Houston-based Waste Management began the year nicely, as the firm posted a net income of $186 million on $3.1 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2011. During the first three months of 2010, the firm posted a net income of $182 million on $2.94 billion in revenue.

“Our revenue continued the recent trend of year-over-year growth, increasing over 5 percent compared with the first quarter of 2010, primarily because of strong yield in our collection and disposal business, higher commodity prices, and improving recycling volumes,” said David Steiner, CEO of Waste Management, in a press release.

In an earnings conference call with industry analysts, Steiner predicted that the company’s solid waste volumes in 2011 will be close to flat when compared with 2010, which would be an improvement over the last couple of years. “Of course, it’s difficult to extrapolate first quarter volumes to the rest of the year, particularly due to severe weather effects in the first quarter, so we’ll have more clarity about our volume projections after we see second quarter volumes,” he said during the call.

Phoenix-based Republic Services also saw its net income and revenues rise during the first quarter. For the first three months of 2011, the firm reported a net income of $158.1 million on $1.965 billion in revenue. During the same period in 2010, the firm reported a net income of $65.2 million on $1.958 billion in revenue.

“Our performance in the first quarter is a direct result of the organization’s continued focus on pricing, productivity improvements and customer service,” said Donald Slager, president and CEO of Republic Services, in a press release.

During a conference call with industry analysts, Slager said Republic is “on track to achieve the financial guidance provided in February.” At that time, the firm projected its annual revenue to increase by up to 1.5 percent in 2011 from 2010’s figure of $8.11 billion.

RELATED MATERIALS:

• SeekingAlpha.com's transcripts of the Waste Management analyst conference call and the Republic Services analyst conference call.