Most Active Acquirers of Environmental and Water Services Companies (2026)
The acquirers that announced the most purchases of U.S. and Canadian environmental and water services companies between Nov 1, 2025 and Oct 25, 2026, with every deal linked to its source.
Key findings
- Ecowaste Solutions (pe-backed, backed by Kinderhook Industries) was the most active acquirer, with 12 announced deals.
- We recorded 129 announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian companies by 59 distinct acquirers.
- 28 acquirers announced two or more deals; together they account for 76% of the deals recorded.
- Private equity-backed acquirers made 50% of the deals.
- 129
- Announced acquisitions recorded
- 59
- Distinct acquirers
- 28
- Acquirers with two or more deals
- 50%
- Of deals made by PE-backed acquirers
Scope. Solid waste collection and recycling, hazardous and industrial waste, liquid waste and septic services, remediation and environmental consulting, water and wastewater treatment and operations services, and investor-owned water systems. Purchases of municipal systems are excluded.
Coverage. Purchases of municipal water and wastewater systems are excluded. The large public waste companies disclose many tuck-in acquisitions only in aggregate on earnings calls, so their counts understate their activity.
The ranking
| Rank | Acquirer | Ownership | Deals | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ecowaste Solutions | PE-backedKinderhook Industries | 12 | Sep 21, 2026 |
| 2 | Verdantas | PE-backedSterling Investment Partners | 9 | Oct 8, 2026 |
| 3 | GFL Environmental | Public company | 6 | Aug 11, 2026 |
| 4 | Casella Waste Systems | Public company | 5 | Sep 4, 2026 |
| 4 | Republic Services | Public company | 5 | Aug 11, 2026 |
| 6 | Meridian Waste | PE-backedWarren Equity Partners | 4 | Oct 6, 2026 |
| 6 | Clean Harbors | Public company | 4 | Aug 12, 2026 |
| 6 | Environmental 360 Solutions (E360S) | PE-backedBlackRock Alternatives | 4 | Jul 13, 2026 |
| 6 | Apex Companies | Private strategic | 4 | Mar 17, 2026 |
| 10 | Blue Castle Waste Solutions | PE-backedBlue Sage Capital | 3 | Sep 30, 2026 |
| 10 | Vanguard Renewables | PE-backedBlackRock | 3 | Sep 21, 2026 |
| 10 | Integrated Water Services (IWS) | PE-backedSciens Water | 3 | Aug 11, 2026 |
| 10 | Arcwood Environmental | PE-backedEQT Infrastructure | 3 | Aug 5, 2026 |
| 10 | G.W. Shaw & Son | Private strategic | 3 | Apr 17, 2026 |
| 10 | Miller Environmental Group | PE-backedCoalesce Capital | 3 | Mar 30, 2026 |
| 10 | Waste Connections | Public company | 3 | Feb 24, 2026 |
| 17 | Elevate Recycling & Disposal Services | Private strategic | 2 | Oct 21, 2026 |
| 17 | Rochester Midland Corporation | Private strategic | 2 | Oct 12, 2026 |
| 17 | Circular Services | PE-backedClosed Loop Partners | 2 | Sep 23, 2026 |
| 17 | Triumvirate Environmental | PE-backedBerkshire Partners | 2 | Sep 8, 2026 |
| 17 | EIS Holdings | Private strategic | 2 | Sep 1, 2026 |
| 17 | Liberty Waste Solutions | PE-backedAllied Industrial Partners | 2 | Jun 3, 2026 |
| 17 | American Water | Public company | 2 | Jun 1, 2026 |
| 17 | WM | Public company | 2 | Jun 1, 2026 |
| 17 | Hoffman Sanitation Services | Private strategic | 2 | May 11, 2026 |
Announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian companies, Nov. 1, 2025 to Oct. 25, 2026. Acquirers with equal counts share a rank. Sponsor shown is the private equity owner of the acquirer at the time of its deals, where disclosed.
Top 15 acquirers by number of announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian environmental and water services companies, Nov 1, 2025 to Oct 25, 2026. Source: Laurent Capital Research.
Deals by acquirer
Each deal links to the press release or report it was taken from. Dates are announcement dates.
- 1
Ecowaste Solutions
12 deals | PE-backed, Kinderhook Industries
- Taylor Waste Services | Cairo, GA | residential/commercial/municipal collectionSource: EIN Presswire
- Wilson's Containers | Lake City, FL | industrial container and temporary dumpster serviceSource: EIN Presswire
- Adams Sanitation | FL | residential/municipal waste collection, Florida PanhandleSource: EIN Presswire
- MDI Enterprises solid waste collection and disposal operations (carve-out) | Midland City, AL | commercial/residential/industrial collection, Rosehill transfer station, C&D landfillSource: EIN Presswire
- Fannin County Disposal, Inc. (County Trash Service) | TX | residential and commercial collection, North TexasSource: EIN Presswire
- Hometown Disposal Inc. | Salina, KS | commercial and industrial waste collectionSource: EIN Presswire
- Howie's Enterprises | Manhattan, KS | residential and commercial collection, roll-off, recyclingSource: EIN Presswire
- Gardner Disposal | United States | residential and commercial waste collection, Kansas City metroSource: EIN Presswire
- 2
Verdantas
9 deals | PE-backed, Sterling Investment Partners
- Civilitude Engineers & Planners | Austin, TX | civil engineering, water/wastewater infrastructure, permittingborderline fitSource: Verdantas
- Pax Environmental, Inc. | CA | environmental consulting, permitting, CEQA/NEPA, ecological restorationSource: Verdantas
- Sherwood Design Engineers | San Francisco, CA | water resources, ecological restoration, water/wastewater engineeringborderline fitSource: Verdantas
- Environmental Protection Industries (EPI) | South Holland, IL | environmental consulting, remediation, brownfield redevelopmentSource: Verdantas
- EN-POWER GROUP | New York, NY | building energy efficiency and sustainability engineeringborderline fitSource: Verdantas
- American Engineering & Environmental Consultants (AEEC) | Reston, VA | environmental engineering, remediation, compliance, water data analyticsSource: Verdantas
- Yu & Associates | Elmwood Park, NJ | geotechnical, environmental and civil engineeringborderline fitSource: Verdantas
- PACE Engineers, Inc. | Kirkland, WA | multidisciplinary engineering, surveying, environmental consultingborderline fitSource: Verdantas
- Crawford Environmental Services, LLC | Roanoke, VA | environmental assessment, remediation, hazmat, spill response, stormwater complianceSource: Verdantas
- 3
GFL Environmental
6 deals | Public company
- TOGO Disposal, Inc. | Milwaukee, WI | commercial waste and recycling collectionreport dateSource: PrivSource
- Frontier Waste Solutions | Dallas, TX | collection, transfer, disposal (24 locations, ~665 vehicles)Source: Waste Dive
- LRS Arkansas assets (two hauling yards and C&D landfill) | Mayflower, AR | hauling yards and C&D landfill (asset swap with LRS for Indiana assets)borderline fit, report dateSource: Waste Dive
- 4
Casella Waste Systems
5 deals | Public company
- Waste Reduction, Recycling & Transfer (WRRT) | Hanover Township, PA | collection and transfer station (permit expansion 500 to 1,500 tpd)report dateSource: Waste Dive
- Star Waste Systems | MA | residential/commercial collection, C&D processing and transfer (~$100M annualized revenue)Source: Casella Waste Systems (press release)
- Recycle Depot (curbside collection services) | Poughkeepsie, NY | curbside recycling collectionclosing dateSource: Waste Dive
- Mountain State Waste | WV | residential/commercial collection and disposalclosing dateSource: Waste Dive
- 4
Republic Services
5 deals | Public company
- TD*X Associates (Robstown, TX hazardous waste thermal desorption assets) | Robstown, TX | hazardous waste thermal desorption (mercury, PCB)report dateSource: Waste Dive
- Robinson Waste Services | Layton, UT | residential/commercial collection, MRF, transfer stationreport dateSource: Waste Dive
- Hamm Sanitary Landfill and MRF (Hamm Cos.) | Lawrence, KS | landfill and materials recovery facilityreport dateSource: Waste Dive
- 6
Meridian Waste
4 deals | PE-backed, Warren Equity Partners
- Sutton Disposal Service, LLC | Hannibal, MO | frontload, roll-off and residential collectionSource: Waste360
- 6
Clean Harbors
4 deals | Public company
- EnviroServe | Sandy, UT | environmental services, emergency response, railcar cleaning, transfer sitesSource: Waste Dive
- ES&H | LA | field services, on-water oil spill and emergency response (13 branches in LA and TX)Source: Waste Dive
- Depot Connect International (5-location portion) | United States | tank/railcar cleaning, waste handling and wastewater treatment (OH, LA, TX)report dateSource: Waste Dive
- 6
Environmental 360 Solutions (E360S)
4 deals | PE-backed, BlackRock Alternatives
- Marcotte Disposal Co. | Port Huron, MI | residential/commercial/industrial waste collection, dumpster rentalSource: PR Newswire
- Transco Recycling | Sarnia, ON | recycling/waste services, Greater Sarniareport dateSource: Waste Dive
- Caron's Waste Management & Oilfield Service Inc. (collection assets) | Drumheller, AB | front-end, roll-off and portable toilet servicesreport dateSource: E360S
- Monsieur Vide-Tout Enr. (collection assets) | Chertsey, QC | waste collection assetsreport dateSource: E360S
- 6
Apex Companies
4 deals | Private strategic
- CWE | CA | civil infrastructure, water resources and environmental engineeringborderline fitSource: Apex Companies
- Tully, Inc. (Tully Consulting Group) | CA | stormwater compliance and environmental engineeringSource: Apex Companies
- AquaWorks DBO, Inc. | United States | small modular water/wastewater treatment systems design and deliverySource: Apex Companies
- Forsgren Associates, Inc. | United States | civil and environmental engineering, water/wastewater, surveying (17 offices, 9 western states)borderline fitSource: Apex Companies
- 10
Blue Castle Waste Solutions
3 deals | PE-backed, Blue Sage Capital
- Carter-Miller Trash Service | Moravia, IA | residential/commercial waste collectionreport dateSource: Waste Dive
- Lee's Sanitation | Thief River Falls, MN | residential/commercial waste collectionreport dateSource: Waste Dive
- Bridge City and Commercial Sanitation | Ottumwa, IA | residential/commercial waste collectionreport dateSource: Waste Dive
- 10
Vanguard Renewables
3 deals | PE-backed, BlackRock
- Generate Upcycle North America anaerobic digesters (5 facilities) | United States | food-waste anaerobic digesters/RNGborderline fit, report dateSource: Waste Dive
- E-Z Recycling | St. Paul, MN | depackaging and food and beverage waste recyclingreport dateSource: PrivSource
- Complete Beverage Destruction (CBD) | Dade City, FL | beverage waste recycling / liquids processing facilitySource: Waste360
- 10
Integrated Water Services (IWS)
3 deals | PE-backed, Sciens Water
- Advanced Equipment and Services, Inc. (AESINC) | Houston, TX | reverse osmosis system builder (desalination, brackish, high purity)borderline fitSource: PR Newswire
- Tetrasolv (Tetrasolv Filtration) | Anderson, IN | water treatment rental systems, filtration media service and field supportSource: PR Newswire
- Complete Filtration Resources | United States | process filtration and industrial wastewater treatment systemsborderline fitSource: PR Newswire
- 10
Arcwood Environmental
3 deals | PE-backed, EQT Infrastructure
- Environmental Management Services, Inc. (EMSI) | Rockville, MD | hazardous and regulated medical waste management, emergency responseborderline fitSource: PR Newswire
- Safeway Industrial Services and Safeway Environmental Services | AL | hazardous/non-hazardous waste transportation, tank cleaning, field and emergency response servicesborderline fitSource: PR Newswire
- MXI Environmental Services / Dynamic Recycling | VA | hazardous and non-hazardous waste management, solvent/paint recycling, hazardous waste truckingborderline fitSource: PR Newswire
- 10
G.W. Shaw & Son
3 deals | Private strategic
- Greenville Recycling | Greenville, NH | concrete recycling facilityborderline fit, report dateSource: Waste Dive
- Sullivan and Son Disposal (select residential and commercial accounts) | MA | residential/commercial collection accounts, Stow, Boxborough, Fitchburg areareport dateSource: Waste Dive
- 10
Miller Environmental Group
3 deals | PE-backed, Coalesce Capital
- Haz-Mat Environmental Services | Charlotte, NC | industrial and waste treatment and disposal servicesSource: Waste360
- ACE Environmental Services | United States | environmental services (commercial, industrial, marine, residential), Mid-AtlanticSource: Waste360
- 10
Waste Connections
3 deals | Public company
- DTG Recycle assets (Pierce County / Tacoma) | Tacoma, WA | C&D recycling facility and related sitesreport dateSource: Waste Dive
- American Recycling (Queens transfer station) | Jamaica, Queens, NY | transfer station (570 tpd permitted)report dateSource: Waste Dive
- Florida Express Environmental | Ocala, FL | residential/commercial collection, C&D landfill, recycling (Marion County franchise)report dateSource: Waste Dive
- 17
Elevate Recycling & Disposal Services
2 deals | Private strategic
- Star Valley Disposal Services | Afton, WY | residential and commercial collectionreport dateSource: Waste Today
- 17
Rochester Midland Corporation
2 deals | Private strategic
- ApHinity Technologies | La Habra, CA | water-use reduction and industrial air-emissions treatment technologiesborderline fitSource: PR Newswire
- ClarityChem (ClarityChem Inc., Chemasters LLC, Chematrix LLC) | Depew, NY | custom water treatment chemicals and services (boiler, cooling, wastewater)borderline fitSource: PR Newswire
- 17
Circular Services
2 deals | PE-backed, Closed Loop Partners
- Re:Dish | New York, NY | reusable containers and dishware serviceborderline fit, report dateSource: Waste Dive
- 17
Triumvirate Environmental
2 deals | PE-backed, Berkshire Partners
- Nuclear Source and Services (NSSI) radioactive/mixed waste TSD facility | Houston, TX | radioactive and mixed hazardous waste treatment/storage facilityborderline fit, report dateSource: Waste Dive
- Environmental Waste Minimization LLC (EWMI) | Northampton, PA | waste transport/disposal, remediation, field services, spill responseSource: PR Newswire
- 17
EIS Holdings
2 deals | Private strategic
- Environmental Construction, LLC (ECI) | Tampa, FL | commercial demolition, abatement and environmental remediationreport dateSource: PrivSource
- ARM Environmental Services, LLC | Columbia, SC | storage tank and site rehabilitation, remediationreport dateSource: PrivSource
- 17
Liberty Waste Solutions
2 deals | PE-backed, Allied Industrial Partners
- M&M Garbage Disposal | Asheboro, NC | residential subscription waste collectionreport dateSource: PrivSource
- Randolph County Garbage Services | Asheboro, NC | residential subscription waste collectionreport dateSource: PrivSource
- 17
American Water
2 deals | Public company
- Nexus Water Group regulated water and wastewater systems (8 states, ~47,000 connections) | United States | investor-owned water/wastewater utility systemsclosing dateSource: PR Newswire
- Yerba Buena Water Company | CA | small water system (~250 customers)borderline fit, closing dateSource: PR Newswire
- 17
WM
2 deals | Public company
- HBS Trash Services (residential and commercial operations) | Littleton area, CO | residential curbside and roll-off haulerclosing dateSource: Waste Dive
- Waste Resources, Inc. | Glendale area, CA | residential waste and recycling hauler (~60 vehicles)Source: Waste Dive
- 17
Hoffman Sanitation Services
2 deals | Private strategic
- County Line Disposal | Bennington, OK | residential and commercial waste collectionreport dateSource: PrivSource
- James Shea Sanitation | Coalgate, OK | residential and commercial waste collectionreport dateSource: PrivSource
Other acquirers in the period
34 further acquirers announced 37 deals in this niche.
- Lincoln Waste Solutions by Reconomy acquired Waste Disposal Solutions | Greensboro, NCborderline fitSource
- Lincoln Waste Solutions by Reconomy acquired Integrated Waste Analysts | Hanover, MDborderline fitSource
- Interstate Waste Services (Action Environmental) acquired Filco Carting | New York, NYreport dateSource
- Interstate Waste Services (Action Environmental) acquired Grand Sanitation Service | NJreport dateSource
- Divert acquired Anaergia Rhode Island and Charlotte bioenergy anaerobic digesters | RIborderline fit, report dateSource
- HydroEdge Solutions acquired RES Water (Reserved Environmental Services) | Bridgeville, PAborderline fitSource
- Reworld acquired Clean & Green Recycling Corporation, ClearFlo Technologies and EnviroTec | Lindenhurst, NYreport dateSource
- Triton Environmental Consultants acquired Arletta Environmental Consulting Corp. | ABreport dateSource
- Momentum Environmental acquired Corbett Industrial Cleaning Services | NYborderline fit, report dateSource
- Mustang Containment Solutions acquired Environmental lining and water management assets of Mustang Extreme Environmental Services | United Statesborderline fitSource
- VLS Environmental Solutions acquired Environmental & Chemical Consulting (ECC) | Los Angeles, CASource
- Gold Medal Environmental acquired J&J Trash Service | Frederick, MDborderline fit, report dateSource
- TIGRIS Aquatic Services acquired Charles Aquatics, Inc. | Jacksonville, FLborderline fit, report dateSource
- Valicor Environmental Services acquired Petromax LTD (Pittsburgh-area wastewater treatment and industrial oil operations) | Carnegie, PASource
- LRS (Lakeshore Recycling Systems) acquired GFL Environmental Indiana assets (unspecified) | INborderline fit, report dateSource
- Product Recovery Management acquired Clean Globe Environmental, LLC | Brentwood, NYreport dateSource
What drives consolidation in environmental and water services
Collection routes, landfill and transfer-station permits are local and hard to replicate, so the large public waste companies have long grown by buying independent haulers in markets adjacent to their own.
Environmental regulation (PFAS rules, effluent limits, hazardous-waste manifests) creates recurring compliance work that tends to favor providers with permits and laboratory access.
Many independent haulers and service firms are second- or third-generation family businesses, where succession is a common stated reason for a sale.
These observations reflect themes stated in the announcements we reviewed and our general view of the market; they are not findings measured from the dataset.
All eight niches in one file, with source URLs. Filter the niche column for this ranking.
Frequently asked questions
Who acquired the most environmental and water services companies in 2026?
Between November 1, 2025 and October 25, 2026, the most active acquirers by number of announced deals were Ecowaste Solutions (12), Verdantas (9), GFL Environmental (6). Counts include only publicly announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian companies.
How many environmental and water services acquisitions were announced in the past year?
We recorded 129 announced acquisitions by 59 acquirers. Because many small transactions are never announced, the true number is higher.
Are most Environmental and water buyers private equity-backed?
In our data, 50% of the deals were made by acquirers owned by private equity firms. The rest were made by public companies and privately held strategic buyers.
What does this mean for an owner considering a sale?
An active market means more potential buyers, but serial acquirers usually have set valuation frameworks and integration plans. Owners tend to achieve better terms when several qualified buyers compete, including strategic buyers that appear less often in announcements. The ranking shows who is buying; it does not show who would pay the most for a particular company.
What is counted as a deal in this niche?
Solid waste collection and recycling, hazardous and industrial waste, liquid waste and septic services, remediation and environmental consulting, water and wastewater treatment and operations services, and investor-owned water systems. Purchases of municipal systems are excluded. Records that sit at the edge of that definition are marked as borderline in the CSV.
Methodology and sources
Laurent Capital Research compiled this dataset from public sources in October 2026 (sources retrieved October 26, 2026). It covers acquisitions announced from Nov 1, 2025 to Oct 25, 2026 in which the acquired company was headquartered in the United States or Canada. For each of eight niches we built a list of acquirers known to be active, read the news and press-release pages of each one we could reach, then reviewed wire services (PR Newswire, Business Wire, GlobeNewswire and others), trade publications and public deal trackers for deals by acquirers not on the initial list. A second collection pass, added to the dataset on October 27, 2026, contributed 37 further deals, mostly from the PrivSource deal tracker and trade publications; each was checked against the page it cites, and a private equity sponsor is shown only where that page names it.
Each press release or article was read and its facts recorded in a fixed schema: announcement date, acquirer, the acquirer’s private equity owner at the time (if any), target, target location, a short description of the target’s business, and the source URL. The press release is the preferred source; where none could be found or retrieved, the source is a trade publication or a public deal tracker (for example PrivSource, Levin Associates, Becker’s Hospital Review or the monthly sector reports of Janes Capital Partners). Where only a closing date or the date of a report was available, that date is used and the deal is flagged as such on the page and in the CSV.
Records were deduplicated on acquirer and target, and each deal is counted in one niche only. On review we removed 69 of 644 collected records: deals known only from a search-result snippet or a page that could not be read, deals with an unknown or out-of-window date, targets outside the United States and Canada or with an unconfirmed headquarters, duplicates, initial platform investments by private equity firms, deals outside a niche’s definition, and transactions with a disclosed value above $1 billion. Every remaining source link was requested on October 26, 2026 and none returned “not found” (some sites block automated requests); for the pages whose text could be read automatically, we confirmed that the page names the acquirer and the target.
Acquirers are ranked by the number of announced deals in a niche. The acquirer is the operating company that announced the acquisition (for example, a private equity-backed platform or a software group within a larger holding company), not its financial sponsor; the sponsor and, where relevant, the parent group are shown separately. Minority investments and purchases of municipal or government-owned assets are excluded.
Limitations. The counts include only deals that were publicly announced and that we could find and read. Many add-on acquisitions of small companies are never announced, some acquirers disclose deals only in aggregate, and a number of company newsrooms and trade-press archives could not be retrieved, so the totals understate actual activity, by more for some niches and acquirers than others; each niche page states its known coverage gaps. The revenue cycle management ranking in particular rests on limited data and should be read as preliminary. Niche boundaries require judgment; records marked “borderline” are included in the counts. Deal values are rarely disclosed for companies of this size and are not reported here. The data does not include any transaction advised by Laurent Capital.
- 1wastedive.com. 41 deals sourced here
- 2prnewswire.com. 21 deals sourced here
- 3privsource.com. 20 deals sourced here
- 4waste360.com. 15 deals sourced here
- 5einpresswire.com. 11 deals sourced here
- 6verdantas.com. 9 deals sourced here
- 7apexcos.com. 4 deals sourced here
- 8wastetodaymagazine.com. 3 deals sourced here
- 9e360s.ca. 2 deals sourced here
- 10casellawastesystems.gcs-web.com. 1 deal sourced here
Data last updated Oct 27, 2026.
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Citation
Laurent Capital Research, “Most Active Acquirers of Environmental and Water Services Companies (2026),” 2026, https://laurent.capital/research/most-active-acquirers/environmental-water-servicesLink (HTML)
<a href="https://laurent.capital/research/most-active-acquirers/environmental-water-services">Most Active Acquirers of Environmental and Water Services Companies (2026)</a> (Laurent Capital)Compiled from public sources for general information; not investment advice. Inclusion does not imply any relationship with, or endorsement by, the companies listed, and the data does not include any transaction advised by Laurent Capital. To report a missing or incorrect deal, write to info@laurent.capital with a link to the announcement.
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