Independent waste operators object to Veolia and Suez merger

The trade body for independent waste operators has raised objections over the potential merger of Veolia and Suez.

The United Resources Operators Consortium Limited (UROC) has raised objections to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over the possible merger of Veolia and Suez.

The trade body for independent waste and recycling operators say that they have received representations from memberships raising serious concerns about the impact of the proposals on substantially lessening competition within the UK market. They conclude that if these concerns play out, independent operators may be forced out of the market, leading to price hikes.

UROC refer to complex waste management contracts procured by UK local authorities, and claim that this merger will increase price leveraging against competitors, which will stifle competition.

The trade body also says that Veolia and Suez dominate the UK’s non-hazardous municipal waste services, and that this merger would extinguish opportunities for smaller operators.

UROC says that although the market for the supply of non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste collection services is currently buoyant, the combined resources of these two waste companies would surely result in pushing out other organisations.

UROC's objections in full