Dealing with waste is big business and one likely to continue to thrive as basic commodity prices rise, making the segregation of reusable materials from our overall waste flow more economical. Today we look at one of the industries in the larger Waste Management sector.

This industry is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as comprising “establishments primarily engaged in collecting and/or hauling waste (except nonhazardous solid waste and hazardous waste) within a local area.” This includes all firms involved in the collection of nonhazardous waste and recyclable materials from homes, businesses, construction sites, government facilities, commercial centers and the like. This industry does not include standard garbage collection firms that collect solid waste on a regular schedule nor firms that handle hazardous waste. Worth noting is the fact that in 2010 the U.S. industry being highlighted here had revenues equal to 3.7% of those reported by the larger, solid waste collection firms that run regular routes and collect the vast majority of our solid waste.

The graph shows U.S. industry revenues annually over the period 1997 to 2010. The industry grew by 69% over this period but as the pattern on the graph shows, it is not immune to economic cycles. For anyone interested in knowing more about the trends in the United States regarding how much we throw away and how much we recycle, here is an interesting blog post showing several decades worth of such trends graphically.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2010
Market size: $838 million and $1.4 billion respectively
Source: “Table 7.1. Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (NAICS 56) – Estimated Revenue for Employer Firms: 2002 Through 2010,” 2010 Service Annual Survey, produced in all non-economic census years and available online here. The graphic supplements the 2010 Service Annual Survey data with data from prior editions of the same report, also available online, at the Census Bureau’s website, here.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Posted on October 18, 2012