WEBVTT - Vander Ark Podcast 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.960 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:06.280 Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:08.560 Really looking forward to our next guest. We've been doing 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.039 some research and googling ahead and some of the stuff 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.440 we came across, and just to give you an idea 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:16.919 of the amount of trash we're all creating. Average American 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:18.919 throws out some four and a half pounds of waste 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.560 every day, which becomes two hundred and sixty eight million 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.400 tons of waste nationwide each year. Thirty million tons of 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:31.680 this waste is food, twenty seven million tons plastic, eighteen 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.640 million tons is paper and paperboard, not all of which 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:36.000 gets recycled. 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.800 Him we're talking trash, garbage, waste, call it whatever you want. 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.240 We produce a lot of it. It's got a massive 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:45.360 environmental impact. It contributes to climate change. It also raises 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.720 the question, Carol, what do we do with it? And 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:48.920 how can we be better about it? 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.880 Which brings us to our next guest. He's here in 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.640 our Bloomberg and Director Brokers studio. John vander Ark is 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.200 President CEO of the forty six billion dollar market cap 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.760 in publicly traded Republic Services based in Phoenix. Stock is 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:03.000 up about fourteen percent so far this year. Cascade Investments 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.000 an investment vehicle and holding company for Bill Gates, of course, 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.240 the co founder of Microsoft, is the top shareholder in 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.440 the company, with about thirty five percent of the outstanding stock. 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:13.880 Big lead up, John, Thank you so much for being 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:14.440 here with us. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.520 How are you good? Thanks for having me listen. 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:18.200 It's great to have you here and talk to us 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:21.560 about the business, the bulk of which you know, contributes 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.120 to what moves the balance sheet. Tell us give us 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:24.800 some perspective. 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:26.959 Well, we're actually an interesting we're kind of a backdoor 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.600 view of the economy because everybody has something they need 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.880 to dispose of. So we serve small you know, households, 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.280 we serve small business, we serve large business, we serve 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.600 national players, governments, so we really get it. We have 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.800 a very diversified book of business across our you know, 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.040 almost fifteen billion dollars of revenue, and so that gives 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.000 us a really good view of the economy. And we're 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.200 very you know, spread out, and we're resilient obviously, because 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:51.440 even in a down economy, everyone is still going to 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:52.560 have something they're going to dispose of. 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:54.080 So what's your view on the economy. Since you have 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:55.560 such a good view and vantage. 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.360 Point, we're still cautiously optimistic, right the recession. We keep 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.000 reading about it and here about it, and it's not 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:02.600 really showing up at our p and L yet. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.040 Now I would say that he doesn't, you say, because 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:06.880 you're kind of resilient. But how do you pick? 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.880 Yeah, you'd see some decline, right, you think about maybe 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.079 a three to five percent drop in demand, right if 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:13.800 an economy is really going to pull back and be 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.160 in recession. So construction, for examples, portion of our business 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.720 less than ten percent, but that's down about three percent 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.200 year over year. So we saw that commercial residential start 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.600 slow certainly into last year, and we kind of have 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.920 a six to nine month lag effect on that. So 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.320 that's down a little bit. But you know, auto's down 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.120 a little bit in the first half. But then you know, 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.320 the industrial side of the business is just booming. 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:35.919 When do you need to what do you need to 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.799 see in order to go from cautiously optimistic to optimistic. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.360 Well, listen, when I see housing starts, you know, kind 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.480 of predicted to be up next year, I think that's 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.800 you know, we'll probably slow a little bit on construction 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.240 into the early part of the first half, but then 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.799 we'll pick up in the second half. And listen, I 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.280 don't think all of the indices are fully accounting for 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.120 some of the government spending that's coming in on infrastructure spend, 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.880 and we're certainly a beneficiary of that. So we're seeing that, 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:02.639 you know, hit our business and again very very strong. 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.400 So when you say the industrial side of your business 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:06.840 is strong, give me a little bit more color on that. 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.880 Yeah, two sides of Think about a major petrochemical player, right, 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:11.640 we have a lot of things they need to dispose of, 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.360 certainly some recycling, but special waste, tazardous waste, a lot 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.960 of environmental services in the middle of that that we 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.519 take advantage of that. Or think about a brownfield remediation, 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.480 you know, opportunity where you know, we're in the front 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.240 of the line there, we're doing the dirt clean up 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.880 there and we're taking all those materials and bringing those 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:30.480 to the right spot. 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:32.160 Which is the bigger part of your business? Give us 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:34.440 an idea. Is it that side or is it just 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:35.440 the regular trash. 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.360 Yeah, it's a funny, funny business. It's about if you 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.280 measure based on our customer account, which is fourteen million. Yeah, 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.640 it's ninety plus percent B two C. So you think 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.200 about the homeowner where we actually service. If you measure 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.680 where dollars change hands, it's more than ninety percent B 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.640 to B because in most cities, the municipality contracts with us, 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:54.720 and we consider that a business transaction. 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.000 Talk to me about these contracts, the most competitors that 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.640 you have in some market, it's what does the competitive 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.880 landscape look like? Because you know, every market is completely different. 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:06.520 I don't know if you've spent time in New York City, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:08.400 but the trash collection. 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.600 Here is peasy, never problem, never see it on the sidewalks, never. 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:17.560 See it's completely wild. But what is what is the typical. 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.400 Market for you? It's very a very local market, and 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.280 so it's based on really where waste moves. Now it's 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.599 starting to move further distances as landfills close, but in general, 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.200 you think about a sixty nine mile radius. That's kind 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:33.000 of a what defines a local market? And in our markets, 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:34.880 you know, we have thousand dots on the map in 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.680 the US or of customers across forty nine states, we're 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:39.680 number one or number two, and more than ninety two 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.520 percent of our markets so we really think about getting 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.559 concentration because it's a density game, right, you think about 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.080 time and weight. That's what kind of drives our economics 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.240 in terms of collecting something. And then we want a 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.640 recycling center and a landfill in that market to have 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.440 vertical integration. And that's what really provides the mote. 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.320 How much of recycling is part of the business. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.120 It's a growing part of the It's kind of fifteen 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.560 percent and growing. Yeah, and again we see that as 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.080 a big growth driver. That solid waste is actually shrinking 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.479 on a per capita basis. Okay, so is that a 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:09.839 good thing? 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.040 What does solid waste mean? 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.839 That's garbage's industry talk for garbage. So garbage is shrinking 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.560 on a per capita basis and recycling is growing. And listen, 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.080 that's our plan. We're trying to drive that diversion. And 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.360 you know, when I started ten years ago, people used 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.200 to say, well, we make all our money at landfills 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:28.919 because that was our highest margin business. And I'm a 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.280 customer person. I said, landfills don't pass the time customers pass, 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.160 and so you need to charge and understand what the 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.640 product is worth. And that's what we've done. We've taken 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.880 recycling pricing on the street to probably eighty percent of 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:44.040 solid waste five years ago, it's now one hundred and 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:44.559 twenty percent. 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:45.279 What does that mean? 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:46.520 And we've grown it faster? 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:47.200 What does that mean? 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.320 So, Matt, think about a small business and having two 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.360 containers that the truck comes up and picks, you know, 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:55.080 once a week or twice a week. Five years ago, 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.120 the price of that recycling service was eighty percent of 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.159 the price of the garbage service, and now we've flipped it, 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.479 it's one hundred and twenty percent because we've priced recycling 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:06.640 way faster and we've grown recycling faster. 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.120 Does it also mean people want to be recycling people? 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.840 We know, we do the customer insight where people are 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.600 passionate about recycling. Yeah, and they want to know it 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:16.680 goes to the right spot? 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:17.440 Does it though? 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:22.080 In our case, absolutely right. That's part of our environmental responsibility, 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.839 which is one of our values. And I would say 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:27.840 most of the time, yes, there are always corner cases 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.200 where some smaller operators not doing the right thing on 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.320 the back end, but most of the time you can 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.720 have pretty good insurance that if you're putting it in 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:37.240 the bin, it's going to get recycled. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.680 The issue over the last few years has been there 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.120 isn't really those countries left to buy our recycling like 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.719 China used to do. China is not doing it at 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:48.640 the same rate that they used to. So where do 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:50.040 these where do these plastics go? 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.200 Yeah, when China kind of shut their doors, we went 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.359 from about thirty five percent of our material going abroad 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.440 to zero in about three months. And so what's happened 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.159 is those value chains have really gotten repositioned. So there's 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.560 a lot of domestic manufacturing that's come online, particularly for 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.280 fiber and paper, So now our supply is almost entirely domestic. 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.720 What about plastic plastics is interesting, So most plastics today, 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.320 rigid plastics get down cycled. So think of your water bottle, 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.520 Think of your detergent bottle that goes into a pipe, park, bench, 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:23.760 or carpet. Now that's good. It's not going to go 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:25.760 in the landfill, so it's going to get a second life. 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:27.920 But after that, that's going to go in the landfill. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.120 So we're forward integrating into that. So to try to 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.600 take that water bottle and get it back into food 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.960 grade quality and so it can go right back into 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.240 a water bottle, and then we think we can turn 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.360 that at individual polymer six, seven or eight times before 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:42.560 eventually it gets degradatory. 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:43.680 Is it expensive to do that? 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.880 Yeah, we're investing about three hundred million dollars to produce 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:48.840 four of these centers across the US. The first one 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.560 opens up in Vegas here in a few months, and 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.040 we've contracted with Coca Cola, and listen, we could sell 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.920 out of that center five times over. We had to 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.760 limit people's buy on the back end because there's such 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.840 a short supply for this recycled plastic. 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.160 So go back to what Tim said, does it really 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.080 get recycled? Because we have all gotten really good at 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:13.160 dividing up our garbage in multiple ways, and the question 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.200 is does it all really get recycled? Does the paper 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.040 get recycled, does the plastic get recycled? What guarantee do 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.000 we all have that it's being done? How do we know? 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.600 Well, listen, not everything that you put in the recycling 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.480 container is recyclable. Fair, right, So if you put the 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.120 clamshell you might get at the grocery store that might 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.439 be made with some recycled plastic, but it's not recyclable. 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.240 And so one of the things that we're pushing on 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.360 is working now back upstream to say, how do we 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.920 get more things in the original form of pet or 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.920 HDPE that's the water bottle, yeah, and the detergent bottle 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.280 and milk jug so that it can get a recycled 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:50.240 it keep getting recycled. 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:51.680 I thought there was a little triangle on that. 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:53.439 Yeah, if it has the triangle. 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.760 Yeah, that's made with post consumer content. It doesn't mean 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.439 that particular thing is recyclable. So there's a huge opportunity 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:02.439 for education here because consumers care and they want to 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:02.920 do the right thing. 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.040 I have to say, I stand over my recycle I'm 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:08.880 like this, does this really get recycled? If I clean it, 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:09.640 is it going to like go? 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.000 It's like you spend a lot of energy doing this. 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.760 I actually do. I do care, empty, clean, and dry. 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:16.000 Those are the simple rules. 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:20.319 But not everything that has that thing is not. Can 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:21.360 we work on that messaging? 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:22.000 Can? 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.320 I feel like I've been lied to for thirty years? 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:26.920 I want to get back to our guest, John vander Ark, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:31.360 President CEO of Republic Services. He is still here in 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.120 our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. You know, John, one thing 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.480 I wanted to ask you is when we were talking 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:38.839 about it off air, your company and waste management, top 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.640 players in this industry, both with ties to Wayne Haisanga. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:44.440 How do you think about and you've been at your 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:47.319 company for a decade or so, how do you think 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.360 about the evolution of kind of how we collect trash? 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.800 Where it was, where it's going the evolution. 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:54.720 Sure, yeah, I can just tell it from my tenure 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:56.880 we started. You know, when I started, we talked about 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.840 ourselves as a garbage company, and then it was a 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.680 waste company, and then a waste and recycling company, and 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.240 then a recycling waste company, and now I environmental services 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:09.360 and a sustainability company. And that's not just market that's 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.199 just not marketing speak. That's actually where we were investing 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.280 in the business. And again I'm trying to challenge every 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.079 ton that goes into a landfill, because hey, when I 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.600 put in a landfill's a cost to me. But if 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:22.760 I can recycle it and reuse it and repurpose it, 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.200 then I get a second benefit, a second stream from that. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.640 And so and by the way, landfills aren't being cited 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.120 right that that they're closing up, and so if I 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.480 can extend the life of my landfill and I can 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.080 get a second sale of that material in addition to 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:37.240 collecting it. That's a win win. 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.520 Does this does the free market solve this completely? Or 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:46.520 does it need government intervention to entice businesses entice people 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:48.120 to dispose of their waste? 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.280 Differently, Yeah, I think listen, regulatory standards help. And we're 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.640 forward integrating into plastics. We talked a little bit about 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.480 that before, and we're doing that because we look at 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:59.880 what Europe's doing, and Europe has figured out a way 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:02.000 to take that water bottle and rather than having it 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.120 down cycled into a pipe or a park bench or carpet, right, 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.079 they've used it and they did it because the government 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.760 put in regulatory standards that new water bottles needed a 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.560 certain level of post consumer content. And now you see 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.040 that in California, you see that Washington, you see that 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.520 New Jersey, and that will hit other states and that's 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.440 getting the CpG players. So now say, hey, we have 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.520 to have sustainable packaging, and that's driving us to make investments. Right, 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.679 we're investing three hundred million dollars in these centers and 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:29.960 we're doing it with a good return. 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:32.680 So talk to us a little bit about you guys 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.800 have some clean energy projects, right, You've done stuff with 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.360 BP landfill biogas to renewable natural guests. Talk to us 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:39.079 a little bit about that. 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.840 Yeah, we have sixty seven projects historically. So when garbage decomposed, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.640 it produces two things leech eight, which is like a 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:48.160 gray water, which we capture obviously those line fills landfills 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.199 are lined, and then it produces methane, and methane is 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.640 very destructive through the environment, obviously, so we've always flared 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.240 off that methane to convert it to CO two, which 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.400 is about seventeen times less harmful than the methane we've 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.040 still burning, but still burning, right, and still a waste. 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:04.640 It's still energy going up in the air that it 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.360 could be converted. So two interred active landfills. We have 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:10.880 sixty seven projects today where we take that methane and 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.520 we push it through either a generator to produce electricity 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.400 or we clean it up and produce renewable natural gas. 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:20.920 And we have now another sixty plus projects in the 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.160 pipeline to continue to do that. And again that's good 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.800 for the environment. In some cases, we're powering the neighborhoods, right, 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:28.040 around our facilities. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:29.319 How much can you scale that up? 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.640 Well, you have to get down to a certain size 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:36.120 of landfill the capex, so the capital investment doesn't justify today. 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.120 Now that changes over time, that'll innovate, but we're going 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.640 to get to seventy five eighty percent of the gas 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.520 flow across our landfills here over the next five years. 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:50.800 Let's talk mna us ecology brought exposure to hazardous waste. 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:52.600 How are you thinking about deals moving forward? 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.520 Yeah, we've alway word with Greg great Grandchell of one 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.439 thousand acquisitions, so we do about ten to thirty deals 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.600 a year. This is a highly acquisitive space and our 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:05.440 competitors are also roll ups over time. You know, we 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.480 think our pipeline is strong, and it's certainly strong and 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.120 recycling solid waste. We spent about nine hundred and twenty 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:13.280 seven million in the first half on those deals, and 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.320 then this environmental solutions business right US Psychology was kind 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.360 of the platform acquisition in that space that provides an 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.559 anchor for follow on acquisitions, and our pipeline is pretty 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.280 full on that side of the business as well. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.360 What's the biggest problem you think what you have right 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.200 now with dealing with trash. We talk a lot about 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.880 food waste and the impact it has certainly on the climate, 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:32.800 But what do you think it is the biggest problem 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:34.120 right now? Is it just the quantity? 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.840 Yeah? I think I think we need more innovation on 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.240 the value chains to take things out of the landfill 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.000 and make sure it's truly recyclable. And I think we 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.720 need to get away from the headlines of what could 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.920 be done and all the technologies. Again, a lot of 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.280 the plastics recycling is a good example. There's mechanical recycling, 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:53.480 and there's chemical recycling. 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:55.920 Are you worried about EV's and batteries and all that 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:56.560 good stuff? 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.679 Listen, we're bullish on EV. We're forward in or we're 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.880 going to along on EV with our fleet. About fifty 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.360 percent of our buy within five years will be electric vehicles. 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.680 Where do you get those who makes electric garbage truck? 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:12.200 Well, we've got Pea Rian is it, Tesla No Pete 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:16.400 and mac Today and other players all have converted trucks. 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.400 So it's a conventional diesel truck that they're piloting, which 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:24.200 again have limited application. The true game changer is mcneilis 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.760 who's the planner space they're owned by Oshkosh. They're building 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.840 the first ever purpose built studs up refuse vehicle, and 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.000 it's a huge deal because you can then take the 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.280 weight out of the vehicle, which gives you enough battery 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.160 that you can run a full day without taking away payload. 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.480 So if we have to take a you know, an 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.200 extra trip to the landfill, that's an hour of unproductive 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.480 time for us. We can't afford to do that. So 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:50.920 these vehicles will have the same kind of fit and 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:54.000 fitness as the diesel vehicle, but they'll be quieter. The 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.880 cab space is forty five percent bigger for our drivers 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.160 because you're taking the engine out of the front and 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:03.360 it's battery in the bottom, quieter, Lots of technology benefits, 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:04.240 So we're excited about it. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.280 No, But when I talked about batteries, like I do 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:10.160 wonder about used batteries, old batteries, waste, Like, is that 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:11.520 something that you think about. 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.960 Yeah, we have partners with that. Electronics recycling is another 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.760 way computy. Yeah, Listen, it doesn't all happen perfectly, especially 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.240 in other parts of the world. That happens very imperfectly. 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.680 Here that market is fairly well supplied on that front, 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:26.760 and we have partners and we certainly collect that and 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:28.560 then we work with partners to process. 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:28.920 What don't we know? 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:30.880 Oh go ahead, Tim, I was gonna ask, we're automation. 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:32.600 We don't have much time left. We got to get 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.120 you back. Where where's automation happening in your value chain 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:35.520 right now? 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:35.760 Is it? 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:38.280 Is it beyond the idea of just taking the trucks 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.200 and those trucks automatically pick up the detraction and recycling? 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.320 Is it, you know, further down in the value chain. 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.640 Yeah, it's every stage. So on collection, for example, one 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.760 of the ways we clean up the stream is we 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.920 now have cameras, so when we tip your garbage container, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:54.160 we have a stream that can see and we can 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.840 see how much contamination is then recycling and so if 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:58.920 you have a contaminated stream, we're going to send you 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:00.840 a note and say, hey, you're streams a little dirty, 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:03.040 clean it up. If you do a second time, then 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.080 we're going to charge you. And we understand how to 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.240 change consumer behavior because if you get charged. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:09.160 This is why I stand over my garbage and I 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:09.680 look at it. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:11.880 And even a recycling center itself. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.360 What happens in New Jersey when you make a mistake 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:15.040 in the trash can. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:19.360 I don't want to know, sleeping with the fish. Is 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.320 there an AI component twenty seconds? 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:25.080 Uh yeah, I mean in our recycling center, sure, no, 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.240 And our recycling centers for sure. That used to be 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.880 people picking stuff and now that's optical scanners and all 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.480 kinds of things. Again helps us produce a better product. 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:34.960 What we could talk about trash for so long? 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.800 I listen. I think it's interesting. There's a lot going on. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:39.280 Come back soon we will. 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.000 We enjoyed this. John vander Ark, president and CEO of 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:46.040 Republic Services, as we said, based in service, based in Phoenix. 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.160 He stacks up about fourteen percent year to date. We 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.280 didn't get to talk about Bill Gates that we will 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:52.720 do next time. This is Boomberg