January 14, 2009

Waste Management To Cut CO2 Emissions 6% By 2010

Waste Management reported in its 2008 Sustainability report (PDF) that the company recycled 7.6 million tones of materials and produced enough energy to power 1.3 million homes. As a founding member of the Chicago Climate Exchange, the company plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 6 percent from its 1998-2001 baselines by 2010.

Waste Management currently manages nearly 8 million tons of recyclables per year and plans to triple that amount to about 20 million tons of recyclable per year by 2020. In order to meet that goal, the company will rely in part on the volumes it can derive from a logistically efficient national array of single-stream recycling facilities.

In the five years beginning in 2008, the company plans to invest in new plant technology that will increase the volume processed in their single-stream plants from 722,000 tons in 2002 to about 3 million tons in 2012.

Over a 10-year period, the it plans to spend up to $500 million per year to increase the fuel efficiency of its fleet by 15 percent. Waste Management plans to reduce its fleet emissions by 15 percent in 11 years.

By 2020, the company plans to increase the number of facilities certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council from 24 to 100, as well as  increase the number of acres it sets aside for conservation and wildlife habitat to about 25,000.

The company’s “Don’t Waste It” exhibit in Walt Disney World’s Epcot offers upbeat views of trash.

Last January, the company launched a green consumer Web site which shows consumers how to manage waste.

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