Republic Services Inc Profile
Republic Services, Inc. provides environmental services in the United States.
The company operates across the United States and Canada through 353 collection operations, 233 transfer stations, 71 recycling centers, 206 active landfills, 3 treatment, recovery and disposal facilities, 20 treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDF), 6 salt water disposal wells and 7 deep injection wells. The company engages in 73 landfill gas-to-energy and other renewable energy projects and had post-closure responsibility for 128 closed landfills.
Within its recycling and solid waste business, the company prioritizes investments in market verticals with above average growth rates and higher return profiles. Environmental solutions remains fragmented which provides consolidation opportunities to drive scale.
The company operates throughout North America, but the physical collection and recycling or disposal of material is very much a local business and the dynamics and opportunities differ in each of the markets it serves.
Comprehensive Environmental Services
The company serves customers with a strong, vertically-integrated operating platform and offer a complete set of products and services, including the collection and processing of recyclable, solid waste and industrial waste materials; transportation and disposal of non-hazardous and hazardous waste streams; and other environmental solutions. The company offers a wide array of products and services with a proven track record in safety, compliance and environmental stewardship.
Recycling and Solid Waste Services
The company has a strong, national, vertically-integrated operating platform that allows it to compete more effectively and efficiently in the local markets in which it operates. Where appropriate, the company seeks to achieve a high rate of internalization by controlling material streams from the point of collection through recycling processing or disposal. During the year ended December 31, 2022, approximately 68% of the total solid waste volume the company collected was disposed at landfills it owned or operated (internalization). Through acquisitions, landfill operating agreements and other market development activities, the company creates market-specific, vertically-integrated operations typically consisting of one or more collection operations, transfer stations and landfills. The company also operates recycling centers in markets where diversion of waste is a priority, customers are willing to pay for the service and it can earn an appropriate return on its investment.
Collection Services
The company provides residential, small-container and large-container collection services through 353 collection operations. In 2022, approximately 69% of its total revenue was derived from its collection business, of which approximately 20% of its total revenue related to residential services, approximately 29% related to small-container services and approximately 20% related to large-container services.
The company’s residential collection business involves the curbside collection of material for transport to transfer stations, or directly to landfills, recycling centers, or organics processing facilities. The company typically performs residential collection services under contracts with municipalities, which it generally secures through competitive bids, which give the company exclusive rights to service all or a portion of the homes in the municipalities. The company also performs residential services on a subscription basis, in which individual households contract directly with it.
In its small-container business, the company supplies its customers with recycling and waste containers of varying sizes. The company typically performs small-container collection services under one- to three-year service agreements, and fees are determined based on a number of factors, including the market, collection frequency, type of equipment furnished, type and volume or weight of the material collected, transportation costs and the cost of processing or disposal. The company’s small-container services are typically offered to small business complexes, multi-family housing and strip malls and include industries such as restaurants, retail, real-estate and professional and other services.
The company’s large-container collection business includes both recurring and temporary customer relationships. For the recurring portion, the company supplies its customers with recycling and waste containers of varying sizes and rent compactors to large generators of material. The company typically performs the collection services under one- to three-year service agreements, and fees are determined based on a number of factors, including the market, collection frequency, type of equipment furnished, type and volume or weight of the material collected, transportation costs and the cost of disposal. The company’s recurring large-container services are typically offered to larger facilities, hotels and office buildings and include industries, such as manufacturing, retail, hospitality, professional and other services.
For the temporary portion of the company’s large-container collection business, the majority of the material relates to construction and demolition activities and is typically event-driven. The company provides temporary collection services on a contractual basis with terms ranging from a single pickup to one-year or longer.
Transfer Services
The company owns or operates 233 transfer stations. Revenue at its transfer stations is primarily generated by charging tipping or disposal fees, which accounted for approximately 5% of its revenue during 2022. The company’s collection operations deposit material at these transfer stations, as do other private and municipal haulers, for compaction and transfer to disposal sites or recycling centers.
When its own collection operations use the company’s transfer stations, this improves internalization by allowing it to retain fees it would otherwise pay to third-party disposal sites. It also allows the company to manage costs associated with material disposal because transfer trucks have larger capacities than collection trucks, allowing it to deliver more material to the landfill or processing center in each trip; material is accumulated and compacted at strategically located transfer stations to increase efficiency; and it can retain volume by managing the material to one of its own landfills or processing centers rather than to a competitor’s.
Recycling Processing Services
The company owns or operates 71 recycling centers. These centers generate revenue through the and sale of old corrugated containers (OCC), old newsprint (ONP), aluminum, glass and other materials, which accounted for approximately 3% of its total revenue during 2022. Approximately 81% of its total recycling center volume is fiber based and includes OCC, ONP and other mixed paper. During 2022, the company processed and sold 2.0 million tons, excluding glass and organics, from its recycling centers. An additional 2.0 million tons were collected by the company and delivered to third parties. The company is investing in innovative recycling technology and have expanded its organics operations to help customers meet their diversion goals. The company processed 1.0 million and sold 0.3 million tons of organic materials, respectively, from its recycling centers in 2022.
The company also receives rebates when it disposes of recycled commodities at third-party processing facilities.
As consumer demand for recycling services has increased, the company has met that demand by integrating recycling components across its collection service offerings. The company continues to invest in proven technologies to control costs and to simplify and streamline recycling for its customers. For example, robotics and advanced sorting equipment, such as disk screens, magnets and optical sorters, identifies and separates different kinds of paper, metals, plastics and other materials to increase efficiency and maximize the company’s recycling efforts.
Landfill Services
The company owns or operates 206 active landfills. The company’s landfill tipping fees charged to third parties accounted for approximately 11% of its revenue during 2022. As of December 31, 2022, the company had estimated permitted acres of 40,400 and estimated total available disposal capacity of 5.0 billion in-place cubic yards. The in-place capacity of its landfills is subject to change based on engineering factors, requirements of regulatory authorities, its ability to continue to operate its landfills in compliance with applicable regulations and its ability to successfully renew operating permits and obtain expansion permits at its sites. Some of its landfills accept non-hazardous special waste, including utility ash, asbestos and contaminated soils.
Most of the company’s active landfill sites have the potential for expanded disposal capacity beyond the permitted acreage. The company monitors the availability of permitted disposal capacity at each of its landfills and evaluate whether to pursue an expansion at a given landfill based on estimated future waste volumes and prices, market needs, remaining capacity and the likelihood of obtaining an expansion. To satisfy future disposal demand, the company is seeking to expand permitted capacity at certain landfills; however, all proposed or future expansions may not be permitted.
The company is committed to harnessing landfill gas, the natural byproduct of decomposing waste, and converting it to energy. The use of landfill gas provides economic and environmental benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the capture and use of methane. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated 73 landfill gas and renewable energy projects.
The company also has responsibility for 128 closed landfills, for which it has associated closure and post-closure obligations.
Environmental Solutions
The company has the capabilities to address the complex sustainability needs of its customers. The company’s environmental solutions offerings include collection, treatment, consolidation, disposal and recycling of hazardous and non-hazardous waste; field and industrial services; equipment rental; emergency response and standby services; and in-plant services. Environmental solutions volume is generated by the daily operations of industrial, petrochemical and refining facilities and oil and natural gas exploration and production sites, including maintenance, plant turnarounds and capital projects. Volume also is generated by private and government funded projects, including site remediation, redevelopment or emergency spill response. In 2022, approximately 9% of its revenue was derived from environmental solutions.
Waste Treatment and Disposal
The company owns or operates 6 active hazardous waste landfills, 9 active energy waste landfills, 3 treatment, recovery and disposal facilities, 20 treatment, storage and disposal facilities, 6 salt water disposal wells and 7 deep injection wells. The company recycles, treats and disposes hazardous and non-hazardous industrial wastes. The waste handled include substances which are classified as hazardous because of their corrosive, ignitable, reactive or toxic properties and other wastes subject to federal, state and provincial environmental regulation. The waste the company handles comes in solid, liquid and sludge form and can be received in a variety of containerized and bulk forms and transported to its facilities by truck and rail.
The company also operates thermal desorption units that recover oil and metal bearing catalyst from refinery and other organic and oil-based waste. The recycled oil and recycled catalyst are sold to third parties.
Field Services
The company’s field services include a wide range of specialty and total waste management services provided to refineries, chemical plants, manufacturing plants and other government, commercial and industrial facilities either on-site or at its network of facilities. These services include industrial cleaning and maintenance, retail services, lab pack, site remediation, equipment cleaning and maintenance services, specialty equipment rental, transportation and emergency response.
As an integral part of its services, the company employs highly trained staff and operates a network of service centers that characterize, package and collect hazardous and non-hazardous wastes from customers and transport such wastes to and between its facilities for treatment or bulking for shipment to final disposal locations.
Other Services
Other revenue consists primarily of National Accounts revenue generated from nationwide or regional contracts in markets outside its operating areas where the associated material handling services are subcontracted to local operators.
Strategy
The company’s strategy is designed to generate profitable growth by sustainably managing its customers’ needs, and it is underpinned by three foundational elements – its market position, its operating model and its people and talent agenda.
Seasonality
The company’s operating revenues tend to be somewhat higher in the summer months, primarily due to higher volumes of construction and demolition waste. The volumes of large-container and residential recycling and waste in certain regions of the country also tend to increase during the summer months. The company’s second and third quarter (year ended December 31, 2022) revenues and results of operations typically reflect this seasonality. The company provides essential recycling and solid waste collection and disposal services in the communities it serves.
Regulation
Federal, state and local laws and regulations vary, but generally govern wastewater or storm water discharges, air emissions, the handling, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, and the remediation of contamination associated with the release or threatened release of hazardous substances. These laws and regulations provide governmental authorities with strict powers of enforcement, which include the ability to revoke or decline to renew any of the company’s operating permits, obtain injunctions, or impose fines or penalties in the event of violations, including criminal penalties. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and various other federal, state and local authorities administer these regulations.
The primary federal, environmental, and occupational health and safety-related statutes that affect the company’s facilities and operations, such as the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980; the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972; the Clean Air Act; and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
With regard to the company’s solid waste transportation operations, it is subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board and are regulated by the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Motor Carriers, and by regulatory agencies in states that regulate such matters.
History
Republic Services, Inc. was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1996.
