This Week in Waste: Top Stories from October 25-29

This week, the waste industry showed robust growth driven by core pricing and volume increases in Q3. As revenue expectations were exceeded, many companies adjusting their full-year outlooks to reflect strong earnings.  Here are the top five stories for the week of October 25-29. Enjoy!

1. Why the EPA's Recycling Economic Information (REI) is Crucial to Demonstrating Industry Impact
Stefanie Valentic

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) first Recycling Economic Information (REI) was released in 2001.

Since then, two other iterations of the document have signaled the importance of the material reuse and recycling market. The initial project began as a cooperative agreement between the agency and the National Recycling Coalition.

Read the article.

2. Waste Connections Exceeds Expectations in Q3 2021, Revises Outlook
Stefanie Valentic

Solid waste pricing to address inflationary pressures led Waste Connections (TSX/NYSE: WCN) to exceed its revenue expectations in Q3 2021.

"More importantly, quality of revenue drove 60 basis points year-over-year adjusted EBITDA margin expansion in the quarter, overcoming an estimated 40 basis points impact from margin dilutive acquisitions and hurricanes, putting us firmly on track to exceed the updated full year 2021 outlook we provided in August," announced Worthing F. Jackman, president and CEO.

Read the article.

3. Episode 127: Waste & Recycling Is Good Business (NothingWasted! Podcast)
Liz Bothwell

In this week’s NothingWasted! episode, we chat with Joe Ursuy, SVP & department manager - Environmental Services, at Comerica Bank. We spoke with Ursuy about the commodities market, the current appetite for M&A, the outlook for waste and recycling and more.

Listen to the episode

4. Wisconsin's Waste Characterization Study Provides Glance into Landfills, Recycling
Stefanie Valentic

In September 2020, SCS Engineers set out to study Wisconsin's landfills to obtain a better understanding of what efforts are needed to reduce waste in the state.

The result was a 228-page comprehensive report that details what the environmental consulting firm found residents are leaving in the trash.

Read the article

5. Labor Shortage Drives Automation for Waste Management in Q3
Stefanie Valentic

Waste Management presented its Q3 earnings, showing that despite inflationary costs and labor shortages, robust volumes and a demand for recycled content is driving company growth.

"Our third quarter performance highlighted the exceptional cash generation capability of our business model as we generated nearly $1.2 billion of cash from operations," said Jim Fish, WM president and CEO. "Our solid results put us on track to meet the higher full-year financial outlook we provided last quarter, even as we face some of the highest inflation that we've seen in years, along with the labor and supply chain constraints."

Read the article.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Stef Talks Trash Episode 38: How Carpet Recycling Works 

The market for carpet recovery is still relatively new.

Because carpet is made to withstand decades of heavy foot traffic, the breakdown process presents challenges that make it difficult to recycle. 

On this week's Stef Talks Trash, Editorial Director Stefanie Valentic and CARE Executive Director Bob Peoples discuss the challenges that come with carpet recycling, extended producer responsibility and how California's carpet recovery program is a case study for other states and countries.

Watch now.