Would You Sink Your Money Into This Trashy Investment?

There are no sure things on Wall Street, but there are a few near-certainties about our modern society. One of them is that there’s never going to be a shortage of garbage. As much as the environmental movement pushes recycling and discourages single-use containers, tons of trash is dumped into landfills across the U.S. and around the world every day.

The stock market goes to waste

Not only is there plenty of demand for companies like Waste Management and Republic Services, both of which handle the disposal of domestic trash, but the Biden administration has made that trash more valuable. With the passage of a huge climate bill last year, there’s a newfound interest in digging through the nation’s landfills for recyclable materials and items that can potentially be used to create energy.

As financial analyst Michael Hoffman advised, these companies are “sitting in this extraordinary position” at the moment, and investors are taking notice.

Not unlike any other stock market trend, there’s been some ups and downs — but generally speaking, the waste management industry has traded at all-time highs in the months since that bill was signed into law.

Forecasting the future of trash

Republic Services CEO Jon Vander Ark agreed that his industry is poised to take center stage in the environmental movement. And his company could reap some serious financial rewards in the process.

“We’re blessed to be sitting right in the middle of a megatrend,” he said. “We used to think about getting 5% top-line growth a year. Now we’re in double-digit top-line growth mode.”

In order to streamline the connection between trash and energy, his company has a deal with BP to feed utility pipelines or directly generate electricity through plants at dozens of its landfill locations.

Chris Agee May 29th, 2023

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