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By the numbers
Q1 adjusted EBITDA: $97.1M
Up 12.3% year over year
Q1 net loss: $5.5M
Compared to a net loss of $4.8M for the same period in 2025, driven in part by acquisition expenses and higher interest expense
- Financial picture: During Casella’s Q1 earnings call on Friday, CEO Ned Coletta noted a “strong start” to 2026, which he attributed to “positive pricing; steady, core operations; and meaningful acquisition activity,” including safety and customer service improvements.
- M&A: Casella acquired four businesses so far this year with about $150 million in aggregate annualized revenues. That includes $100 million from the acquisition of Star Waste Systems, which closed on April 1. For the quarter, $23.9 million in revenue came from acquisitions, including rollover, said CFO Brad Helgeson.
- Star Waste integration: Executives praised Star Waste’s leadership for investing in key systems and processes that will help Casella smoothly fill in its existing footprint in the Boston region. “We bought a great company who’s operating extremely well and has a strong management team … it has a nice platform for growth into the future,” Coletta said. Helgeson added that before the sale to Casella, Star Waste had been considering some future acquisitions in their pipeline “that may flow into ours going forward.”
- Route optimization and safety: As part of Casella’s ongoing efficiency and automation efforts, the company has seen results with the rollout of its in-cab AI technology across its entire fleet in 2026. The system offers “real time coaching to reduce unsafe behaviors,” which Coletta said helps lower incident rates. The company’s total recordable incident rate improved by 20% year over year, Coletta said.
- Customer experience tech: Other key tech updates include the launch of a new payment portal last month and a plan to roll out a new app in the second quarter, which are meant to save money and improve the customer experience, executives said.
- Mid-Atlantic optimization improvements: Casella’s ongoing efforts to integrate its Mid-Atlantic assets — a process it’s been working on since it acquired certain GFL assets in the region in 2023 — continues to move forward. Those customers are now integrated into Casella’s payment portal, and now the company can focus on “the exciting work of recognizing operational synergies through route consolidation, automation and facility consolidation,” Coletta said. Casella is on track to cut $5 million in operating costs in 2026 and another $10 million over the next two years.
- Landfill permitting update: Casella continues to make progress on permits at its Hakes and Hyland landfills in New York as part of a capacity shuffle in wake of plans to close the Ontario County landfill by the end of 2028. Coletta now expects to receive necessary permits for Hakes sometime in Q3, and for Highland by Q1 2027. Casella plans to more than double capacity at Hyland from 460,000 tons a year to 1 million tons per year, and also add nearly 60 years of capacity at the Hakes C&D landfill. Coletta said the plan will increase both capital and operational efficiency.
- Price: Solid waste pricing was up 5.1% year over year, driven by 5.3% collection price growth and 4.7% disposal price growth. Landfill pricing was 4.3% in the quarter and municipal solid waste pricing was up 5% year over year.
- Volume: Collection volumes were down 2.1%, partly due to difficult winter weather, Helgeson said. But total landfill volumes were up 2.4% year over year. C&D volume was up 13% year over year at the Hakes C&D landfill.
- Resource solutions: Revenues in this segment, which include recycling activities, were up 8% year over year, but recycling and other processing revenue was down 2.7% in part because of lower commodity prices, Helgeson said. Average recycled commodity revenue per ton was down 22% year over year. “The market has stabilized, and we expect the negative year-over-year comparisons to moderate as we move through the year,” he said.
- Fuel price offsets: High fuel prices have impacted the industry in recent months. Casella was able to offset this by leaning on its fuel recovery program’s floating fee system, which Coletta said continues to be an important way to mitigate cost swings.
- Updated outlook: Casella raised its guidance for full-year revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow. It now anticipates revenue between $2.06 billion and $2.08 billion, up from a range of $1.97 billion to $1.99 billion. Adjusted EBITDA guidance is now between $473 million and $483 million, up from a range of $455 million to $465 million. Conversely, Casella lowered expectations for net income to between $4 and $10 million, instead of between $16 million to $22 million.
