The deal, leveraging an agreement with Casella
Waste Systems, Inc., marks a major step in offering a sustainable,
cost-effective waste solution that complies with the state’s new
biosolids management rules.
Viridi Energy (“Viridi” or “the firm”), a leading renewable
natural gas (RNG) platform, announced today that it has acquired a
legacy biosolids digester plant in Brunswick, Maine, with plans to
transform the site into an industry-leading waste-to-RNG facility.
The facility will generate valuable renewable energy and help power
the local community, offer a sustainable and cost-effective
solution for managing biosolids, and support compliance with local
regulations aimed at mitigating per-and polyfluoroalkyl substance
(PFAS) contamination in the region.
In connection with the acquisition, Casella Waste Systems, Inc.
(Nasdaq: CWST) (“Casella”), a regional solid waste, recycling, and
resource management services company, will manage feedstock
collection and delivery logistics for an estimated 85,000 tons of
biosolids per year collected from a network of wastewater treatment
plants. At Viridi’s overhauled Brunswick facility, the biosolids
will be transformed, via anaerobic digestion, into enough energy to
heat more than 3,000 homes for a year. The facility will also
supply electricity directly to Brunswick Landing, the 3,300-acre
campus featuring more than 1.6 million square feet of commercial,
industrial, and professional office space that is home to both the
Brunswick facility and more than 160 other companies.
“Viridi continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions
that help overcome challenges in both the waste management and
energy sectors, and this project signals the team’s ongoing
emphasis on diversifying our waste feedstocks and expanding our
processing capabilities to meet growing renewable energy needs,”
said Dan Crouse, CEO of Viridi. “We are excited to be working with
Casella, whose established track record in successfully managing
multifaceted waste streams will be pivotal to our success. Casella
has been at the forefront of finding a sustainable solution to this
issue since the law prohibiting land application of biosolids was
enacted and has played a significant role in bringing this vital
piece of infrastructure online.”
In addition to fulfilling growing demand for RNG, this project
will yield numerous environmental benefits across Maine. Once
completed, the facility will offer an innovative solution for
managing waste that complies with Maine’s PFAS regulations while
allowing Casella to once again put the material to a higher and
better use for its customers rather than send it directly to
disposal.
With Maine laws now prohibiting the practice of land-applying
biosolids digestate in agricultural settings because of PFAS
concerns, wastewater treatment facilities are facing the choice
between two less sustainable alternatives: trucking the material
long distances or landfilling it, where it requires stabilization
and takes up large volumes of space – a strategy that is especially
problematic in landfill-constrained Maine.
The anaerobic digestion solution offered at Viridi's Brunswick
facility is expected to reduce the volume of the biosolids by
nearly 90 percent, from 85,000 wet tons down to 10,000 tons once
the material has been digested and dried. Once processed, Casella
will transport this more stable, post-process digestate to landfill
in a form that preserves landfill capacity, lessens the need for
stabilization material, and reduces transportation distances.
“Our agreement with Viridi represents a major step toward
finding a sustainable solution for Maine’s biosolids,” said John W.
Casella, Chairman & CEO of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. “The
need for efficient, responsible biosolids treatment and disposal
solutions has never been more pressing. We are pleased to be
working with Viridi to provide a comprehensive approach for
managing this waste stream in a safe, sustainable, and beneficial
way.”
With the development of this relationship, Viridi and Casella
are providing a sustainable pathway for Maine municipalities to
reduce uncertainties in managing their biosolids. Viridi is
currently conducting siting, permitting, and environmental due
diligence at the Brunswick site. Retrofit construction of the
Brunswick facility is expected to be complete by the second half of
2025, with full operations slated to commence in 2026.
Viridi’s Brunswick acquisition marks the firm’s fourth
high-profile deal announcement in the last year. In March 2023,
Viridi announced its partnership with Marathon County, Wisconsin,
to convert the county’s landfill emissions into clean RNG, equal to
more than three million gallons of gasoline annually. In May 2023,
the firm announced a partnership with Baldwin County, Alabama, to
develop a waste-to-RNG project at that county’s landfill, and in
June 2023, it announced it was partnering with American Organic
Energy to develop one of the largest food waste-to-RNG projects in
the United States.
About Viridi Energy
Viridi Energy is a full-service renewable natural gas investor,
operator, and partner founded by a veteran RNG management team.
With the backing of Warburg Pincus and Green Rock Energy Partners,
the firm’s platform builds, owns, and operates RNG assets with
landfill, dairy, wastewater, and food waste feedstocks across North
America. For more information, please visit www.viridirng.com.
Follow Viridi Energy on LinkedIn.
About Casella
Casella Waste Systems, Inc., headquartered in Rutland, Vermont,
is one of the largest recyclers and most experienced fully
integrated resource management companies in the Eastern United
States. Founded in 1975 as a single truck collection service,
Casella has grown its operations to provide solid waste collection
and disposal, transfer, recycling, and organics services to more
than one million residential, commercial, municipal, institutional,
and industrial customers and provides professional resource
management services to over 10,000 customer locations in more than
40 states.
Casella Safe Harbor Statement
Certain matters discussed in this press release, including, but
not limited to, the statements regarding intentions, beliefs or
current expectations concerning, among other things, the benefits
of the proposed program, are “forward-looking statements” intended
to qualify for the safe harbors from liability established by the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements can generally be identified as such by
the context of the statements, including words such as “believe,”
“expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “may,” “would,” “intend,”
“estimate,” "will," “guidance” and other similar expressions,
whether in the negative or affirmative. These forward-looking
statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts
and projections about the industry and markets in which Casella
operates and management’s beliefs and assumptions. Casella cannot
guarantee that it actually will achieve the benefits disclosed in
the forward-looking statements made. Such forward-looking
statements, and all phases of Casella's operations, involve a
number of risks and uncertainties, any one or more of which could
cause actual results to differ materially from those described in
its forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties
include or relate to, among other things, the following: the
biosolids digester plant in Brunswick, Maine may not be
successfully converted into a waste-to-RNG facility or generate
renewable energy that can be used to power the local community; the
operation of such plant may not be sustainable as a cost-effective
solution for managing biosolids, and such operation may not satisfy
laws and regulations aimed at mitigating per-and polyfluoroalkyl
substance (PFAS) contamination in the region as they may evolve
from time to time.
There are a number of other important risks and uncertainties
that could cause Casella’s actual results to differ materially from
those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These
additional risks and uncertainties include, without limitation,
those detailed in Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in Casella’s most
recently filed Form 10-K and in other filings that Casella may make
with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the future.
Casella undertakes no obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240319046667/en/
Viridi Media: George Spencer BackBay Communications
viridi@backbaycommunications.com Casella Media: Jeff Weld
Director of Communications, Casella jeff.weld@casella.com
802-772-2234 Casella Investors: Charles Wohlhuter Director
of Investor Relations charles.wohlhuter@casella.com
802-772-2230
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