CWST Casella Waste Systems Inc

RUTLAND, Vt., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST), a regional, non-hazardous solid waste services company, today announced that the company has closed on its transaction with Chemung County, N.Y., completing the approval of an operating agreement that designates the company as the county's twenty-five year partner to operate and develop the county's Subtitle D landfill. "This is a terrific opportunity for the company," John Casella, chairman and CEO of Casella Waste Systems, said. "It is a superb facility in the heart of our western New York state market, and we are in partnership with thoughtful, far-sighted public policymakers." "This type of partnership, which we've built with other municipal governments in Clinton County, N.Y.; Southbridge, Mass.; Old Town, Maine; and Ontario County, N.Y., is indicative of our ability to develop disposal capacity by leveraging our know-how and our assets to link recycling and other sustainable environmental approaches to the disposal needs of communities," Casella said. The Chemung County landfill is located in the Town of Chemung, New York. The company's agreement with the county provides for the company to lease the facility and assume all operating, permitting and construction responsibility; the company began operation of the facility this week. The company said the transaction included $4.7 million in initial consideration paid to Chemung County. Based on the landfill's expected utilization rate of 120,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year, the company expects the facility to contribute $780,000 of EBITDA* over the remainder of the company's fiscal year 2006, which ends on April 30, 2006. The company will begin immediate efforts to re-permit the facility to allow it to accept up to 280,000 tons of MSW per year. Casella Waste Systems, headquartered in Rutland, Vermont, is a regional, integrated, non-hazardous solid waste services company that provides collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services primarily in the northeastern United States. *Non-GAAP Financial Measures In addition to disclosing financial results prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), we also disclose free cash flow and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which are non-GAAP measures. These measures are provided because we understand that certain investors use this information when analyzing the financial position of the solid waste industry, including us. Historically, these measures have been key in comparing operating efficiency of publicly traded companies in the solid waste industry, and assist investors in measuring our ability to meet capital expenditure and working capital requirements. For these reasons we utilize these non-GAAP metrics to measure our performance at all levels. These measures do not represent, and should not be considered as alternatives to cash provided by operating activities as determined in accordance with GAAP. Moreover, these measures do not necessarily indicate whether cash flow will be sufficient for such items as working capital or capital expenditures, or to react to changes in our industry or to the economy generally. Because these measures are not calculated by all companies in the same fashion, they may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. For further information, contact Joseph Fusco, vice president at (802) 775-0325; or visit the company's website at http://www.casella.com/. Safe Harbor Statement Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbors from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified as such by the context of the statements, including words such as the Company "believes," "anticipates," "expects" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals are forward- looking statements. Such forward-looking statements, and all phases of our operations, involve a number of risks and uncertainties, any one or more of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include or relate to, among other things, our ability to make acquisitions and otherwise develop additional disposal capacity; our ability to secure permits allowing for increased waste disposal; general economic conditions; and fluctuations in the commodity pricing of our recyclables. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking statements can be found in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including risk factors detailed in Management's Discussion and Analysis in our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2005. DATASOURCE: Casella Waste Systems, Inc. CONTACT: Joseph Fusco of Casella Waste Systems, Inc., +1-802-775-0325 Web site: http://www.casella.com/

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