Gold Medal Group acquires Envirowaste and Commonwealth Commons

Gold Medal Group (GMG), Deptford, New Jersey, announced Aug. 6 that the company and its wholly owned subsidiaries acquired Envirowaste LLC and Commonwealth Commons LLC, two companies that own and operate a fully permitted solid waste management and resource recovery facility located on 4.7 acres in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Kinderhook Industries, New York City, is a private equity firm backing GMG.

Envirowaste is permitted for the processing of 1,000 tons of construction material and municipal solid waste per day. The LEED Certified facility provides construction and demolition recycling services utilizing an automated material sorting and recovery system. The Envirowaste acquisition gives GMG control over a strategically located disposal asset in the Philadelphia market, where the company currently collects approximately 150,000 tons of waste per year. The Envirowaste facility has direct rail service with Conrail, Philadelphia, to enable efficient and more environmentally friendly transportation of outbound materials that cannot be recovered or recycled to landfill destinations in the Northeast.

As part of the acquisition, GMG acquired an option to purchase 4.5 acres of adjacent property to support the potential expansion of the facility. GMG sees a future opportunity to transform the entire site into an ecopark for the city of Philadelphia through the addition of expanded recycling operations and other sustainable services.

GMG is also having preliminary discussions with BioHiTech Global Inc., Chestnut Ridge, New York, to explore the possibility of co-developing a High Efficiency Biological Treatment (HEBioT) renewable waste facility at the site. BioHiTech controls the exclusive U.S. development rights for this patented HEBioT solid waste processing technology in 11 northeastern states and the District of Columbia.

"We are excited about the expansion of our operations in the Philadelphia market through the acquisition of Envirowaste," Mike Schmidt, executive vice president of GMG, says. "This acquisition not only provides us with a better ability to service our growing customer base in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, but it also serves to demonstrate our commitment to building more sustainable operations. Our option to acquire additional property at the site also gives us the ability create a future ecopark hub in the city, and we look forward to exploring that possibility with our partners at Kinderhook and BioHiTech, as well as the city of Philadelphia."

"We are pleased to have assisted Gold Medal in strengthening its operations through the acquisition of Envirowaste," Rob Michalik, managing director at Kinderhook, says. "Envirowaste represents a highly strategic acquisition for Gold Medal's expansion plans in the Philadelphia area and provides a unique platform opportunity for sustainable waste management within one of the largest cities in the country. We are committed to supporting Gold Medal's regional expansion efforts and look forward to helping the company build value through more sustainable waste management services in the coming years."