Casella Waste Systems (CWST) Waste360/ Stifel Investor Summit summary

Reflections on organizational culture and growth

• Emphasis on people and culture as the foundation for sustainability and success over 50 years.

• Maintaining culture is a challenge amid rapid growth, with 1,000 new hires last year.

• Monthly meetings and direct interviews with new managers ensure alignment with core values.

• Strategy pivot in 2012 focused on right people in right roles, entrepreneurial leadership, and local independence.

• Differentiation in service and customer care is encouraged at all levels.

M&A strategy and market expansion

• M&A activity accelerated in recent years, expanding beyond the Northeast to new nodes like Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.

• Focus remains on adjacencies and filling gaps along the Eastern Seaboard, not national expansion.

• Collection operations can be successful in new markets even without disposal facilities.

• Hauling and recycling businesses generate more free cash flow than landfills in some markets.

Workforce development and retention

• CDL and maintenance schools established to address driver and mechanic shortages, with over 350 CDL graduates.

• Internal promotion from helper to driver yields high retention, with turnover up to 75% lower for graduates.

• HR resources increased and training programs revamped post-COVID, cutting job openings in half.