Top Takeaways from WM’s 2024 Sustainability Report

For decades, WM has played an integral role in keeping our communities clean, safe and functioning. With a clear focus on our bold sustainability ambitions – material is repurposed, energy is renewable and communities are thriving – and planned investments in the infrastructure to bring them to life, we’re reimagining what’s possible for a more sustainable world.

Check out the progress we made last year in our 2024 Sustainability Report. Here are a few highlights:

• Investing in our sustainability infrastructure: To help meet growing demand for recycled content and lower-emission energy sources, we are executing a planned investment of more than $2.8 billion in recycling and renewable natural gas from 2022 through 2026. Last year, we opened or upgraded eight recycling facilities with state-of-the-art technology, which contributed to WM recovering more than 15 million tons of material. We also opened one new renewable natural gas facility, which expands our ability to capture methane that can be converted to renewable energy.
   
• Managing our climate impact: To meet our greenhouse gas emissions target, which has been approved and validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), we are investing in landfill cover and capping systems, landfill gas capture and emissions measurement, as well as continuing to transition our fleet to run on lower-carbon fuels. Last year, we reduced our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 12% from a 2021 baseline, allocated renewable natural gas to 47% of our alternative fuel vehicles, and utilized 43% of captured landfill gas for beneficial use.
   
• Showing up for our employees and communities: In the communities where we live and work, we are bringing our sustainability vision to life through prioritizing safety, education, conservation, workforce development and more. In 2023, we contributed $18.7 million to charitable causes, invested $795 per employee on training and $10.4 million toward education benefits, and actively managed ~13,500 acres of land through certified wildlife habitat projects.

Learn more about our sustainability ambitions and progress here.