The Circular Economy Cascade
Voytek@thevoytek
+2.8%
since Oct 6
The idea
I believe the economy is moving from make-use-discard to a circular loop, and I built this to follow that cascade top to bottom: renting first, then repair, resale, parts reuse, and recycling last. The weighting leans toward the proven cash generators in waste, recycling, and auto parts at each stage, with smaller positions in resale and refurbishment names for upside as secondhand goes mainstream. I'm holding cash on the side and thinking in years, not quarters, since this is a bet on a structural shift rather than a quick trade.
What it owns
- Steady cash-generating operators capture materials and feed them back into production as the final layer of the cascade. · Waste ManagementIt controls the collection routes and landfills everything flows through, plus a growing recycling and landfill-gas business., Republic ServicesIt is the second big waste collector with heavy investment in recycling plants and plastics recovery., Casella Waste SystemsIt is the regional waste and recycling operator in the Northeast growing by adding capacity and diverting more from landfills., Steel DynamicsIt makes steel from scrap in electric furnaces rather than from mined ore, so recycled metal is its primary raw material., Darling IngredientsIt turns animal and food waste into fats, proteins, and renewable diesel feedstock, making discarded material into new inputs., Clean HarborsIt recovers and re-refines industrial waste including used motor oil turned back into base oil, applying loop logic to the messiest materials., Commercial MetalsIt runs scrap yards and mills that melt scrap into rebar and other steel, creating a closed metal loop inside one company.32%
- Marketplaces and thrift chains move used goods to a second owner instead of a landfill. · CopartIt auctions damaged and totaled cars so they get resold or stripped for parts instead of scrapped., eBayIt is the largest general resale marketplace where secondhand goods change hands at scale., Savers Value VillageIt is a for-profit thrift chain that buys donated goods by the pound and resells them, resale as a physical retail business., CarvanaIt is the biggest online used car retailer, applying resale at scale to the single largest secondhand category., ThredUpIt is a platform for secondhand clothing where the resale layer has the most room to grow.21%
- Keeping products alive longer is the second loop, and parts and repair networks earn more as people hold things longer. · O'Reilly AutomotiveIt sells the parts that keep aging cars on the road, making repair-instead-of-replace into a retail business., Genuine Parts CompanyIt runs the NAPA network distributing replacement parts for cars and industrial equipment, forming the supply chain for the repair layer., AssurantIt runs phone repair, trade-in, and refurbishment programs for carriers, applying repair and resale logic to electronics.15%
- The longest loop is never selling the asset at all, and these companies earn by having one machine serve many users. · United RentalsIt is the biggest equipment rental company in North America, the top of the cascade where businesses rent machines instead of buying them., AerCap HoldingsIt owns more aircraft than almost anyone and leases them to airlines, making rent-don't-own work for the most expensive machines., Herc HoldingsIt is the smaller equipment rental player with room to grow as rental takes share from outright ownership.14%
- When a product dies, its parts are rebuilt and resold instead of discarded, completing the loop within a single category. · LKQ CorporationIt pulls usable parts from salvaged cars and resells them, making parts reuse into a business., CumminsIt rebuilds its own engines and parts and sells them again through its remanufacturing business, giving products a second life.11%
- Cash7%