In the second quarter, the U.S. solid waste industry’s five largest publicly traded companies spent about $659 million on acquisitions. That’s down from $1.5 billion in deals announced in the first quarter.
The totals include spending reported by WM, Republic Services, Waste Connections, GFL Environmental and Casella Waste Systems. Executives also offered insights on future M&A strategy during recent Q2 earnings calls.
| Q2 Acquisition Spend | |
|---|---|
| WM | $363M |
| Republic Services | $62M |
| Waste Connections | $130.3M |
| GFL Environmental* | $32.6M |
| Casella Waste Systems | $71.5M |
Spending totals are net of cash acquired, with some variation in methodology among companies.
*GFL figures converted from Canadian to U.S. dollars for comparison purposes, based on Aug. 4 exchange rate.
Recaps and outlooks
WM
WM is projecting it will spend about $500 million on acquisitions this year, with $366 million spent so far. It acquired WB Waste Solutions in the second quarter, a deal that nets WM additional commercial and industrial density in the mid-Atlantic region. WM also acquired Miller Recycling in Massachusetts in May.
President John Morris said he expected "one fairly sizable" deal to close in the second half of the year, and said WM's pipeline remains robust.
"We've talked about last year being probably one of our strongest years, and a lot of that is carried over into this year. So we feel good about where we're at this point in the year," he said.
Republic Services
After opening the year with the major purchase of Shamrock Environmental, Republic Services' acquisition activity moderated in the second quarter. The company reported spending $888 million on acquisitions in the first half of the year. Notable Q2 acquisitions include Town & Country Sanitation and Peterson Sanitation in Wisconsin.
Besides the Shamrock Environmental deal, the company expects acquisitions it made so far this year to contribute about $35 million of annual revenue, CFO Brian DelGhiaccio said.
The company plans to continue executing on its pipeline of tuck-in acquisitions. CEO Jon Vander Ark said he doesn't "see any transformational deals in the immediate term." Future deals are expected across recycling, solid waste and environmental services.
Waste Connections
The company has already had an “outsized” year of acquisition activity, CEO Ron Mittelstaedt said, with deals representing about $200 million in annualized revenue. About $75 million in annualized revenue came from deals closed in Q2, including an E&P acquisition in Canada, he said. The company acquired 10 solid waste collection and recycling businesses and two E&P businesses in the first six months of the year. That’s compared to 14 solid waste and 2 E&P businesses acquired in the same period in 2024.
Waste Connections expects to close another $100 million to $200 million in acquisitions later this year, or by early 2026. Mittelstaedt said the company has “tremendous firepower, both through free cash flow and available capital,” to complete the deals as part of an “enormous year.”
Those deals are expected to be all solid waste deals that are “well dispersed” across Waste Connections’ footprint, including some West Coast franchises and some in “competitive markets in the South and Midwest and the East,” he said.
GFL Environmental
All financial information in Canadian dollars
GFL had a quiet second quarter for M&A, with business acquisitions and investments down nearly 90% year over year. The company completed three tuck-in deals in the quarter in Michigan and Minnesota, and expects the acquisitions it’s completed in the first half of 2025 to generate about $105 million in annualized revenue.
CEO Patrick Dovigi said the company has been quiet in the first half of 2025 as it works to finalize major deals involving its environmental services segment and Green Infrastructure Partners, its privately held spin-off. Nevertheless, executives still expect to spend $900 million on acquisitions by the year’s end.
In response to questions, Dovigi also said he didn't expect the Trump administration's more business friendly approach to acquisition activity to have much of an impact on M&A strategy.
"For large-scale M&A, I guess in theory the process maybe will get more straightforward and maybe a little less scrutiny, but by and large we've never had an issue getting through the [Hart-Scott-Rodino] process," Dovigi said.
Casella Waste Systems
Casella has already completed six acquisitions so far this year, which represent about $90 million in annualized revenues. Three of those acquisitions took place in Q2, totaling over $40 million of annualized revenues, said President Ned Coletta.
Those acquisitions included a deal in an existing market in Casella’s Western region that will allow the company to better consolidate routes, added CEO John Casella. Casella acquired Seyrek Disposal, a small New York hauler, in April. It acquired Gerber’s, a commercial hauler in Maryland, in May.
Casella is entering the second half of 2025 with an acquisition pipeline of about $500 million in annualized revenue opportunities, executives said. Casella also expects to close on the acquisition of Mountain Waste in Q4, a deal meant to generate about $30 million of annualized revenues. Mountain Waste offers residential, commercial and industrial services throughout West Virginia and parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
