The NEXT company in my ongoing series of the Top 25 stocks for the NEXT 25 Years is Darling International, Inc. (AMEX: DAR). Darling is headquartered in Irving, Texas, and has a current market capitalization of $715 million. The stock is trading at around $8.90 and has a daily average trading volume of 800,000 shares. The company does not play in a glamorous industry as its name would imply, but it does operate in a growing, vital industry.

Darling provides recovery, rendering, and recycling services and solutions to the food and restaurant industry. The rendering division collects and processes animal by-products including the hides from grocery stores, poultry and meat processors, and butcher shops. It processes these by-products into reusable proteins and oils sold to leather and oleo-chemical producers.

The restaurant services division collects used cooking oil from food services providers, including cafeterias and restaurants, and recycles these oils into industrial oils and high-energy animal feed. The division also manufactures grease-traps used by high-volume food preparers and restaurants. The businesses as I said are not glamorous, but certainly critical as industry handles its waste products more efficiently and profitably.