Azeez Mohammed is no longer president and CEO of Reworld, the company confirmed to Waste Dive.
Howard Lance, who is currently chairman of the company’s board, has been appointed president and CEO effective immediately.
In a statement, Reworld said Azeez will stay on as a senior advisor to both Reworld and investor EQT Infrastructure “to help ensure a smooth transition.
Mohammed came to the company as part of EQT Infrastructure’s $5.3 billion takeover in 2021. The transaction took the company, then known as Covanta, off the public markets. It included unique requirements, including sustainability-based targets. More recently, EQT sold a 25% stake in the business to sovereign wealth fund GIC.
In the five years since the EQT acquisition, the company has rebranded and worked to expand additional business lines. Reworld has grown its portfolio from roughly 50 to 100 facilities, Mohammed said at the Waste Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., on June 10. In its 2025 sustainability report, Reworld tallied 33 thermomechanical treatment facilities, 45 material processing facilities, 14 transfer stations and 2,600 vehicles.
The company has increasingly been courting industrial waste, by looking to integrate more of it into existing incineration facilities where allowable and also by building out its network of material processing facilities. Those facilities are designed to process non-hazardous waste and wastewater, including through solidification and alternative engineered fuel creation.
Today, Reworld considers itself the largest MSW incinerator operator and the third largest wastewater treatment provider in the United States. Throughout this growth, Mohammed said EQT has been supportive of Reworld’s strategy.
"EQT has been a great partner ... They enthusiastically supported me with over a billion dollars’ worth of investment,” he said at the summit, describing “an unconstrained view of capital” and a focus on growth.
The company has faced pressure to close some of its facilities, particularly some it has operated for decades. Lawmakers and local residents continue to call for the closure of Delaware Valley facility outside of Philadelphia. The company has also exited operating contracts at facilities it described as less profitable, including in Long Beach and Stanislaus County, California, and closed another site in Marion County, Oregon.
In Miami-Dade County, Florida, a 2023 fire at a Reworld-run facility prompted intense scrutiny and a lawsuit. The county is seeking more than $750 million in damages, accusing the company of failing to address fire safety deficiences.
Despite those setbacks, Mohammed said the company has improved its engagement with the communities it serves in recent years, leading to better outcomes.
“Science is on our side, and we've been able to tell that story pretty aggressively. As a result, we have seen permits coming faster, much faster than what it used to be in the past,” he said at the summit.
The company has also made more than 10 acquisitions under EQT. It acquired Circon Holdings from Kinderhook, another private equity firm, in 2023. This year, it acquired Clean & Green Recycling and two related companies in Lindenhurst, New York, which would provide material processing services in the same region as four other Reworld sites.
The company also continues to be opportunistic in building or modifying its facilities. It plans to complete its expansion of the Pasco County Resource Recovery Facility in Florida next year, Mohammed said in June. That expansion adds 515 tons of daily capacity.
The company has received mixed reviews on its financial performance as of late. In June, S&P Global revised down its credit outlook for the company from stable to negative, citing “a weaker-than-expected 2025 and headwinds in first-quarter 2026.” S&P projected the company could generate $595 million to $615 million in earnings before interest, taxes, deprecitation and amortization this year, roughly in line with last year.
Reworld had reportedly been consdering an IPO within the past year, but sources say those plans have not advanced.
