Scotia Recycling Buys Out Smaller Halifax Competitor
HALIFAX—A shakeup in the waste management industry has seen a 25-year-old Halifax company bought up by a larger local competitor.
Scotia Recycling Ltd. announced this week it has acquired Great Northern Recycling. Scotia Recycling is based out of Hantsport, Nova Scotia but operates ten facilities across Atlantic Canada. The Company specializes in the collection, processing, sale, and brokerage of recyclable materials.
Great Northern, meanwhile, is an independent recycling facility operating out of the Burnside industrial park, specializing in recycling corrugated cartons, news, and sorted paper.
Previous owners Terri and Frank Kaulback sold the company to Scotia Recycling as they prepare for retirement.
Norm Mensour is Scotia Recycling Ltd.’s president.
In a February 8 phone interview, he told Huddle Great Northern is a “really great fit from a business perspective” and that he’s happy to see a local business stay in the hands of another Nova Scotian company.
“We Atlantic Canadians are very proud of our businesses and relationships,” he said. “For [the Kaulbacks], entrusting their customers who they had built over the years to another Atlantic Canadian company, who was going to give the same level of care and customer service, was important.”
Both Scotia and Great Northern are private companies and Mensour wouldn’t say exactly how large either is. However, Great Northern is a much smaller operation and Mensour said the acquisition won’t mean major changes for Scotia.
He did say that Scotia will fold Great Northern’s operations into its own, moving them to one of Scotia’s existing facilities. Mensour said Great Northern employees have all been offered jobs at Scotia.
Scotia Recycling Ltd. is a private company that handles both residential and commercial recycling. However, the majority of its business is on the commercial side.
The company makes money by collecting raw material—things like cardboard boxes from retail stores—sorting it, packaging it, and selling it to other companies who repurpose it.
“So it’s true, you know, when you talk about a circular economy: it’s a perfect circle,” Mensour said.
Scotia Recycling Limited is a member of the Scotia Investments Family of Companies, which is headquartered in Bedford.
Incorporated in 1945 in Hantsport, Scotia Investments Limited is a private holding company that manages companies that include Crown Fibre Tube, Maritime Paper, Minas Energy, and others.
Together, Scotia Investments companies employ about 1,300 people.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
