US Waste Management Market Size Likely to Grow at a CAGR of 9.38% By 2034

Market Size and Growth

The US Waste Management Market size is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 9.38% from 2025 to 2034. The market is expected to reach USD 849.7 Million by 2034, up from USD 224.9 Million in 2025.

Overview

An expert in the field from CMI, an expert in industry trends, has expected continued growth in the US Waste Management industry, due to the rapidly expanding urbanisation, increasing investment by the key players in the advanced waste generation technologies and growing volume of waste in the US the growth of the market is driven by the rising volume of waste across the US and increasing supportive policies for waste management.

Key Trends & Drivers

• Increasing Waste Generation: Climate change goals push for reduction of GHG emissions from landfills, more organic waste diversion, and capture of landfill gas. For instance, the U.S. government has implemented the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss & Waste roadmap in 2024 to cut food loss/waste 50% by 2030 and expand organics recycling infrastructure and incentives. Encourages prevention, donation, and recovery. Furthermore, Extended producer responsibility (EPR) initiatives and corporate ESG commitments also drive this. Thus, such growing sustainability awareness and circularity trends are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market during the forecast period.

• Advancements in Waste Recycling Technologies: AI-enabled Deep learning and computer vision for waste classification and bin segregation: systems that can detect types of waste such as plastics, paper, and metals and either signal for correct binning or automatically sort them. For instance, the “ConvoWaste” system uses convolutional neural nets and image processing. Thus, increasing integration of advanced technologies in the waste recycling plants is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market during the forecast period. Furthermore, the growing integration of IoT-enabled sensors, predictive analytics solutions, integration of waste collection vehicles with GPS, fleet telematics, and route optimization algorithms to make collection fleets more efficient and responsive. Thus, such technological advancements are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market.

• Supportive Regulations: The U.S. government at the federal level and state level is implementing the various rules and regulations for waste management. States and municipalities are enacting bans or restrictions on certain waste streams, such as organics and food waste and single-use plastics, and requiring diversion such as recycling and composting mandates. Also, states adopt their own versions of federal rules (or stricter ones) for hazardous waste, landfill siting, and air emissions.

Report Scope

SWOT Analysis

• Strengths: The increasing urbanisation and growing population are mainly pushing the generation of waste across the U.S., thereby driving the demand for waste management practices and providing strength to the market. The supportive regulatory mechanism such as ESG compliance and corporate sustainability practices are mainly boosting the market growth, thereby providing strength to the market. Various factors such as urbanization, industrialization, and rising consumption of plastics are expected to provide the strength for the market. The presence of Presence of leading companies like Waste Management, Republic Services, and Clean Harbors with nationwide networks.

• Weaknesses: The high cost of the Waste Management compared to traditional practices is a significant barrier to adoption. Various factors such as low recycling rates, high capital requirements, inadequate infrastructure, dependence on landfills and imported raw materials, and fragmentation in recycling systems are restraining the market growth, thereby weakening the market momentum. The capital requirement for landfills, MRFs, incinerators, and WTE facilities is very high, and it requires billions in investments, limiting participation of smaller firms.

• Opportunities: The growing technological advancements, increasing awareness about the sustainable waste generation practices, and technological advancements such as the adoption of AI-based sorting, robotics, chemical recycling, and waste-to-energy (WTE) plants improving efficiency are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market during the forecast period.

• Threats: Despite recycling initiatives, over 50% of MSW still ends up in landfills, creating environmental and capacity challenges. Fragmentation in Recycling Systems such as every state having different rules and standards across states and municipalities, causes inefficiencies and contamination issues. Recycling profitability depends on scrap metal, paper, and plastic prices, which fluctuate globally. The volatility in the prices of these commodities is creating the threats for market growth. Import/export restrictions on recyclable materials, such as the post-China ban and tariff policies, impact business models.

List of the prominent players in the US Waste Management Market:

• REMONDIS SE & CO. KG
• ‌HITACHI ZOSEN CORPORATION
• ‌BIFFA PLC
• ‌CLEAN HARBORS INC.
• ‌Waste Management Inc
• ‌Republic Services Inc
• ‌Waste Connections Inc
• ‌Clean Harbors Inc
• ‌Casella Waste Systems
• ‌Stericycle
• ‌Covanta Holding Corporation
• ‌US Ecology Inc
• ‌Heritage Crystal Clear Inc
• ‌Recycle Track Systems
• Others

The US Waste Management Market is segmented as follows:

By Service Type

• ‌Collection
• ‌Transportation
• ‌Disposal

By Waste Type

• ‌Municipal Waste
• ‌Medical Waste
• ‌Industrial Waste
• ‌E-waste