What EL Harvey & Sons does

E.L. Harvey & Sons, Inc. is a Massachusetts-based environmental services company providing waste collection, recycling, and transfer-station services to residential, commercial, industrial, and construction customers. Founded in 1911 in Westborough by Emory Larkin Harvey, the company now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waste Connections U.S. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: WCN), alongside sibling subsidiaries Trojan Recycling, Nauset Disposal Holdings, and Arrowhead Environmental Partners. Its product portfolio spans curbside residential garbage and recycling collection, commercial dumpster service (1-40 yard containers plus compactors), roll-off rental, secure shredding, portable toilet rental, bulk and yard waste pickup, organic/food waste collection, and intermodal container service. Operations are anchored by two public transfer stations in Westborough and Fitchburg with automated inbound/outbound scale services, plus additional facilities in New Bedford and Rochester; an MRF provides single-stream recycling sorting. The customer-facing WasteConnect mobile app, powered by third-party Recollect, supplies collection reminders and disposal lookup.

The company generates revenue across five principal streams: residential subscriptions, commercial recurring service, one-time roll-off and bulk rentals, transaction-fee transfer-station tipping, and recurring shredding contracts. Pricing is quote-based rather than publicly disclosed, and distribution is a hybrid of municipal franchise contracts (covering 50+ Massachusetts towns across Worcester, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Essex counties), inside-sales quote requests, dedicated commercial account representatives, and self-haul drop-off. Multi-generational Harvey family leadership and a 110+ year operating history underpin brand trust, while over twenty industry recognitions (including the 2015 CDRA Recycler of the Year and repeated Worcester Business Journal Best of Business awards) support regional positioning. Recent operational headwinds include a May 2024 fire at the New Bedford facility and a December 2025 EPA Clean Water Act consent agreement that imposed an $86,000 penalty (the largest share of a $170,000 combined action across Waste Connections subsidiaries) for unpermitted industrial wastewater discharges between February 2022 and March 2024.

Name

EL Harvey & Sons

Legal name

E.L. Harvey & Sons, Inc.

Website

https://elharvey.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1911

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

E.L. Harvey & Sons is a Massachusetts-based waste management and recycling services provider founded in 1911, now operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN), serving residential, commercial, industrial, and construction customers across 50-plus municipalities from transfer stations in Westborough and Fitchburg.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Westborough

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Residential Subscription Services: Ongoing curbside garbage, recycling, and yard waste collection for homeowners. Customers pay recurring fees typically on a monthly basis as subscription customers.
2. Commercial Waste Collection: Dumpster rental and scheduled waste pickup services for businesses of all sizes, from small restaurants to large industrial facilities. Services include small containers (1-10 yard) and roll-off dumpsters (15-40 yard).
3. Roll-Off Dumpster Rentals: Temporary dumpster rentals for construction projects, renovations, and cleanouts. Charged per container rental with variable duration pricing.
4. Transfer Station and Scale Services: Fees charged to waste haulers, contractors, builders, landscapers, and the general public for disposal at Westborough and Fitchburg facilities. Accepts Municipal Solid Waste, Construction & Demolition Material, Shingles, Metals, Wood, Cardboard, and Single Stream Recyclables.
5. Shredding Services: Secure document destruction services for commercial and residential customers, including mobile shredding truck services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

EL Harvey & Sons provides solid waste collection, recycling, and roll-off container rental services to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and parts of New York. The company operates an integrated network of transfer stations and materials recovery facilities that support collection, transfer, and recycling operations. It also handles construction and demolition debris, organics/compost streams, and offers single-stream recycling for residential curbside programs.

Product overview

E.L. Harvey & Sons operates as a waste management and recycling services company offering a comprehensive suite of solutions across residential, commercial, and industrial segments. The company's core offerings include curbside garbage pickup, recycling services (residential and commercial), dumpster rentals (both small commercial containers and large roll-off dumpsters), bulk item pickup, yard waste management, shredding/destruction services, portable toilet rentals, and transfer station/public scale facilities. The portfolio is organized around waste collection and disposal as the primary service, with recycling, compaction, and specialized services as complementary offerings. Two flagship drop-off locations in Westborough and Fitchburg serve as material processing hubs. The company, founded in 1911 and headquartered in Westborough, MA, operates as a subsidiary of Waste Connections.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Residential Curbside Trash and Recycling Collection Scheduled curbside collection of household solid waste and single-stream recyclables for residential customers under municipal or direct subscription programs.
• Commercial Solid Waste Collection Contracted front-load and rear-load container collection of solid waste for businesses, institutions, and other commercial accounts on a recurring schedule.
• Roll-Off Container Rental Open-top roll-off container (typically 10–40 cubic yard) rental with delivery, pickup, and disposal/hauling for construction, renovation, and large-volume projects.
• Construction & Demolition Debris Removal Collection, hauling, and disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) debris, typically delivered via roll-off containers to transfer or disposal sites.
• Recycling Processing (MRF Services) Sorting and processing of single-stream and source-separated recyclables at the company's materials recovery facilities to prepare materials for resale to end markets.
• Transfer Station Services Acceptance of solid waste at company-owned transfer stations for consolidation and onward transport to disposal facilities, including third-party self-haul customers on a tipping-fee basis.
• Organics / Yard Waste Collection Curbside or container-based collection of organics, yard waste, leaves, and brush for composting or organics processing, primarily in residential and municipal programs.

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Waste Connections: Direct parent company and one of the largest North American waste management platforms (NYSE: WCN). Serves as both corporate parent and competitive benchmark; operates overlapping transfer station, hauling, and recycling assets across the U.S.
• Waste Management Inc. Largest North American waste services company (NYSE: WM) with full-service residential, commercial, recycling, and disposal offerings. Competes for the same Massachusetts commercial accounts and large municipal contracts; sets the pricing benchmark and technology standard in the region.
• Republic Services: Second-largest North American solid waste and recycling company (NYSE: RSG) with national hauler footprint, transfer stations, and recycling centers. Overlaps with E.L. Harvey in Massachusetts commercial collection and recycling services and represents the principal national-scale competitor.
• Clean Harbors: Norwell, MA-based environmental and industrial services company (NYSE: CLH) specializing in hazardous waste management, environmental cleanup, and waste handling. Adjacent competitor for industrial and manufacturing waste contracts in Massachusetts.
• GFL Environmental: Major North American diversified environmental services company (NYSE: GFL) with solid waste, recycling, and infrastructure services. Competes for commercial and industrial accounts in the Northeast and represents another scaled platform threat in regional competitive bidding.

Direct peers

• Junk King: Franchise-based residential and commercial junk removal and dumpster rental company operating across the U.S. Overlaps with E.L. Harvey on residential roll-off rental, cleanouts, and small commercial debris removal.
• 1-800-GOT-JUNK?: National residential and commercial junk removal franchise with on-demand pickup model. Directly competes for residential junk removal, bulk pickup, and small commercial cleanout work that overlaps with E.L. Harvey's residential roll-off and bulk services.
• Casella Waste Systems: Regional solid waste, recycling, and resource management operator headquartered in Rutland, VT with deep New England footprint. Most directly comparable peer given overlapping geography (MA/VT/NY/NH), similar municipal-customer model, MRF operations, and comparable service portfolio (residential, commercial, C&D, organics).

Regional players

• Pioneer Valley Energy / E. Rossi & Co. Long-standing Western Massachusetts waste hauler offering residential, commercial, roll-off, and recycling services in the Pioneer Valley. Comparable mid-sized regional competitor mirroring E.L. Harvey's playbook in a neighboring Massachusetts market.
• USA Hauling & Recycling: Connecticut-based waste and recycling hauler serving residential, commercial, and construction customers in the New England region. Direct regional competitor for cross-border accounts and benchmark for similar-scale New England municipal services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/elharveyandsons
• Facebookfacebook.com/elharveyandsons

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EL Harvey & Sons