text: **Competition**
  
  We operate in a highly competitive industry. Entry into our business and the ability to operate proÑtably 
  in the industry requires substantial amounts of capital and managerial experience. 
  
  Competition in the non-hazardous solid waste industry comes from a few large, national publicly-owned 
  companies, including Waste Management and Allied Waste Industries, several regional publicly- and 
  privately-owned solid waste companies, and thousands of small privately-owned companies. Some of our 
  competitors have signiÑcantly larger operations, and may have signiÑcantly greater Ñnancial resources, than 
  we do. In addition to national and regional Ñrms and numerous local companies, we compete with 
  municipalities that maintain waste collection or disposal operations. These municipalities may have Ñnancial 
  advantages due to the availability of tax revenues and tax-exempt Ñnancing. 
  
  We compete for collection accounts primarily on the basis of price and the quality of our services. From 
  time to time, our competitors may reduce the price of their services in an eÅort to expand market share or to 
  win a competitively bid municipal contract. This may have an impact on our future revenue and proÑtability. 
  
  In each market in which we own or operate a landÑll, we compete for landÑll business on the basis of 
  disposal costs, geographical location and quality of operations. Our ability to obtain landÑll business may be 
  limited by the fact that some major collection companies also own or operate landÑlls to which they send their 
  waste. There also has been an increasing trend at the state and local levels to mandate waste reduction at the 
  source and to prohibit the disposal of certain types of waste, such as yard waste, at landÑlls. This may result in 
  the volume of waste going to landÑlls being reduced in certain areas, which may aÅect our ability to operate 
  our landÑlls at their full capacity and/or aÅect the prices that we can charge for landÑll disposal services. In 
  addition, most of the states in which we operate landÑlls have adopted plans or requirements that set goals for 
  speciÑed percentages of certain solid waste items to be recycled. 