United StatesArtificial intelligence, electrification, and energy security dominate today’s infrastructure discussions. Far less attention is paid to another system that modern economies rely on every day: the infrastructure responsible for collecting, processing, recovering and managing waste.
The world generated approximately 2.1 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste in 2023, a figure expected to rise to nearly 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).1 At the same time, global resource extraction has more than tripled since 1970 and is projected to continue growing as populations expand, and economies develop.
These trends point to a growing challenge for policymakers and businesses: modern economies require ever greater quantities of materials, yet extracting, processing, and disposing of those materials carries increasing economic and environmental costs.
As a result, governments, businesses and industries are placing greater emphasis on a concept known as the circular economy.
A Different Way to Think About Resources
For much of modern history, economic activity has followed a relatively straightforward model. Resources are extracted, transformed into products, consumed, and ultimately discarded.
The circular economy seeks to extend the life of those resources by keeping materials in productive use for as long as possible through reuse, recycling, refurbishment, and recovery. The objective is not simply to reduce waste. It is to improve resource efficiency, recover valuable materials, and reduce dependence on newly extracted resources.
The importance of this shift becomes clearer when viewed against broader resource trends. According to UNEP’s Global Resources Outlook, global material use has increased from roughly 30 billion tonnes in 1970 to more than 100 billion tonnes today, driven by population growth, urbanisation and rising consumption.2 Material extraction could increase by about 60% by 2060 if current trends continue.
At the same time, the cost of extracting a dwindling amount of finite resources is also rising. Copper is a key commodity for the global economy, and is central to the build-out of electrical infrastructure. Since March 2020, the price of copper futures has more than tripled.3
Meeting future resource demand therefore will require more than simply intensifying existing extraction processes. It will increasingly depend on the ability to recover and reuse materials already in circulation.
The Infrastructure Behind Circularity
The circular economy is often discussed as an economic or sustainability framework. Less frequently discussed are the physical systems required to make it possible. Materials must be collected, sorted, transported, processed and, where possible, returned to productive use.
Doing so requires an extensive network of infrastructure. This includes the collection fleets and transfer stations which gather the waste; waste treatment and recycling facilities to process the material; and finally resource recovery facilities, as well as landfills and waste-to-energy systems to make use of the end-product.
Many of these assets operate largely out of public view, yet they perform functions that are essential to economic activity.
- Recycling facilities help recover valuable materials such as metal, paper, plastics, and glass.
- Hazardous waste treatment facilities manage industrial byproducts that require specialized handling.
- Modern landfills increasingly incorporate technologies designed to capture methane emissions and convert them into usable energy.
- Environmental service providers help businesses manage waste streams, improve efficiency, and meet evolving regulatory requirements.
Together, these systems form a critical layer of infrastructure that supports both economic activity and resource management.
A Different Segment of the Infrastructure Universe
Waste infrastructure does not fit neatly into traditional infrastructure categories such as utilities, transportation, or communications. Yet these businesses provide essential services that economies depend upon regardless of market cycles. Their assets are often difficult to replicate, require significant investment and operate within regulatory frameworks designed to ensure continuity of service.
What makes the sector distinctive, particularly in listed markets, is its connection to a broader shift toward resource efficiency. As governments, businesses and consumers place greater emphasis on recovering materials, reducing waste, and improving environmental outcomes, the infrastructure supporting those objectives becomes increasingly important.
The Impax Global Infrastructure ETF (BLDX) provides exposure to a global portfolio of infrastructure companies, including businesses involved in waste management, recycling, environmental services, and resource recovery. For example:
- Waste Management operates one of North America’s largest vertically integrated waste and landfill networks, and has invested significantly in renewable natural gas infrastructure.
- Clean Harbors specialises in hazardous waste management, environmental remediation and industrial services, where regulatory expertise is a significant competitive differentiator.
- Waste Connections has built a differentiated operating model focused on exclusive and secondary-market collection networks that benefit from route density and disciplined capital allocation.
- Veolia provides integrated environmental services across waste, water and energy systems globally.
Holdings subject to change without notice. References to specific securities are included as an illustration of the investment management strategy and should not be considered as a recommendation to buy or sell. View the latest BLDX holdings here: BLDX ETF | Impax Global Infrastructure ETF
Waste infrastructure serves a distinct purpose: helping modern economies manage what is left behind while increasingly recovering value from what was once discarded. As the transition toward a more resource-efficient and circular economy continues, these systems may play an increasingly important role in the infrastructure landscape.
Learn more about BLDX: BLDX ETF | Impax Global Sustainable Infrastructure ETF
- Global Waste Management Outlook 2024, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
https://www.unep.org/resources/global-waste-management-outlook-2024 ↩︎ - Global Resources Outlook 2024: Bend the Trend – Pathways to a Liveable Planet as Resource Use Spikes, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Resource Panel
https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/global-resources-outlook-2024 ↩︎ - Source: Bloomberg as of July 31, 2026 ↩︎
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