News and Events

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla., June 20, 2011 / -- Eagle-SWS announced today as part of its rebranding initiative that it has changed its current name from Eagle-SWS to SWS Environmental Services.

In late 2008, Southern Waste Services, Inc., a Florida-based environmental services company, acquired Eagle Construction & Environmental Services, L.P. (Eagle), a Texas-based contractor, to form Eagle-SWS.  The formation brought together people and resources from 27 locations across 10 states.

The successful integration of the two companies has led to steady organic growth and geographic expansion.  Over the past two years, SWS Environmental Services has opened four new locations that service Austin, TX; Dallas, TX; Memphis, TN and Waycross, GA.  The company’s focus on providing a diverse set of environmental services to customers with multiple needs is facilitated by its strength in a platform of recurring base business.  A significant role in spill response for the Gulf Oil Spill recently provided a boost to the company’s national reputation as a premier emergency responder.

SWS Environmental Services CEO Jim Weber said: “Essentially we evaluated two core factors in shaping the rebranding efforts.  First and foremost was the question we heard time and time again:  ‘What do you do?’  The simple fact that our prospective client base couldn’t perceive what it was we did, day in and day out, was reason enough to incorporate ‘environmental services’ right into our name.  We wanted to provide that kind of clarity.  Secondly, we felt like our existing Eagle customer base has had a chance to get to know us; who we are, where we are and what we do.  It has been our goal to improve our services and build our reputation as a quality company with quality people.  We are proud of the core values and beliefs that are associated with our SWS heritage.”

Company President Gene Cookson adds, “This is a very exciting time for all of us at SWS Environmental Services. This rebranding effort creates a new foundation to build on with respect to our commitment to growth, expansion and profitability as a company.  The recognition we see and reputation that was built around ‘SWS’ made it very easy to launch this new branding.  We truly believe what sets us apart from other organizations is the quality of our customer service.  As a company, our goal is to become the premier environmental services provider in the market, and this initiative is just another step toward that goal.”

Effective January 5th, Eugene "Gene" Cookson has joined SWS as company President. He will be responsible for implementing a strategic plan focused on new market penetration, enhancing the current business development processes, improvements to planned project delivery, and growth initiatives.

Mr. Cookson has twenty plus years experience in the environmental services industry with a proven track record holding high level executive positions.  The majority of the focus over his career has been in developing the field services, emergency response and the large scale project aspects of the environmental business.

Gene recently completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School and holds a masters degree from Northeastern University in Civil/Environmental Engineering following completion of his B.S. degree from the University of New Hampshire.

With more than 20 years in the environmental industry as a senior level executive, Gene's experience, education, leadership and history will be the foundation for success as President of SWS.

September 2009

Implementing and utilizing a variety of social networking media tools to promote and strengthen brand awareness is vital to businesses looking to compete in today’s modern marketplace.

SWS, a comprehensive environmental services contractor located throughout the Southeast and Midwest, recently launched a social networking media campaign to promote new branding and increase its presence on the web. In addition to traditional marketing strategies, SWS is now using social media tactics to promote the SWS brand and keep our clients informed of current and ongoing events, news, and projects.

Because SWS is the result of two environmental companies merging (Southern Waste Services, Inc. d/b/a SWS First Response and Eagle Construction and Environmental Services, L.P.), the new social networking media campaign aims to build awareness of SWS's combined services and strengthen its presence online. A completely new website at www.eaglesws.com is slated to launch in early October of 2009. In conjunction with a new presence on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and the SWS YouTube Channel, the goal is to provide an effective means of releasing valuable information at any moment of the day to clients, prospects, and friends of SWS.

May 2009

SWS has announced the opening of three new locations in May, 2009: Tyler, Texas; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Middletown, Ohio. Because we believe success involves the ability to be where needed, when needed, SWS is looking forward to forging new business relationships and strengthening old ones at our recently opened service centers.

The new Tyler service center sits just about midway between Dallas, Texas and  Shreveport, Louisiana with Middletown just 15 miles from the northern outskirts  of Cincinnati and 20 miles from the southern outskirts of Dayton. Greensboro is  centered about 30 miles from the Virginia border with Winston-Salem, Durham, Chapel Hill, Concord, and Raleigh all within a 60 mile range.

January 2009

In January, 2009 SWS headed to Tennessee for a  5.4 million cubic yards fly, and bottom ash spill resulting from a failed dyke  at the Tennessee valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant. SWS has  provided 21 boats, 19 vacuum trucks, 16,000 ft of boom and approximately 160 response personnel. Crews have been working up to 12 hours per day, 7 days per week and are still onsite focusing on isolated areas accessing, removing and transporting the fly ash from the site.

November 2008

SWS recently announced a merger between Southern Waste Services, Inc. (SWS) and Eagle Construction and Environmental Services, L.P. The merger combines the personnel, resources and experience of two leading environmental companies now located across nine states. Read the full press release (PDF - 91KB).

March 2008

An SWS satellite response location is opening in the Montgomery, Alabama area. In support of local terminals and other businesses requiring an emergency response contractor, dedicated equipment such as boom, sorbents, pumps, drums and other response resources will be staged for rapid deployment. SWS is working with local emergency officials to provide personnel for response in Montgomery and outlying areas.