It's sometimes easy to lose sight of just how enormous the waste and recycling industry is — and where some of its biggest names fit into the picture. Each quarter, companies provide a wealth of financial information and talk to analysts about various business trends — but some of the most comprehensive information comes from their annual 10-K reports. 

Since earnings reports wrapped up for Q4/full-year 2018, Waste Dive has been sifting through those 10-Ks for useful details to help contextualize some key industry discussions. 

All data is current as of Dec. 31, 2018. Covanta has been excluded to allow for more direct comparisons among the five vertically-integrated public companies.

1. Across the Map:

The publicly-traded companies can often feel omnipresent — so just how widespread are their operations?

• Waste Management — 49 states (all but Montana) and the District of Columbia, plus multiple Canadian provinces
• Republic Services — 41 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
• Waste Connections — 41 states and six Canadian provinces
• Advanced Disposal Services — 16 states and the Bahamas
• Casella Waste Systems — 6 states

2. Big and Getting Bigger:

The pace of industry consolidation has increased following the 2017 corporate tax cut and various other factors. Some of 2018's biggest deals were done on the private side, but the five publicly-traded companies were also active with tuck-ins and mid-size acquisitions.

Here's how many companies each respectively subsumed in 2018:

• Waste Management - 32
• Republic Services – Not specified
• Waste Connections – 20
• Advanced Disposal Services – 12
• Casella Waste Systems – 10

3. Unionized Workforce:

The five publicly-traded service providers reported employing approximately 104,430 people full-time at the end of 2018, including a small portion in Canada. An estimated 20% of the publicly-traded company workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements, compared to a private sector average of 6.4% for the U.S. in 2018 and 15.2% for Canada as of 2014. Here's the breakdown:

• Waste Management (U.S. & Canada) – Approx. 43,700 employees, 19% union
• Republic Services – Approx. 36,000 employees, 24% union
• Waste Connections (U.S. & Canada) – 16,356 employees, 18.9% union
• Advanced Disposal Services – 6,074 employees, 14% union
• Casella Waste Systems – 2,300 employees, 4.4% union

4. MRF Footprint:

The same handful of companies often command the bulk of recycling coverage — but how much recycling infrastructure do they actually manage?

Details vary in terms of full ownership versus operating contracts, but for the purposes of establishing presence, it's fair to say all five publicly traded companies combined are in 297 MRFs across North America. The U.S. alone has 497 MRFs, according to data from Governmental Advisory Associates. This includes a small number of mixed waste facilities, which aren't differentiated in annual reports.​ Here's the breakdown, combining ownership and operation contracts:

• Waste Management — 102
• Republic Services — 91
• Waste Connections — 64
• Advanced Disposal Services — 22
• Casella Waste Systems — 18

5. Landfill Footprint

The Environmental Research & Education Foundation estimates there are approximately 1,500 active MSW landfills in the U.S. Data for Canada is less readily available, but previous estimates have put the total number of landfills as high as 2,000. The vast majority of these sites are small, local operations. Overall, the five publicly-traded companies report running 542 active landfills across North America.

Here's the breakdown of active sites, combining ownership and operation contracts:

• Waste Management — 247 solid waste landfills, 5 hazardous waste
• Republic Services — 190 solid waste landfills
• Waste Connections — 56 solid waste landfills, 14 non-MSW (C&D etc), 11 E&P landfills
• Advanced Disposal Services — 41 solid waste landfills
• Casella Waste Systems — 8 solid waste landfills, 1 C&D

6. Landfill Capacity

Landfill capacity estimates remain fluid — it's likely that changes have already occurred since this data was finalized on Dec. 31, 2018 — but it's safe to say that every company is confident it will have room to bury for decades to come. Here's how each company describes its position:

• Waste Management — "Although no assurances can be made that all future expansions will be permitted or permitted as designed, the weighted average remaining landfill life for all owned or operated landfills is approximately 43 years when considering remaining permitted airspace, expansion airspace and projected annual disposal volume."
• Republic Services — "The average estimated remaining life of all of our landfills is 63 years. We have other expansion opportunities that are not included in our total available airspace because they do not meet all of our criteria for treatment as probable expansion airspace."
• Waste Connections — "Owned landfills and landfills operated under life-of-site agreements have estimated remaining lives, based on remaining permitted capacity, probable expansion capacity and projected annual disposal volumes, that range from approximately 1 to 157 years, with an average remaining life of approximately 29 years." 
• Advanced Disposal Services — "Our active landfills that are currently accepting waste have an average of 36.8 years of aggregate remaining permitted and deemed permitted life ... To satisfy future disposal demand, we are currently seeking to expand permitted capacity at 15 of our landfills and we may seek expanded permitted capacity at other landfills in the future."
• Casella Waste Systems did not specify its estimated remaining capacity in years.

7. Landfill Lifespan

The industry has recognized the growing difficulty of expanding existing landfills or building new ones — and considering the high costs of post-closure care, maximizing site life is increasingly critical.

Here's the breakdown of active estimated site life based on operating lives, remaining permitted and expansion capacity and projected annual disposal volume — all of which are, of course, subject to change: