Revenues Increase with Trash Increases According to the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), total 2017 revenues for the US environmental industry were $388 billion, with a forecast of $407 billion for 2018, a 4.9% increase. The US solid waste industry generated $63.4 billion in 2017 revenues, and are projected to increase 3.8% to $65.8 billion for 2018, and then reach $70.5 billion by 2020. 2018’s annual increase will contribute to a projected average revenue increase of 4.3% from 2015 to 2020, when EBJ predicts revenues will reach approximately $440 billion.

The Largest Waste Companies Continue to Prosper EBJ also reported five companies exceeded $1 billion in annual revenues for 2016 (the most recent data available) and most of them are publicly-traded. These were Waste Management, Republic Services, Waste Connections, Convanta Energy and Advanced Disposal Services. Three of these companies – Waste Management, Republic Services and Advanced Disposal Services – all reported pricing and upside volume a bit more than anticipated while Waste Connections had a decrease in volume, but an increase in pricing.

Waste Around the World At the end of 2017, China announced it was stopping the importation of plastic waste. It had accepted almost half of the global total since 1988. A University of Georgia study estimates 111 million metric tons of plastic trash will be generated by 2030, which China would have accepted, but now will require new recycling strategies from plastic waste- exporting countries. According to 2017 data from The Global E- waste Monitor, China generated the most electronic waste during 2016, or 7.2 million metric tons; followed by the US, 6.3 million; Japan, 2.1 million; India, 2.0 million; and Germany, 1.9 million.

Addressing Waste Issue Locally More than 3 billion pounds of recoverable residential plastic film is generated every year in the US and 96% goes to landfills. A trial program from SC Johnson was able to use 100% curbside recycled film to produce its Ziploc plastic bags. After years of governmental restrictions, many communities are applying new engineering and design techniques to reclaim closed landfills and convert them to valuable real estate for homes, golf courses, parks and hotels. The 2017 BioCycle Residential Food Waste Collection Access Study reported approximately 325 US communities had curbside food waste collection, which represented approximately 5.2 million households.

A Job Best Left for Robots and Other Non-Human Technologies Not only is sorting trash a dirty job, but also recycling workers are more than twice as likely to be injured. Since mid-2017, trash- sorting robots/machines have been added at some recycling plants and they are twice as fast as humans. More containers will be built with sensors, so waste companies can remotely monitor them to determine if they’ve reached capacity and are ready to be emptied. Knowing how quickly they fill can lead to more efficient pickup and route schedules. Navigant Research forecasts the global smart waste collection technology market will increase from $57.6 million during 2016 to more than $223.6 million by 2025, with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies primarily responsible for the increase.

Advertising Strategies Just as golf, tennis, horse racing programs are excellent means to reach business and corporate leaders, they can also be cost- effective advertising opportunities for waste management companies to promote their commercial/industrial services. Waste management companies can also promote their brands with marketing/advertising messages about their involvement with local municipalities to transform closed landfills into other uses that benefit the community. Waste management companies should use various media to share their acquisition and utilization of new technologies that increase efficiency and benefit residential, commercial and industrial customers.

New Media Strategies Waste management companies will find it very valuable to create in-depth success stories about how they specifically served various customers, especially saving time and money, and then add this content to their Websites and post on social media pages. Develop presentations to share with local schools, promoting environmental stewardship among children. Ask them to create drawings about protecting the environment and share them on your Website and social media. Curating new stories and other content from various online sources to their Websites and as social media posts will promote waste management companies as the local communities’ prime source of information about environmental improvements.