Largest Recycling & Waste Management Companies by Market Cap
Waste Management, Inc., founded in 1968 and headquartered in Houston, is the largest publicly traded waste company in the world. Together with its closest competitor Republic Services, WM handles more than half of all garbage collection in the United States — a concentration that reflects how North America dominates the global waste management industry.
The sector covers companies that collect, treat, recycle, and dispose of waste materials across residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Key sub-sectors and players include:
- Integrated solid waste & recycling: Waste Management (WM), Republic Services (RSG), Waste Connections (WCN) — all NYSE-listed, operating landfills, transfer stations, and recycling facilities.
- Diversified environmental services: Veolia Environnement (Euronext Paris) and GFL Environmental (NYSE / TSX), a Canadian firm founded in 2007 that has completed over 250 acquisitions.
- Hazardous waste: Clean Harbors (CLH), founded in 1980, specializing in hazardous waste collection and disposal for Fortune 500 companies and U.S. government agencies.
- Medical & biohazardous waste: Stericycle (SRCL), providing disposal of medical, pharmaceutical, and radioactive waste since 1989.
- Collection technology: Tomra Systems (Oslo Stock Exchange), which develops reverse vending and deposit return systems for recyclable materials.
Most of the sector’s market capitalization is concentrated in a handful of large-cap names — WM, RSG, WCN, GFL, and CLH make up the vast majority. Beyond these leaders, the global waste management industry spans over 120 publicly listed companies, though much of the world’s waste collection remains operated by small private firms or municipal governments.
For ETF exposure, the VanEck Environmental Services ETF (EVX) tracks publicly traded companies in this space.
Regulated brokerThe table below lists the largest global publicly traded recycling and waste management companies ranked by market capitalization. Prices and market cap figures are updated regularly.
| Stock | Price | Change % | Marketcap |
|---|---|---|---|
| $221.45 | 0.42% | 88.93B | |
| $201.55 | 0.93% | 62.27B | |
| $153.57 | 0.06% | 39.02B | |
 Veolia VIE.PA | €35.78 | 0.36% | 26.20B |
| $37.19 | 2.20% | 13.42B | |
| $282.37 | 1.95% | 14.92B | |
| $85.45 | 1.03% | 5.44B | |
 Tomra TOM.OL | NOK95.15 | 0.63% | 28.11B |
| AUD2.25 | 0.00% | 5.04B | |
 Umicore UMI.VI | €21.42 | 0.00% | 5.15B |
| $8.21 | 4.09% | 1.26B | |
| $8.94 | 17.32% | 1.62B | |
 Daiseki 9793.T | ¥4,245.00 | 0.35% | 200.73B |
Veridis Environment VRDS.TA | ILA4,811.00 | 0.94% | 7.38B |
 Befesa BFSA.DE | €34.80 | 0.14% | 1.39B |
 Derichebourg DBG.PA | €9.60 | 0.26% | 1.52B |
| $19.21 | 0.16% | 1.59B | |
 Séché Environnement SCHP.PA | €84.50 | 0.24% | 656.16M |
TRE HLDGS CORP 9247.T | ¥1,621.00 | 0.93% | 76.23B |
| €60.80 | 0.00% | 234.96M | |
 Campine CAMB.BR | €221.00 | 1.33% | 331.50M |
 Amerigo Resources ARG.TO | $6.35 | 0.16% | 1.03B |
| $11.17 | 5.18% | 207.18M | |
| SEK0.171 | 0.12% | 187.60M | |
| $1.08 | 1.82% | 22.64M | |
 PyroGenesis Canada PYR.TO | $0.405 | 2.41% | 83.46M |
374Water SCWO | $2.22 | 5.93% | 39.47M |
| $0.09 | 5.26% | 17.30M |
