Miners and property developers are clearly at the top of the heap but, reading Queensland’s top 100 Rich List in the Courier-Mail back on August 15, I was surprised that three top 100 fortunes came out of waste management, namely:

Terry Peabody (no. 20 with $411 million)

Richards Family (no. 40 with $242 million)

Wanless family (no. 72 with $134 million)

When you think about it, it’s probably not that surprising given garbage is a high volume business, and it’s likely to be recession proof.  Perhaps also it’s an industry that doesn’t inspire entrepreneurs to come in and try to snatch some of the super profits.  It would be pretty hard to get excited about garbage, but the lesson here is to look out for those smelly, unglamorous opportunities that everyone else avoids.