Veolia Environmental Services North America: Leaders in Environmental Solutions

When it comes to environmental services, there is perhaps no name better known throughout the global industry than Veolia Environmental Services (Veolia ES), even though the name has only been around for seven years. The worldwide reference company for waste management and resource recovery, Veolia ES is the public face of Veolia Environnement, a global company based in Paris that has a history reaching back to the mid-1850s at the dawn of the industrial era and the start of urban development. It was only in 2005, however, that Veolia Environnement rebranded its consolidated services under the Veolia ES umbrella. Despite the name change, the company stays true to a rich heritage of safety, service and environmental stewardship.

The company as a whole is a world market leader in delivering sustainable environmental solutions in the complementary areas of water supply and management, waste services, energy management and transport services. Veolia ES is the only single operator with solid, liquid, nonhazardous and hazardous waste capabilities. And Veolia ES is committed to meeting society’s needs now and well into the future.

The company is constantly researching and developing technologies and innovations for its clients, as well as launching humanitarian efforts. For example, after the devastating earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, Veolia Environnement’s charitable foundation deployed a team of scientists, engineers, volunteers and equipment to the country to produce and supply potable water to hundreds of thousands of people.

A Comprehensive Resource for Municipal, Commercial and Industrial Clients

Veolia Environnement employs over 300,000 people in 77 countries around the world and grosses over $46 billion annually, acting as the 33rd largest corporate employer worldwide. Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Veolia Environmental Services North America (VESNA) offers fully integrated environmental solutions to the governmental, enterprise, small business and residential sectors.

The company’s core strength is its ability to deliver integrated services to customers who require a broad spectrum of environmental services, including the collection, treatment and recycling of hazardous and solid wastes, as well as comprehensive industrial maintenance and cleaning services. Industrial and enterprise customers especially benefit from partnering with Veolia to manage their broad environmental needs in an efficient, compliant and sustainable manner. VESNA performs its robust service offering through three complementary groups; Veolia ES Solid Waste, Veolia ES Technical Solutions and Veolia ES Industrial Services.

Today VESNA has over 300 locations and employs around 10,000 innovators. Richard Burke, president and CEO for VESNA, outlines what he believes is the company’s biggest strength as follows: “The diversity of our services allows us to offer full integrated solutions for our customers. We eliminate the need to carry multiple contracts with different vendors.”

In the United States VESNA offers its turnkey services to every sector in the industry, and Tim Wood, vice president of sales and marketing for Veolia ES Industrial Services, provides the following example of a large-scale project (the kind no average company could helm): “For the last couple of years we’ve been working with the U.S. Army’s chemical engineers to process thousands of 1-ton containers that have been contaminated with mercury and arsenic. We recycle them and were able reclaim the mercury and have currently recycled millions of pounds of steel.”

Wood sees a lot of future activity developing in the refining industry, particularly providing vacuum truck services for recycling and waste minimization in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. VESNA continually works to share knowledge of best practices and emerging technologies throughout its jobs.

Cost-effective Solutions that Competitors Can’t Match

VESNA also recently worked with a large electric producer in Oregon to abate asbestos and mercury levels that were exceeding safe levels. The challenge to VESNA was that the electric producer wanted to remain fully operational during the abatement and cleanup. VESNA’s hazardous materials and industrial clean-up operating units partnered to come with a personalized solution for the producer. Veolia devised a clear plan and successfully worked over 10,000 hours without a safety violation in confined spaces and energized components.

Kevin Shaver, Veolia’s project manager, was quoted as saying the following in response to the successful completion of the project: “Five Veolia locations with expertise in mercury abatement and recovery operations collaborated on one integrated project. We were able to collectively use the individual strengths of the Veolia personnel to provide a cost-effective solution to the customer. We demonstrated a unified team and level of expertise that none of our competition can offer.”

Anchoring all services is safety – the most important part of the VESNA daily culture, as it should be for a company that routinely handles hazardous material. Company employees wear wristbands, t-shirts, caps and display posters safety slogans on jobsites. The company is a participant in Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program, and is a participant in numerous safety initiatives including Responsible Recycling and International Organization for Standardization. Thirteen Veolia facilities have achieved certification or self-certification and six more locations are in the certification process.

“Nothing is more important than safety,” Burke has been quoted as saying. “It’s not an option for me; it’s not an option for the company. There are no shortcuts when it comes to the safety of our employees and in following safe work practices at our customers’ facilities. Veolia will always invest a significant amount of time and financial resources on safety training. Ultimately, however, I firmly believe that safety is not a department or a program; it’s a culture. Working safe is a personal responsibility for every Veolia Environmental Services employee.”

Reinforcing VESNA’s capabilities are advanced, ecologically minded technologies. The company has DryAsh, an advanced ash pond solutions for coal-fired power plants; it employs a waste collection fleet powered by compressed natural gas (CNG); it offers a prepaid mail-back recycling program for businesses and consumers looking for an easy, affordable and compliant recycling solutions for lamps, batteries and e-waste; and it uses the Gator, proprietary technology for tank cleaning that makes manned entry a thing of the past. These are just a few of the most recent solutions.

Although the Veolia Environmental Services names might be fairly new, the companies’ practices and procedures have been honed over the past 150 years, making it clear why Veolia Environnement is a global leader in adapting to the world’s ever-changing environmental needs. Led by its informed, conscientious management, Veolia Environmental Services North American will continue being equally trusted throughout the urban expansion in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean to deliver value-added services that protect people and improve the environment.