CCPC requires binding commitments to clear Thorntons Recycling’s proposed acquisition of The City Bin Co
July 13, 2023
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has cleared, subject to a number of legally binding commitments, the proposed acquisition by Padraig Thornton Waste Disposal Limited, which trades as Thorntons Recycling, of Carducci Holdings DAC, which controls The City Bin Co (M/22/067).
Thorntons Recycling is a commercial and residential waste and recycling business, primarily active in Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. The City Bin Co is a provider of waste collection services to domestic and commercial customers in Galway and Dublin.
Following notification by the parties in December 2022, the CCPC carried out a preliminary investigation of the proposed acquisition and concluded that a full investigation was required to establish if it would lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the State.
In the course of its analysis, the CCPC identified potential competition concerns that following this acquisition some households in County Dublin, where Thorntons Recycling and The City Bin Co are both active, could have less choice, increased prices and diminished quality of domestic waste collection services.
To address these potential concerns, Thorntons Recycling proposed to make a number of binding commitments to the CCPC. These include a commitment to divest certain numbers of domestic waste customers located within the areas serviced by both Thorntons Recycling and The City Bin Co to a suitable purchaser who will continue to provide domestic waste collection services to those customers. The purchaser will be subject to the CCPC’s approval. An independent monitoring trustee is to be appointed to ensure compliance with these commitments.
Following detailed examination and having taken into account the commitments given by Thorntons Recycling, the CCPC has determined that the proposed acquisition will not substantially lessen competition and, as a result, that the proposed acquisition can be put into effect. The CCPC will publish its full determination on its website no later than 60 working days after the date of the determination and after allowing the parties the opportunity to request that confidential information be removed from the published version. More information, including the merger determination and the commitments, is available at M/22/067 – Thorntons Recycling/Carducci Holdings (The City Bin Co.).
Waste collection services have unique characteristics which mean that the market for these services may encourage consolidation, reducing the number of competitors. Without intervention, this means consumers may have little or no power to influence the behaviour of operators in this market by, for example, switching.
The CCPC acts within its powers, including merger review, to ensure consumers continue to have access to a choice of providers of these necessary services. Notwithstanding this, it continues to be the CCPC’s view, that the market needs an economic regulator with responsibilities including market design.
Notes:
Read the CCPC’s 2018 report on The Operation of the Household Waste Collection Market. Since the Market Study, there have been a number of policy developments in the sector, including the publication of a Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy and accompanying legislative changes. The CCPC has engaged with these developments by contributing to the production of the Waste Action Plan as a member of its Advisory Group, and by responding to the consultation on the Plan. While the new measures to strengthen consumer protections in this market are welcome, the CCPC believes many of the findings of the market study remain relevant, and more could be done for the benefit of consumers.
The CCPC notes that new structures proposed by the Waste Management Plan for a Circular Economy could potentially incorporate the functions of an economic regulator. For more information read about the CCPC’s July 2023 submission on the draft National Waste Management Plan for a Circular Economy.
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