The world’s biggest waste management company sees the AI boom as a lucrative chance to expand its US footprint, Veolia CEO Estelle Brachlianoff told Semafor. The France-based company on Friday announced its biggest acquisition since 2022, agreeing to pay $3 billion for the US hazardous waste manager Clean Earth.
While the Trump administration has moved quickly to roll back climate-related regulations, Brachlianoff said, waste that could harm public health or the environment remains tightly controlled. And every stage of the AI value chain — from manufacturing chips to disposing of old hardware from data centers — is a business opportunity for waste management. At the moment, Veolia’s portfolio is about 60% Europe-based, with the rest in the US, the Middle East, and elsewhere; Brachlianoff said she aims to push that balance closer to 50-50. And offering waste management services in the US also creates a platform to sell Veolia’s other services, including water treatment and energy efficiency, to a wider base of customers.
One core business that Veolia is unlikely to expand to the US anytime soon is recycling, she said: Between low public interest, a powerful fossil fuel industry promoting the use of virgin plastics, and inconsistent recycling regulation, American market conditions aren’t favorable.