The OFT today referred the completed acquisition by Stericycle, Inc (Stericycle) of Ecowaste Southwest Limited (Ecowaste) to the Competition Commission for further investigation.

Stericycle’s UK subsidiary, SRCL Limited (SRCL), provides waste management services to medical and other sectors throughout England and Wales. Ecowaste provides the same service in the south west of England and owns a treatment facility at Avonmouth, Bristol.

The OFT concluded that the acquisition would give rise to competition concerns in relation to the collection, processing and disposal of healthcare risk waste in the wider market.