Publicly traded haulers didn’t see a recycling rebound during the first quarter of 2016.
Financial filings for Progressive Waste Solutions, Republic Services, Waste Connections and Waste Management show that while overall revenues ticked up about 4.8 percent during the quarter for the group, recycling revenues fell.
During the first quarter, combined recycling revenues came in at $376.6 million. That’s 5.7 percent of overall revenues and down about 3.6 percent compared with the $390.6 million the quartet’s recycling businesses generated last year during the first quarter.
The numbers indicate the continued effects of low commodity prices and the rising costs of processing recyclables.
Progressive Waste Solutions
Progressive Waste Solutions, which is in the process of merging with Waste Connections, generated $471.4 million in overall revenues during the first quarter of 2016, 2.4 percent above 2015’s Q1 revenues of $460.2 million, the company announced.
But recycling revenues at the company came in at $11.2 million, down 7.4 percent from last year’s $12.1 million in revenues. Recycling revenues accounted for 2.4 percent of overall revenues, the company stated.
Republic Services
Republic reported overall revenues of close to $2.3 billion for the quarter. That’s 3.2 percent above 2015’s Q1 revenues of $2.2 billion.
Republic’s recycling business accounted for about 3.8 percent of revenues and brought in $86.8 million in Q1, a 1.6 percent improvement over last year.
Waste Connections
Waste Connections generated $506.1 million during Q1 of 2016, the company announced. That total was down about 1.7 percent compared with the $514.7 million Waste Connections saw during Q1 of 2015.
Recycling revenues at the company came in at $10.6 million, 4.5 percent below Q1 2015’s $11.1 million. Recycling revenues accounted for about 2 percent of quarterly revenues.
Waste Management
Revenues for Waste Management improved during the quarter. The company reported revenues of $3.2 billion, up 6.7 percent from $3 billion during the same period last year.
Its recycling business continued to struggle, however. Recycling revenues were down $14 million compared to last year, with recycled commodity prices down an average of 12 percent, the company noted. All told, WM brought in $268 million in recycling revenues, down about 5 percent from Q1 of 2015.
