Waste_Inbox

We continue to see signs of an economic recovery, albeit one moving at a glacial pace. One area that's recovering particularly slowly is the credit markets and the general willingness to make big investments.

So it's encouraging to see the story that private equity firm Roark Capital Group is investing $100 million in the solid waste company Waste Pro USA. That's a sizeable commitment, particularly in these still-skittish times. But what's even more encouraging were the words of Jeffrey Keenan, a former founder of IESI Corp. and now president of Roark. He sees the solid waste industry as better market to invest in than many others. "We love the stable, recurring nature of the revenue stream and predictable margins and high free cash flow margins," he said.

That's always been one of strengths people have attributed to the waste industry, that it is relatively recession proof. Yes, when the economy's down people buy less and thus generate less waste. But in general it's a social core business that people always need.

Like all other businesses, waste and recycling need significant investment and spending to make significant growth and offer significant jobs.

It's understandable that the financial community is being cautious about lending and investing. It's a good thing in many ways, since irresponsible lending was a huge cause of the economic crisis. Still, at some point investors and lenders need to take a smart leap of faith like Roark is doing and realize that opening up the checkbook is the right economic move.

And that shouldn't be such a big leap of faith for such an essential industry.

Allan Gerlat is editor of Waste & Recycling News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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