Our economists Warwick Davis, Deirdre Rose and James Key recently supported Ashurst, on behalf of Cleanaway Waste Management, in their informal clearance application to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Cleanaway, one of Australia's largest firms engaged in the full range of waste disposal activities, was seeking to acquire the assets of Citywide Waste (Citywide Service Solutions Pty Ltd), the waste collection and disposal arm of the City of Melbourne Council.
The ACCC’s focus was on the closeness of competition between Cleanaway's landfill in Melbourne and Citywide's Dynon Road waste transfer station for disposal of putrescible commercial and industrial (C&I) waste.
To demonstrate that competitive constraints were likely to remain after the acquisition, we were engaged to model the costs of C&I collection companies taking their waste to alternative landfills.
Our economic modelling found that:
- Many C&I collection companies would be economically able to divert waste to alternative landfills, and
- Customers that used Dynon Road for its advantages in proximity and access for smaller trucks were not likely to use Cleanaway’s landfill and so would be unaffected by the acquisition.The ACCC agreed with our findings and concluded that the acquisition would be unlikely to substantially lessen competition. Therefore, they would not oppose Cleanaway’s proposed acquisition of Citywide Waste.
