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SASB

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions

SASB Code Category Unit of Measure Sustainability Metric Response
SASB Code: IF-WM-110a.1 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t) CO2e Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric:
  1. Gross global Scope 1 emissions, metric tons CO2e
  2. percentage covered under emissions-limiting regulation
  3. percentage covered under emissions-reporting regulation
 Response:
  1. 16,975,323 metric tons CO2e
  2. 76%
  3. 79%
SASB Code: IF-WM-110a.2 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Million British Thermal Units (MMBtu), Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric:
  1. Total landfill gas generated
  2. percentage flared
  3. percentage used for energy
 Response:
  1. Total landfill gas collected: 113,195,478 MMBtu
  2. Percent landfill gas flared: 55%
  3. Percent landfill gas recovered for beneficial reuse: 45%
SASB Code: IF-WM-110a.3 Category: Discussion and Analysis Unit of Measure: n/a Sustainability Metric: Description of long-term and short-term strategy or plan to manage Scope 1 emissions, emission-reduction targets, and an analysis of performance against those targets Response: WM is committed to reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions aligned with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C, with an aim of target approval by the Science Based Target Initiative in 2022.

To achieve this goal, our strategy is to reduce emissions from our landfills, fleet and electricity use, and continue to increase emissions-avoiding services that we provide to our customers.

We have established short-term 2025 goals in the following areas:
Goal Description 2025 % achieved to date
Collection fleet to be alternative fuel vehicles 70% 57%
Alternative fuel vehicles to run on renewable natural gas 50% 53%
Renewable electricity at WM controlled sites 100% 27%
We continue to develop and implement solutions to reduce our own and our customers’ carbon footprints. Currently, the services we provide avoid three times more GHG emissions than we generate in our operations.

CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS
  • Providing residential, commercial and industrial collection and recycling processing services to our customers across North America
  • Providing climate-related sustainability consulting services to customers who want to reduce their carbon footprints
  • Helping create new markets for recycled products
  • Educating customers on how and what to recycle
RECYCLING SERVICES
  • Investing in technology to improve the quality of recycled material that we sell and increase material capture
  • Focusing on recycling materials that provide the greatest GHG reduction benefits
  • Turning food waste into energy or compost
  • Purchasing products made with recycled content
  • Expanding recycling facility infrastructure to new, under-resourced markets
FLEET TRANSFORMATION
  • Transitioning our fleet to near zero emission natural gas vehicles
  • Using renewable fuel, including landfill gas, in our fleet
  • Using smart logistics technologies to reduce fleet miles traveled
  • Using hybrid dozers at our landfills
  • Working across vendors and manufacturers to evaluate the viability of and pilot the use of electric vehicles for industry use
ENERGY SERVICES
  • Creating renewable electricity and fuel from biogas at our landfills
  • Using renewable electricity at our sites
  • Hosting solar farms at our landfills for renewable electricity generation into the electric grid
  • Creating renewable energy from food waste at our CORe® facilities
Details on these programs and all of WM’s goals can be found in our Sustainability Report and ESG Resource Hub.

Air Quality

SASB Code Category Unit of Measure Sustainability Metric Response
SASB Code: IF-WM-120a.1 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t) Sustainability Metric: Air emissions of the following pollutants:
  1. NOX (excluding N2O)
  2. SOX
  3. non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs)
  4. hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)
 Response: Based on the total amount of landfill gas recovered, WM’s operations generated:
per ton of solid waste handled at facilities with gas collection
  1. 0.000045076 ton of NOX
  2. 0.0000072617 ton of SOX
  3. 0.00000096662 ton non-methane organic compounds (NMVOC)
  4. not reported (HAPs)
SASB Code: IF-WM-120a.2 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Sustainability Metric: Number of facilities in or near areas of dense population Response:
Urbanization Status Total
Within an urbanized area 38 active
84 closed		 122
Within 5 km of an urbanized area 85 active
61 closed		 146
Outside a 5 km perimeter of an urbanized area 134 active
47 closed		 181
See the Environmental Justice section of our ESG Resource Hub for more details.
SASB Code: IF-WM-120a.3 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Sustainability Metric: Number of incidents of non-compliance associated with air emissions Response: 3

Fleet Fuel Management

SASB Code Category Unit of Measure Sustainability Metric Response
SASB Code: IF-WM-110b.1 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Gigajoules, Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric:
  1. Fleet fuel consumed
  2. percentage natural gas
  3. percentage renewable
 Response:
  1. 25,918,418 gigajoules
  2. 51% natural gas from both renewable (landfill-gas and dairy) and non-renewable sources
  3. 24% renewable
SASB Code: IF-WM-110b.2 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric: Percentage of alternative energy vehicles in fleet Response: 57% alternative energy vehicles in total fleet

Management of Leachate and Hazardous Waste

SASB Code Category Unit of Measure Sustainability Metric Response
SASB Code: IF-WM-150a.1 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t), Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric: Total Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) releases, percentage released to water Response: Total TRI Compounds Releases to Air: 16.65 MT
Total TRI Compounds Releases to Water: 0 MT, <1%
Total TRI Compounds Contained in RCRA Facility: 12,146 MT
Total TRI Compounds Contained in Underground Injection: 2,260 MT
SASB Code: IF-WM-150a.2 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Sustainability Metric: Number of corrective actions implemented for landfill releases Response: Our modern solid waste landfill liners continue to perform as designed, protecting water, soil, and groundwater as intended.
SASB Code: IF-WM-150a.3 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Sustainability Metric: Number of incidents of non-compliance associated with environmental impacts Response: 5 formal enforcement actions in 2021; 8 reported spills

Workforce Health and Safety

SASB Code Category Unit of Measure Sustainability Metric Response
SASB Code: IF-WM-320a.1 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Rate Sustainability Metric:
  1. Total recordable injury rate (TRIR)
  2. fatality rate
  3. near miss frequency rate (NMFR) for:
    (a) direct employees and
    (b) contract employees
 Response: (1) Total recordable injury rate (TRIR): 3 incidents per 100 employees

For additional safety metrics, see also the numbers for Days Away/Restricted or Transfer; Vehicle Accident Recordable Rate; and Hourly Accident Recordable Rate within our Data Center.
SASB Code: IF-WM-320a.2 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Percentile (%) Sustainability Metric: Safety Measurement System BASIC percentiles for:
  1. Unsafe Driving
  2. Hours-of-Service Compliance
  3. Driver Fitness
  4. Controlled Substances/Alcohol
  5. Vehicle Maintenance
  6. Hazardous Materials Compliance
 Response:
  1. 3.81%
  2. 0.0%
  3. 4.24%
  4. 0.0%
  5. 31.77%
  6. 0.0%
For additional information on our safety program, please visit our ESG Resource Hub.
SASB Code: IF-WM-320a.3 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Sustainability Metric: Number of vehicle accidents and incidents Response: In the absence of OSHA metrics and definitions for “unsafe driving” and absence of comparable industry data on hours of service for both the public and private sectors, please refer to the safety section of our Sustainability Report and Data Center, p. 9.

Labor Relations

SASB Code Category Unit of Measure Sustainability Metric Response
SASB Code: IF-WM-310a.1 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric: Percentage of active workforce covered under collective bargaining agreements Response: 21%
SASB Code: IF-WM-310a.2 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number, Days Sustainability Metric: Number and duration of strikes and lockouts Response: 0, 0

Resource Recycling & Recovery

SASB Code Category Unit of Measure Sustainability Metric Response
SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.1 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t), Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric: Amount of waste incinerated, percentage hazardous, percentage used for energy recovery Response: 0, 0, 0 WM does not own or operate waste incineration facilities
SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.2 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric: Percentage of customers receiving
  1. recycling services, by customer type
  2. composting services, by customer type
 Response:
  1. 28% commercial, 19% industrial, 75% residential customers
  2. 2% commercial, <1% industrial, 38% residential customers
Note: Residential composting services includes yard waste collection
SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.3 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t) Sustainability Metric: Amount of material
  1. recycled
  2. composted
  3. processed as waste-to-energy
 Response:
  1. 11,418,258 MT
  2. 3,919,198 MT (includes organic material composted, mulched or processed in CORe® facilities)
  3. 0
SASB Code: IF-WM-420a.4 Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t), Percentage (%) Sustainability Metric: Amount of electronic waste collected, percentage recovered through recycling Response: 3,567 tons
SASB Code: IF-WM-000.A Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Activity Metric: Number of customers by category: (1) municipal, (2) commercial, (3) industrial, (4) residential, and (5) other Response: Not reported, customer categories are inconsistent with WM’s financial reporting.
SASB Code: IF-WM-000.B Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Activity Metric: Vehicle fleet size Response: 18,927 collection vehicles, 10,832 alternative energy vehicles
SASB Code: IF-WM-000.C Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Number Activity Metric: Number of
  1. landfills,
  2. transfer stations,
  3. recycling centers
  4. composting centers,
  5. incinerators, and
  6. all other facilities
 Response:
  1. landfills: 260
  2. transfer stations: 340
  3. recycling centers: 96
  4. organics facilities: 44
  5. incinerators: 0
  6. all other facilities:
    landfill gas-to-energy facilities: 144
SASB Code: IF-WM-000.D Category: Quantitative Unit of Measure: Metric tons (t) Activity Metric: Amount of materials managed by customer category: (1) municipal, (2) commercial, (3) industrial, (4) residential, and (5) other Response: Customer categories are inconsistent with WM’s financial reporting.

Amount of materials managed:

Municipal Solid Waste: 124,887,000 MT
Hazardous Waste: 610,000 MT
Recyclable Materials: 15,337,457 MT

Data represented as of Dec 31, 2021