Texan by Nature is excited to recognize WM as a 2024 TxN 20 honoree for their leadership in conservation and sustainability. WM’s commitment to conservation, their projects, programs, best practices, and lessons learned are an example and inspiration for us all.

Honoree Industry and Size: Municipal Services, Enterprise

Honoree Name: WM

Company Overview:
WM is North America’s leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions. Previously known as Waste Management and based in Houston, Texas, WM is driven by commitments to put people first and achieve success with integrity. The company, through its subsidiaries, provides collection, recycling, and disposal services to millions of residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. With innovative infrastructure and capabilities in recycling, organics processing, and renewable energy, WM provides environmental solutions to and collaborates with its customers in helping them pursue their sustainability goals. 

WM has the largest disposal network and collection fleet in North America, is the largest recycler of post-consumer materials, and is a leader in beneficial use of landfill gas, with a growing network of renewable natural gas plants and the most landfill gas-to-electricity plants in North America. WM’s fleet includes over 12,000 natural gas trucks — the largest heavy-duty natural gas truck fleet in the industry in North America.

WM employees plant trees during their site’s microforest community planting event.

What is WM’s conservation and sustainability mission and why is it important to your culture?
For decades, WM has played an integral role in keeping our communities clean, safe and functioning. Now, we are embarking on an ambitious next chapter as we focus on reinventing what’s possible for society to be more sustainable. We have centered our sustainability strategy on three core ambitions: material is repurposed, energy is renewable and communities are thriving. With a clear focus on our bold ambitions and planned investments in the infrastructure to bring them to life, we’re reimagining what’s possible.

What steps is WM taking to address global natural resource challenges, and how are these efforts integrated into your overall business strategy?
We’ve set industry-leading goals around each of our sustainability ambitions (material is repurposed, energy is renewable, and communities are thriving). These goals are on par with North America’s sustainability leaders and will amplify possibilities for the environment, our communities and our customers today and in the future: 

• MATERIAL IS REPURPOSED:

• • Circularity: Goal to increase WM’s recovery of materials by 60% to 25 million tons annually by 2030, including an interim milestone of a 25% increase in annual recovery by 2025.
• ENERGY IS RENEWABLE:

• • Climate impact: Goal to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42% by 2031 from a 2021 base year.
  • Climate impact: Goal to target beneficial use of 65% of our captured landfill gas by 2026.
• COMMUNITIES ARE THRIVING:

• • Safety: Goal to reduce Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) annually, targeting 2.0 by 2030; and continued focus on prevention of serious injuries.
  • Diversity & Inclusion: Represent the communities we serve, including opportunities for:
    • Female representation in frontline to leadership roles
    • Minority representation in supervisor and above roles
  • Social impact: Goal to positively impact 10 million people in our communities through targeted social impact programs by 2030, using the equivalent of 2% of our net income.

“WM is honored to be named to the 2024 TxN 20 list alongside leading companies that share our commitment to advancing conservation and sustainability in Texas and beyond. WM has an important role to play in driving circular solutions, and we look forward to continuing to make progress toward creating a more sustainable future where materials are repurposed, energy is renewable and communities are thriving.”

– Tara Hemmer, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer, WM

Who at WM is leading your conservation and sustainability efforts and what are some examples of employee engagement in conservation and sustainability at your company?
Tara Hemmer
Senior Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer

As WM’s Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Tara Hemmer is responsible for growing sustainability-related service offerings, including recycling, renewable energy and organics. In addition, she oversees all environmental, social impact and governance initiatives.

Brent Bell
Vice President, Recycling
Leads recycling businesses and oversees recycling facilities network.

Shahid Malik
Vice President, Renewable Energy
Leads renewable energy business and oversees renewable natural gas facilities network.

P.J. Foote
Vice President, Sustainability Growth
Leads sustainability growth strategy. 

Eric Dixon
Vice President, Sustainability & Environmental Solutions
Leads environmental, sustainability and advisory services.

Kristine Richmond
Senior Director, ESG & Sustainability Impact
Leads sustainability goal setting, ESG reporting and metrics, and social impact.

Eric Myers
Director, Organics
Leads organics and biosolids tech/solutions.

Sustainability is embedded in everything we do at WM, and several teams across the enterprise lead conservation and sustainability efforts within their communities and work with customers to develop innovative approaches to today’s problems. Some of these teams include:  

• Our Sustainability Team focuses on reporting, educating the public around sustainability initiatives and efforts, staying on top of conservation-related conversations, and more. 
• Our Social Impact Team – at the corporate level and with team members on the frontlines – fosters relationships with our communities and organizations focused on environmental stewardship, including the Wildlife Habitat Council. In addition, the team works to implement programs to address environmental and social issues connected to our focus areas of sustainability education, environmental stewardship, community vitality, environmental justice, workforce and skills development, and supplier diversity.
• Our Advisory Services Team supports customers in their efforts to minimize short- and long-term environmental impacts of their operations through onsite and remote programs across North America.
  

Bales of material at a WM recycling facility.

What conservation and sustainability programs and projects does WM lead and participate in?
At WM, we have a number of important programs and initiatives dedicated to advancing sustainability and delivering circular solutions to our customers and communities. A few highlights include:

• Sustainability Growth Investments: As demand for recycled content and lower-emission energy sources grows, we are building circular solutions that can help communities thrive. To do this, we are executing on sustainability growth investment plans of more than $2.8 billion from 2022 through 2026. As the largest recycler of post-consumer material in North America, we have plans to upgrade or build approximately 40 recycling facilities through 2026 with advanced equipment in an effort to expand recycling access to more communities and businesses. With one of the largest landfill gas-to-renewable energy platforms in North America, we are expanding our infrastructure with plans to build approximately 20 new WM-owned facilities through 2026 that will convert landfill gas into pipeline quality renewable natural gas (RNG).
• Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC): For more than 30 years, WM has collaborated with WHC, a nonprofit that empowers companies to advance biodiversity, sustainability, employee engagement and community relations goals, to promote wildlife preservation and environmental education and stewardship at more than 70 WHC-certified sites across WM facilities throughout North America. Through certification, WHC recognizes wildlife habitat management and community environmental education programs. Our ongoing dedication to nearly 300 programs earned us WHC’s 2024 Corporate Conservation Leadership award, which recognizes one company’s overall achievement in conservation and commends their corporate commitment to biodiversity, conservation education and alignment with global conservation objectives.
• WM Phoenix Open: Over the last decade, WM has worked with professional sports leagues, teams, venues and other large events to manage and track their environmental impact. An annual example of WM’s expertise is the WM Phoenix Open (WMPO), of which WM is the title sponsor. The WMPO is the most attended PGA TOUR tournament and one of the largest third party-certified zero waste event in the world. Through this tournament, WM advances its commitment to educating and raising awareness of environmental issues and sustainability, sharing solutions on how to live more sustainably and potentially reduce impacts on the environment.

What strategies does WM use to educate and raise awareness among employees, customers, and stakeholders about the importance of conservation and sustainability?
We are committed to being a true sustainability partner for our customers. WM’s Sustainability and Environmental Solutions team strategizes with businesses and organizations across industries to help identify, measure, address and manage the short- and long-term sustainability impacts of their operations. Our decades of experience, paired with our innovation capabilities, enable WM to evaluate, develop and implement unique solutions for customer sustainability challenges. For example, WM is equipped with measurement tools that can help customers as they shift to measuring and mitigating their environmental impact, such as our digital dashboard currently being scaled for integration to WM’s customer reporting platform.

We also promote sustainability education among our teams and in our communities. For example, one of our ongoing sustainability education projects is centered around recycling. Recycling rules vary from city to city, which can be confusing for residents. We aim to help consumers make sense of recycling rules through our Recycle Right® program. We also host and support sustainability education events in our communities to inspire individuals and groups to positively impact our planet through recycling. In addition, we utilize hands-on environmental projects at Wildlife Habitat Council-certified sites to educate community members about sustainability, our operations and biodiversity efforts happening in their area.

A WM nature preserve.

Can you share specific examples of successful partnerships or innovative collaborations WM has formed with other organizations to enhance sustainability and conservation outcomes?
In 2024, WM became the Official Sustainability Partner of Major League Baseball. This is one of the first collaborations of its kind between an environmental services company and a professional team sports league. Through 2028, WM will have the opportunity to provide WM’s advisory services for all 30 MLB Clubs in the U.S. and Canada and expects to build comprehensive and custom plans designed to improve sustainable operations for MLB and its Clubs. 

Another example is WM’s work with H-E-B, a supermarket chain also based in Texas. Together, we are collecting and providing circular solutions for films and clear plastic wrap used at H-E-B stores across Texas, such as plastic grocery bags, plastic stretch wrap for pallets or plastic product overwrap. From there, we recycle and resell the material so it can be repurposed into new products, including composite decking and H-E-B’s Field & Future bags. Our work with H-E-B is an example of how we are driving circular solutions to common recycling challenges – especially as most single-stream recycling programs don’t accept plastic film today.

How do you see the future of conservation and sustainability evolving, and what role will WM play in that progress?
There are a variety of trends and developments that are changing how companies do business and increasing the need for circular solutions. At WM, we know that our customers need a true sustainability partner who can help them innovate and meet the moment. By rooting our business in sustainability, we believe we will be successful for years to come, alongside the customers we serve and the communities where we operate. 

What is the one lesson that WM has learned from your conservation and sustainability efforts that others can take back and think about applying within their own space?
In a constantly evolving world, it’s important to recognize that there are many opportunities for growth. To effectively adjust strategies to address today’s issues, companies need to understand the challenges their customers and communities are facing now, and the ones they could face in the future.

WM was on the forefront of the recycling movement when we introduced single-stream recycling for customers. We learned to think bigger and to innovate to find a solution that wasn’t already considered. We continue to look toward the future by investing in new ideas, new facilities and new markets.

Why is Texas an important home or base of operations for WM?
The decision to put WM’s headquarters in Houston was driven by a business-friendly climate, low cost of living, and proximity to rail transport and the ship channel. Furthermore, Houston and the Gulf Coast region are located along major interstate highways and are the home of many oil, gas, petrochemical, and paper industries, which share the same business sector as the waste and recycling industry.

Find out more about WM’s conservation and sustainability efforts here.

Glossary

Scope 1 GHG – Direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions owned or controlled by an organization, e.g. burning fuel in fleet vehicles.

Scope 2 GHG – Indirect Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are the result of an organization’s energy use, e.g. emissions generated from the electricity we use in office buildings.