Waste Management, Inc - Environmental Record

Environmental Record

Waste Management's operations consist of environmental protection, groundwater protection, environmental engineering, and air and gas management. Waste Management currently operates ten full-scale waste treatment landfill projects in the U.S. and Canada. As a member of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), Waste Management made a commitment during the pilot phase to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by four percent below the average of its 1998–2001 baseline by 2006. They have also replaced nearly 500 diesel-fueled trucks with vehicles that run on 100 percent natural gas. These new garbage and recycling trucks comprise one of the nation’s largest fleets of heavy-duty trucks powered exclusively by natural gas.

In November 2009, at Waste Management's Altamont Landfill, a new plant began producing 13,000 gallons a day of clean-burning LNG fuel from methane gas from the landfill that had fueled an electric power plant since 1969. Waste Management has said that the plant, announced in April 2008, and built and operated by The Linde Group with state funding, is the world’s largest facility to convert landfill gas into vehicle fuel.

Waste Management works with environmental groups in the U.S. to set aside land to create and manage wetlands and wildlife habitats. The company’s landfills currently provide approximately 21,000 acres (85 km2) of protected land for wildlife; 73 landfills are certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council.

In November 2010, some residents of Kettleman City, California complained to the EPA about Waste Management's plan to double the size of its Kettleman Hills Hazardous Waste Facility, a local dump that has been connected to hazardous waste such as asbestos, pesticides, and PCBs.

In May 2011, Waste Management's Wheelabrator division agreed to pay a record $7.5 million settlement with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for a host of environmental violations at its plants in North Andover, Saugus, and Millbury, Massachusetts. The settlement was announced on May 2, 2011 by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Attorney General Martha Coakley's office.