Canada Fibers acquires HGC Management

Above: Employees at Canada Fibers Ltd.'s 130 Arrow Rd. MRF in Toronto. 

Toronto-headquartered Canada Fibers Ltd. (CFL), a leading provider of material recovery and recycling services, has announced its plan to acquire the issued and outstanding common shares of HGC Management Inc. (HGC), Brantford, Ontario. CFL says HGC’s goal of helping municipal and commercial customers efficiently and sustainably divert valuable materials from landfill aligns with its own. The company says it expects to complete the transaction within 60 days.

HGC operates seven material recovery facilities (MRFs) within the province of Ontario in the cities of Brantford, Belleville, Cornwall, Peterborough, Simcoe and Trenton. Together, these MRFs sort a significant portion of Blue Box materials within Ontario. In addition, HGC has 75 trucks on the road collecting recyclables and mixed waste from homeowners.

The acquisition will significantly increase CFL's MRF footprint within Ontario, adding coverage in the eastern and western reaches of the province, the company says. Further, the curbside collection capabilities of HGC will serve to increase CFL's understanding of recycling opportunities at the source.

"This acquisition will enable us to provide provincewide sorting services for our expanding commercial and municipal customer bases, which is increasingly important as customers look for greater uniformity and efficiency from their recycling programs," says Mark Badger of CFL. “It will provide us with more recovered material for our downstream operations, which recycle recovered materials into consumer and industrial products."

CFL operates three recycling companies under the Urban Resource Group banner, producing plastic materials for applications that include packaging, architectural wooden garden mulch and high-energy wooden fuel pellets sold through leading big box stores.

Joe Miranda, co-founder of CFL, says, "Mining valuable resources from waste is increasingly important to all stakeholders, and we will continue to expand our capabilities in response to this trend.”

He adds, “In recent years, several consumer packaged goods manufacturers have set aggressive, commendable waste reduction targets. We are here to help them reach their goals."

Herb Lambacher, the founder of HGC, says, "The combined MRF footprint of the organizations will enable provincewide programs for customers seeking enhanced efficiency and sustainability."

He says he "looks forward to working with CFL to advance sorting technologies."

The combined organization will strive to increase recovery of materials from commercial sources during the first phase of integration.

Lambacher, a professional engineer with more than 40 years of experience in the recovery and recycling industries, will continue to lead legacy HGC operations postacquisition and will help with integration and expansion of collective MRF operations.

Regarding the continued role of Lambacher in the company’s operations, Badger says CFL is "fortunate to have someone as skilled and respected as Herb join the leadership team."