred oil waste to TD*X’s thermal desorption unit in Robstown, where the waste was processed without a proper permit. US Ecology still owns a rail transfer station in Robstown, according to EPA records.
Since Republic Services acquired US Ecology, it has been growing its operations in the environmental services sector. That's included some bumps along the way, with executives acknowledging last year that their pricing strategy caused lower-than-expected returns in the business.
But Republic remains optimistic about its ability to grow in the environmental services space. During the investor summit at the Waste Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., on June 10, Republic Services CEO Jon Vander Ark said the company would choose its targets carefully but remain active in M&A in the space, as it has since the US Ecology deal. Over the next five years, Vander Ark expects about 20% of Republic's acquisition activity to be focused on the space, while the rest would be in the traditional MSW and recycling space.
Republic Services is targeting $1 billion in acquisitions this year overall, with a focus on disposal infrastructure. It acquired two landfills in Kansas to start the year, and acquired Utah hauler Robinson Waste Services in April.
Disclosure: Informa, which owns a controlling stake in Informa TechTarget, the publisher behind Waste Dive, is also the owner of the Waste Leadership Summit. Informa has no influence over Waste Dive’s coverage.
