Waste Management released its 2020 Sustainability Report today, highlighting progress toward the Company’s 2025 and 2038 sustainability goals, key performance indicators, recycling advancements and recent awards.
Waste Management (WM) remains focused on improving and creating sustainable solutions for all of its stakeholders. With a commitment to consistent public disclosure, WM is shifting to an annual reporting cadence, publishing content in two formats, to further reporting transparency.
- The Sustainability Report, available as an interactive website and PDF, details progress on important issues and annual updates.
- Complementing the report, a new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Resource Hub provides easy access to data related to performance, policies and initiatives. Relevant updates and an archive of past reports are available within the ESG Resource Hub.
“The world is rapidly changing and to sustain and succeed, we must remain agile and adaptable,” said Jim Fish, WM president and chief executive officer. “Our 2020 Sustainability Report is a testament to how we address challenges and opportunities related to the environment, social issues and governance. The report outlines progress in 2019 and speaks to the shifts we made to power through turbulent months, mitigate climate change, keep people first, and work together with our communities.”
2020 Sustainability Report Highlights:
WM’s People-First Culture
- WM’s Commitments and Values are guiding principles to highlight what matters most: people, customers, environment and a dedication to safety. WM’s internal podcast, The Route, featured driver and veteran Taylor Krause’s journey from working on the deck of an aircraft carrier to the driver’s seat of a WM truck.
Recycling
- As an industry leader committed to investing in recycling infrastructure, WM keeps long-term sustainability in mind. WM invested a total of more than $200 million in recycling infrastructure across 2018 and 2019 and processed a record 15.5 million tons of material for beneficial use in 2019.
Solving Waste Together
- WM helps customers manage waste in environmentally responsible and valuable ways. Solutions come in many forms from helping a well-known customer recycle car seats, to increasing use of post-consumer resin in products. In collaboration with Cascade Cart Solutions, WM is testing the industry’s first EcoCarts.
Providing Long-Term Value
- When landfills reach capacity, they don’t reach the end of their useful life. WM converts some closed landfill land into beneficial assets, including recreational spaces, wildlife habitats and hosting solar energy development projects with eight sites collectively generating 60 megawatts of power.
Mitigating Climate Change and Reducing Emissions
- WM tackles climate change through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, fleet and electricity use, and through recycling services. Over the past decade, WM has reduced its carbon intensity as measured by emissions per ton of waste disposed.
- WM consistently reduces fleet GHG emissions per mile driven, working toward a science-based target to cut fleet emissions by 45 percent by 2038, against a 2010 baseline. By the end of 2019, for every 1,000 miles driven, WM had reduced our GHG emissions by 32%, and total GHG emissions by 36% for our collection and support fleet.
The report’s interactive microsite invites visitors on a journey to see how WM collects, processes and safely manages waste by partnering to build value together.