HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Waste Management (NYSE: WM) today released its 2014 Sustainability Report, titled “Creating a Circular Economy,” which documents the company’s progress on recycling, energy production, transforming waste into valuable resources and helping businesses move toward zero waste.
“As our customers have become more focused on waste reduction, so have we,” said David Steiner, Waste Management president and CEO. “By finding new ways of extracting value from the materials we manage, we’re making advancements toward our long-term business strategy, and helping others do the same.”
“We believe we can reuse materials in a ‘circular economy’ that operates as a true closed-loop system, where little is wasted. There’s a lot of work ahead to make this vision a reality, but we’re committed for the long run because we see the potential to radically transform the way we all define — and interact with — waste,” continued Steiner.
In its latest Sustainability Report, Waste Management announced progress on:
- Reducing waste. By working with a variety of businesses and organizations, Waste Management helped create customized solutions that lower waste production, increase reuse and improve the recyclability of products.
- Growing recycling. The company extracted more than 15 million tons of materials from the waste stream in 2013. During this time, it also launched the Recycle Often. Recycle Right SM campaign to educate consumers on the simple actions they can take to grow and improve recycling.
- Extracting value from organics. Organic materials comprise about 28 percent of the U.S. waste stream. This represents an opportunity to invest in processing facilities that create compost, as well as new technologies that produce biogas for fuel and electricity.
- Lowering emissions. By the end of 2014, Waste Management will operate over 70 natural gas fueling stations to power its growing fleet of alternative fuel trucks, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company currently operates more than 3,500 of these vehicles, the largest fleet of its kind in North America.
- Harnessing energy at the landfill. When materials are disposed there’s still an opportunity to produce electricity using naturally occurring landfill gas. Waste Management currently uses this technology to provide enough energy for 472,000 homes annually.
Also included in the report are a number of statistics on the company’s environmental performance, from fleet emissions to wildlife habitat protection to the variety of materials managed each year.
Waste Management’s complete Sustainability Report can be viewed at wm.com/sustainability.
ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are the largest residential recycler and also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill-gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more visit www.wm.com.
