One of the infrastructure asset classes that has endured during the pandemic, and shown its resilience, is waste. This is to be expected, as people will always produce waste, even during lockdowns, requiring the use of waste services for treatment and disposal. But it seems to have avoided the limelight when talking about asset classes that have performed well over the past year or so — with digital and communications perhaps the sector hailed as the one that has benefited the most.

So is there an argument for investing in waste assets, considering the demand and also its resilience during a crisis? For Chris Beall, founder and managing partner, NOVA Infrastructure, there has always been interest in waste, regardless of the recent pandemic. “It’s always been somewhat popular,” he says. “But increasing regulations have really added to that. In the United States, for example, landfills have to be lined and managed, and it effectively closed down a lot of places. And w