The 2024 Core Price Review: Who’s Really Winning in Waste Costs?

Death. Taxes. Inflation. Waste Costs going up every year.

4 things that are guarantees in life.

I’m not here to solve death, taxes or inflation.

Waste costs creeping up year after year, let’s talk about that.

If you’re in a multi-year contract with your hauler, you’ll feel those increases.

Everyone loves to complain….but how bad is it, really? And how do these price hikes compare to overall inflation (CPI)?

We took a look, going back to 2019, to see which how waste vendors compare against CPI. The results may surprise you!

Who’s Keeping It Fair?

CPI had a total price increase of 24.8% since 2019.

If you’re trying to avoid spikey price jumps, Waste Management has been the most closely aligned with inflation, with a total price increase of 38.4% since 2019.

Here’s the breakdown annually:
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Who’s Getting The Most For Their Investors?

If you’re an investor in the waste industry, Waste Connections is delivering higher core price results. They’ve increased prices the most, with a 44.8% total increase since 2019. Their yearly increases look like this:

Compare their 2023 vs WM’s 2023. 2.5 percentage points higher.

Who’s The Most Predictable?

If you want the most stable, predictable price increases, Republic Services is the way to go. Their price increases have had the smallest range over time—just 2.7 percentage points between their highest and lowest annual hikes. Here’s their track record:
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Compare that to GFL Environmental, which had the widest swings—5.8 percentage points—with some of the highest increases (2023):

Caveat: It’s worth noting that this review doesn’t fully consider the underlying unit price of the services being offered. For example, if WM is offering an 8yd 3x for $500/month and GFL is offering it for $300/month…and WM increases their price by 7% while GFL increases by 9.8%….WM is getting ~$5 more than GFL, even though GFL looks like it is getting the higher percentage increase.

Such is the limitation of these broad measures. The details are, of course, in the details!

The Best Way To Stay Ahead Of Price Hikes

Trying to track all these waste price increases manually and tie them to other metrics? That’s hard or impossible to do using outdated software or trusting your AP process to “manually review every invoice”. That’s the fast way to lose control and spend too much money.

DSQ Discovery takes the guesswork out of waste cost management. With automation that catches price hikes before they hit your bottom line, you can stay in control and avoid unnecessary costs. DSQ Discovery allows waste brokers, managers, sustainability professionals and utility auditors to reduce their data induced headaches and to improve their client performance insights. DSQ is the best platform to produce sustainability and impact reports for waste management through: