About

WIN Waste Innovations is an industry leader in the safe and environmentally sound conversion of everyday residential and business waste - and other renewable waste fuels - into clean energy. WIN Waste Innovations pioneered the waste-to-energy industry in the U.S. when it designed, built and operated the first commercially successful facility in 1975.

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How EfW Works

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1932

Wheelabrator develops the airless centrifugal wheel, a rapidly spinning wheel designed to hurl abrasives at steel, concrete, and other industrial surfaces needing cleaning. Coined as the "Wheel + Abrator," the invention of the airless centrifugal wheel, leads to the birth of the Wheelabrator Corporation. (The Wheelabrator triangle logo is a stylized version of that device.)

1960's

In the late 1960s, Wheelabrator and Frye Industries, a print ink and copy paper manufacturer, merges and becomes Wheelabrator-Frye Inc.

1970's

The passage of the Federal Clean Air Act spurs on the demand of Wheelabrator's air-pollution control equipment. The Act also mandates the discovery of alternative technologies to replace old, pollution waste incinerators. In 1972, after several small acquisitions, Wheelabrator-Frye acquires Rust Engineering Company, a leading designer and builder of pulp and plants. This move proves to be the most pivotal in creating the Wheelabrator of today. The acquisition of Rust, which holds licenses with the Swiss engineering firm, Von Roll AC, helps Wheelabrator become a pioneer in the waste-to-energy industry.

1982

Decades of growth leads to a merger with The Signal Companies, Inc., based in La Jolla, California. Hampton, New Hampshire, becomes the headquarters of Signal Engineered Products Group, one of the two main operating units of the company. Midwest operations of Signal, Universal Oil Products (UOP), holds U.S. licenses with a German company for waste combustion furnace and grate technologies that rivals Wheelabrator's system. As a result of the merger, Wheelabrator acquires several former UOP waste-to-energy projects and the UOP German licenses were divested.

1985

Signal merges with Allied Corporation to create Allied Signal Inc., which later decided to streamline its operations by spinning off some assets into a new company, The Henley Group, Inc.

1987

Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. emerges as a publicly traded company offering leading waste-to-energy services. These services include: full-service engineering and construction services; diverse manufacturing capabilities; large- and small-scale air quality control systems; independent power plant development; coal handling and transportation projects; and water and wastewater treatment operations and equipment.

Late 1980's

Wheelabrator enters the independent power production (IPP) market with the construction and operation of small power plants primarily using waste fuels such as wood. In July 1988, Wheelabrator and Waste Management Inc., North America's leading provider of integrated environmental solutions, enters into a merger agreement to acquire common stock shares of WTI amounting to a 22% ownership interest.

1990

Wheelabrator becomes a majority-owned subsidiary of Waste Management.

2014

Wheelabrator is acquired by energy-focused private equity firm, Energy Capital Partners.

Today

Headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Wheelabrator Technologies is the second largest US waste-to-energy business, and is an industry leader in the conversion of everyday residential and business waste into clean energy. Wheelabrator currently has a platform of 26 strategically located facilities in the United States and United Kingdom — 19 waste-to-energy facilities (three under construction in the UK), three waste fuel facilities as well as four ash monofills and three transfer stations. Wheelabrator also recovers metals for recycling into commercial products. The company’s vision to develop, deliver and realize the potential of clean energy speaks to Wheelabrator’s ongoing commitment to the development of clean energy solutions for its customers and local communities.