Is Waste Connections, Inc. a Buy?

Waste Connections, Inc. is a leading environmental services provider that delivers a full spectrum of non-hazardous waste management solutions, including collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery, across both the United States and Canada. The company offers essential waste collection services to a diverse customer base, spanning residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) sectors. Beyond collection, their operations encompass landfill management for final waste disposition and comprehensive recycling programs for a wide array of materials, such as compostables, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and both ferrous and aluminum metals. Waste Connections also maintains and operates a network of transfer stations, which efficiently receive, compact, and load waste for subsequent transport—by truck, rail, or barge—to either landfills or specialized treatment facilities. In the Pacific Northwest, the company further provides intermodal services through a dedicated network, facilitating the rail movement of general cargo and solid waste containers. A specialized component of their offerings includes the treatment, recovery, and safe disposal of waste generated by oil and natural gas exploration and production activities. This includes complex materials such as drilling fluids, drill cuttings, completion fluids, flowback water, ongoing production wastes, produced water from operational wells, contaminated soils requiring remediation during site reclamation, and substances needing clean-up after spills, reserve pit operations, or pipeline ruptures. Additionally, the company provides equipment leasing options to its customers. As of December 31, 2021, Waste Connections possessed a robust infrastructure, owning 334 solid waste collection operations, 142 transfer stations, 61 municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, 12 E&P waste landfills, 14 non-MSW landfills, 71 recycling facilities, 4 intermodal operations, 23 E&P liquid waste injection wells, and 19 E&P waste treatment and oil recovery facilities. The company also manages an additional 53 transfer stations, 10 MSW landfills, and 2 intermodal operations. Waste Connections, Inc. was established in 1997 and its corporate headquarters are situated in Woodbridge, Canada.