Casella details facility closures, expansion efforts

Rutland, Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems Inc. has announced the expected closure of facilities in Maine, New Hampshire and New York over the next several years. 

“You'll note that we isolated a charge on our income statement and adjusted the job reconciliation this quarter, the accrual of closure costs,” Brad Helgeson, Casella chief financial officer, said during the company’s 2026 fourth-quarter earnings call Feb. 20. “At our Hawk Ridge organics facility in Maine, with the ban on land application of organics in Maine, it made economic sense for us to close this facility and redirect material primarily to our landfills.” 

He says Casella anticipates approximately $3 million of additional costs related to the closure of the site in 2026. 

The company also reported permitting progress toward expansion efforts at its Hakes and Hyland, New York, landfills. Casella president and CEO Edmond (Ned) R. Coletta says the company expects the Hakes permit within the next couple of quarters and the Hyland permit within the year.  

The company is looking to more than double its annual permit at Hyland from 460,000 tons per year to 1 million tons per year. This would also add close to 60 years of capacity at current run rate, Coletta says.  

At the Hakes construction & demolition (C&D) landfill, Casella is permitting a 10-plus year expansion. Coletta says these expansions are important due to expected closures in New York over the next several years. This includes the expected closure of the company’s Ontario County landfill at the end of 2028. 

The McKean, Pennsylvania, rail upgrade landfill project remains on track for completion in the second quarter of 2026. This project will allow the company to offload municipal solid waste (MSW), contaminated soils and C&D materials at the landfill. 

The Ontario County landfill is currently taking in about $850,000 tons of waste per year. Coletta says that “quite a few” of those tons from Ontario will move over to Hyland. 

Casella also anticipates the closure of its North Country landfill in New Hampshire and will ramp down the facility’s volume ahead of its closure, which is expected at the end of 2027. 

Casella acquired nine businesses in 2025, entering 2026 with an estimated $30 million in annualized revenue added with its acquisition of Morgantown, West Virginia-based Mountain State Waste effective Jan. 1, 2026. 

“Our guidance ranges reflect acquisitions completed to date, including Mountain State Waste ... and assume a stable economic environment for the balance of the year,” Helgeson says. “While we expect to continue to be acquisitive this year, our guidance does not reflect any further acquisition activity.” 

Casella reported a net loss of about $2.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, cutting into what was otherwise a profitable year for the regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services firm. Revenues were $1.837 billion for fiscal year 2025, up $279.6 million, or 18.0 percent, from fiscal year 2024.