What are the 2025 sustainability trends that will affect waste, ESG and other business goals? With changing regulatory and global outlooks, businesses must pay attention to the evolving landscape. Great Forest has been tracking the latest trends. Here are what we’re seeing for the year ahead, and what the practical takeaways are for businesses looking to reduce waste and boost sustainability.
2025 Sustainability Trends
Data-driven Sustainability Metrics
“With rising waste costs, evolving regulations, and growing investor scrutiny, leading companies are turning to data-driven strategies to stay ahead.” — Jackson Shulman, CEO, Great Forest
The importance of data will grow as the emphasis on sustainability reporting is intensifying. Regulatory frameworks, such as the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will start gaining steam with the 2026 deadline for reporting. The companies affected, which include some of the largest listed businesses in the world, will be mandated to disclose information on social and environmental risks. While businesses will have to deal with some uncertainty in implementation as the CSRD rolls out across Europe in 2025, the need for robust data collection and reporting systems to ensure compliance and demonstrate transparency is a fact.
Around the world, many countries are also exploring the adoption of standards from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to align with global ESG expectations. Canada, China and the UK are among countries that unveiled the launch or development of sustainability disclosure standards in December 2024, with Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia announcing new implementations of aspects of ISSB standards in 2025.
With the push for more sustainability reporting, the need for partners who can provide reliable and robust data is greater than ever. Investors and stakeholders will demand transparent data collection, analysis and aggregation that meets reporting needs.
Growth of Corporate Governance
“Make no mistake. Businesses are updating their sustainability plans to actively respond to the reality of rising waste costs and climate risks. They understand they need to align their priorities to protect their bottom line.” — Jackson Shulman, CEO, Great Forest
With increasing uncertainty about climate change-related issues on the federal level in the United States, businesses will need to rely on their own internal governance structures to mitigate external environmental pressures. Expect to see businesses develop more robust governance structures and look to international sustainability data reporting standards to demonstrate their resilience to investors and stakeholders
As Miriam Wrobel, Senior Managing Director of ESG practice at FTI Consulting, told Reuters: “This movement from talk to action may look like a slowdown to outsiders, but it represents meaningful progress because it shows that companies are building internal capacity to measure and manage these issues… At its essence, ESG is a toolkit for companies to identify material risks and opportunities. Being smart about maximizing opportunity and minimizing risk will never go out of style.”
Evolving Legislative Landscape
While the federal regulatory landscape in the United States remains uncertain with the new administration, expect rollbacks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which encouraged investments in clean energy and climate-related carbon reduction. Projects that were funded last year under the IRA to conduct landfill upgrades and improve waste and recycling will likely continue. To make up for the gaps, states are pushing forward with initiatives that are driving change.
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Laws for packaging are gaining momentum, with five states—Maine, Oregon, California, Colorado, and Minnesota—passing new rules for packaging. EPR laws aim to hold producers accountable for the end-of-life management of their products, and are designed to enhance recycling rates. The rollout of these rules begins in earnest in 2025.
- Franchised Waste Hauling Models: More cities are adopting franchised models for waste hauling. A major example is New York City’s Commercial Waste Zones, which began rolling out in late 2024. This shift will have widespread implications, affecting pricing and service options.
- Right-to-Repair Legislation: New laws requiring equipment manufacturers to make documentation, parts and tools available for consumers to repair certain electronic devices have been enacted in some states and are pending in others. These laws could potentially reduce e-waste.
Industry Consolidation = Rising Prices
The waste and recycling industry is seeing significant consolidation. Through Q3 of 2024, the top five publicly traded solid waste companies spent $3.4 billion on mergers and acquisitions. This doesn’t include Waste Management’s recent $7.2 billion acquisition of Stericycle. On a related note, the producer price index for waste collection rose 5.9% between November 2023 and November 2024, reflecting rising costs for waste services. Waste costs are likely to continue to increase in the near future, driven by labor costs, fuel and equipment prices.
All this signals that waste cost management will continue to be a priority for businesses. With fewer haulers in the market, negotiating the best pricing and finding the right fit for a business’s waste needs may become trickier. Waste brokers like Great Forest will become more important for their access to a dependable hauler network.
“As the waste industry tightens, long-standing relationships matter. With 30+ years of partnerships with trusted haulers, we ensure our clients always have access to reliable, cost-effective waste services—no matter how the market shifts.” — Jackson Shulman, CEO, Great Forest
Technological Advancements in Waste Management
While AI technology is still evolving, we will continue to see its impact at landfills, MRFs (Materials Recovery Facilities) and in some public areas. On the ground, businesses will continue to consider the cost of incorporating AI-powered smart sensors or waste meters to monitor their waste. Together with waste audits, AI-powered data can give businesses supercharged insights on waste generation and diversion to forecast waste patterns and optimize service. The key is having actionable insights. The need for accurate data analysis will grow in importance as AI delivers more data to businesses.
What This Means for Your Business
All of these shifts present both challenges and opportunities. Staying informed and adaptable is crucial. Here are some takeaways:
- Monitor legislative changes to ensure compliance and capitalize on new opportunities. Check regulations to update compliance and avoid fines, or take advantage of new grants and rebates.
- Look beyond mandatory regulatory compliance and move towards corporate compliance. Take the lead by setting up internal governance structures and sustainability goals. This is especially useful for corporations with a wide global footprint that face fragmented waste management requirements and diverse country, state and municipal compliance issues. Best practices are a partial solution to coping with different levels of external regulations. Setting internal goals and sustainable practices provides consistency across different production and manufacturing processes.
- Adhere to voluntary national and global goals. These can be big reputational wins. For example, in the United States, businesses are encouraged to join groups that have made public commitments to reduce and report food loss and waste in their operations, and become recognized as Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions. Businesses that volunteer to comply will potentially earn invaluable goodwill in the communities they serve, while getting ahead of food waste regulations that are almost certain to come down the pipeline.
- Pay Crucial Attention to Data. Now more than ever, accurate, reliable data is necessary for program improvements and reporting purposes. Conduct waste audits at least once a year and partner with waste management professionals to receive a comprehensive analysis of your data and get actionable insights that optimize waste strategies and reduce costs.
Photo credit: Unsplash, Marnee Wohlfert