​

​

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

​

Form 10-K

​

(Mark One)

​

☑     ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

​

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024

​

OR

​

☐     TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

​

For the transition period from            to

​

Commission file number 1-12154

​

Waste Management, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

​

​

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(713) 512-6200

​

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

​

​

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined by Rule 405 of the Securities Act.   Yes ☑   No ◻

​

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.   Yes ◻   No ☑

​

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.   Yes ☑   No ◻

​

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulations S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).   Yes ☑   No ◻

​

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large, accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

​

​

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ◻

​

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☑

​

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ◻

​

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ◻

​

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).   Yes ☐  No ☑

​

The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2024 was approximately $85.4 billion. The aggregate market value was computed by using the closing price of the common stock as of that date on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). (For purposes of calculating this amount only, all directors and executive officers of the registrant have been treated as affiliates.)

​

The number of shares of Common Stock, $0.01 par value, of the registrant outstanding as of February 14, 2025 was 402,115,439 (excluding treasury shares of 228,167,022).

​

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

​

​

​

​

​

​

TABLE OF CONTENTS

​

​

​

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains certain forward-looking statements that are made subject to the safe harbor protections provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the words, “will,” “may,” “should,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “target,” “plan,” “forecast,” “project,” “estimate,” “intend,” “commit,” “potential” and words of a similar nature and generally include statements regarding future results of operations, including revenues, earnings or cash flows; plans and objectives for the future; projections, estimates or assumptions relating to our operational or financial performance, including anticipated impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022; projections, estimates or assumptions relating to our capital expenditures; or our opinions, views or beliefs about the effects of current or future events, circumstances or performance.

You should view these statements with caution. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, circumstances or events. They are based on facts and circumstances known to us as of the date the statements are made, and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or anticipated results. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in Part I, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report and may also be described from time to time in our future reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances, changes in expectations or other developments after the date of those statements.

Risk Factors Summary

Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in Part I, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this Annual Report. These risks include the following:

Strategy and Operational Risks

External Economic and Industry Risks

Technology and Information Security Risks

Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Risks

Financial Risks

​

​

PART I

Item 1. Business.

General

Waste Management, Inc. is a holding company and all operations are conducted by its subsidiaries. When the terms “the Company,” “we,” “us” or “our” are used in this document, those terms refer to Waste Management, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries and consolidated variable interest entities. When we use the term “WMI,” we are referring only to Waste Management, Inc., the parent holding company.

WMI was incorporated in Oklahoma in 1987 under the name “USA Waste Services, Inc.” and was reincorporated as a Delaware company in 1995. In a 1998 merger, the Illinois-based waste services company formerly known as Waste Management, Inc. became a wholly-owned subsidiary of WMI and changed its name to Waste Management Holdings, Inc. (“WM Holdings”). At the same time, our parent holding company changed its name from USA Waste Services to Waste Management, Inc. Like WMI, WM Holdings is a holding company and all operations are conducted by subsidiaries.

Our principal executive offices are located at 800 Capitol Street, Suite 3000, Houston, Texas 77002. Our telephone number is (713) 512-6200. Our website address is www.wm.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K are all available, free of charge, on our website as soon as practicable after we file the reports with the SEC. Our stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WM.”

We are North America’s leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions, providing services throughout the United States (“U.S.”) and Canada. We partner with our customers and the communities we serve to manage and reduce waste at each stage from collection to disposal, while recovering valuable resources and creating clean, renewable energy. Our solid waste business is operated and managed locally by our subsidiaries that focus on distinct geographic areas and provide collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and resource recovery services. Through our subsidiaries, including our Waste Management Renewable Energy (“WM Renewable Energy”) segment, we are also a leading developer, operator and owner of landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the U.S. and Canada that produce renewable electricity and renewable natural gas, which is a significant source of fuel that we allocate to our natural gas fleet. During 2024, our largest customer represented less than 5% of annual revenues.

On November 4, 2024, we completed our acquisition of all outstanding shares of Stericycle, Inc. (“Stericycle”), the operations of which are presented in this report as our new WM Healthcare Solutions segment. The acquisition expands our offerings in the U.S. and Canada and adds operations in parts of Western Europe. These businesses provide Regulated Waste and Compliance Services (“RWCS”) and Secure Information Destruction (“SID”) services that protect people and brands, promote health and well-being and safeguard the environment. Stericycle operates out of approximately 361 leased and owned facilities worldwide with 69 autoclaves or alternative medical waste treatment facilities, 18 medical waste incinerator facilities, 107 SID processing facilities, and 167 transfer stations. Included within our WM Healthcare Solutions segment are 35 locations that are classified as held for sale as of December 31, 2024. The acquisition is discussed further in Note 17 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

We own or operate 262 landfill sites, which is the largest network of landfills throughout the U.S. and Canada. In order to make disposal more practical for larger urban markets, where the distance to landfills is typically farther, we manage 339 transfer stations, excluding those acquired from Stericycle, that consolidate, compact and transport waste efficiently and economically. We also use waste to create energy, recovering the gas produced naturally as waste decomposes in landfills and using the gas in generators to make electricity. We are a leading recycler in the U.S. and Canada, handling materials that include cardboard, paper, glass, plastic and metal. We provide cost-efficient, environmentally sound recycling programs for municipalities, businesses and households across the U.S. and Canada as well as other services that supplement our solid waste business.

Our fundamental strategy has not changed; we remain dedicated to providing long-term value to our stockholders by successfully executing our core strategy of focused differentiation and continuous improvement. We have enabled a people-first, technology-led focus to drive our mission to maximize resource value, while minimizing environmental impact, and sustainability and environmental stewardship is embedded in all that we do.

Our strategy leverages and sustains the strongest asset network in the industry to drive best-in-class customer experience and growth. Our strategic planning processes appropriately consider that the future of our business and the industry can be influenced by changes in economic conditions, the competitive landscape, the regulatory environment, asset and resource availability and technology. We believe that focused differentiation, which is driven by capitalizing on our unique and extensive network of assets, will deliver profitable growth and position us to leverage competitive advantages. Simultaneously, we believe that investing in automation to improve processes and drive operational efficiency combined with a focus on the cost to serve our customers will yield an attractive profit margin and enhanced service quality. We are furthering our strategy of focused differentiation and continuous improvement beyond our traditional waste operations through our sustainability growth strategy that includes significant planned investments in our WM Renewable Energy and Recycling Processing and Sales segments, while increasing automation and reducing labor dependency. In addition, with our acquisition of Stericycle, we have advanced our growth strategy and built upon our sustainability initiatives. The acquisition provides a complementary business platform in medical waste, a sector with attractive near- and long-term growth dynamics, and in secure information destruction services to further our leading suite of comprehensive waste and environmental solutions. Furthermore, we are also evaluating and pursuing emerging diversion technologies that may generate additional value.

Our Company’s goals are targeted at putting our people first, positioning them to serve and care for our customers, the environment, the communities in which we work and our stockholders. Our brand promise is ALWAYS WORKING FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW®. We live this promise through our service offerings and sustainable solutions, our investments in innovation, our people and our commitment to the future. Through our longtime focus on finding sustainable solutions, we continue to evolve beyond being a traditional environmental waste services company. Increasingly, our industry-leading focus on environmental sustainability aligns with demand from our customers who want more of their waste materials recovered. Waste streams are becoming more complex, and our aim is to address current needs, while anticipating the expanding and evolving needs of our customers. We believe we are uniquely equipped to meet the challenges of the changing waste industry and our customers’ waste management needs, both today and tomorrow as we work together to envision and create a more sustainable future.

We believe that execution of our strategy will deliver shareholder value and leadership in a dynamic industry and in any economic environment. In addition, we intend to continue to return value to our stockholders through dividend payments and expect to resume share repurchases once the Company’s leverage returns to targeted levels, which is currently projected to be about 18 months after the November 2024 acquisition of Stericycle. In December 2024, we announced that our Board of Directors expects to increase the quarterly dividend from $0.75 to $0.825 per share for dividends declared in 2025, which is a 10% increase from the quarterly dividends we declared in 2024. This is an indication of our ability to generate strong and consistent cash flows and marks the 22nd consecutive year of dividend increases. All quarterly dividends will be declared at the discretion of our Board of Directors and depend on various factors, including our net earnings, financial condition, cash required for future business plans, growth and acquisitions and other factors the Board of Directors may deem relevant.

Operations

General

Our senior management evaluates, oversees and manages the financial performance of our business through five reportable segments, referred to as (i) Collection and Disposal - East Tier (“East Tier”); (ii) Collection and Disposal - West Tier (“West Tier”); (iii) Recycling Processing and Sales, (iv) WM Renewable Energy and (v) WM Healthcare Solutions. Our East and West Tiers along with certain ancillary services (“Other Ancillary”) that are not managed through our Tier segments, but that support our collection and disposal operations, form our “Collection and Disposal” businesses.

Our East Tier primarily consists of geographic areas located in the Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes region and substantially all of Canada. Our West Tier primarily includes geographic areas located in the Western U.S., including the upper Midwest region and British Columbia, Canada.

We also provide additional services not managed through our five reportable segments, which are presented as Corporate and Other. For further discussion refer to Note 19 of our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Collection and Disposal

Services provided through our Collection and Disposal businesses are described below:

Collection. Our commitment to customers begins with a vast waste collection network. Collection involves picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, recycling facility or disposal site. We generally provide collection services under one of two types of arrangements:

Landfill. Landfills are the main depositories for solid waste in North America. As of December 31, 2024, we owned or operated 257 solid waste landfills and five secure hazardous waste landfills, which represents the largest network of landfills throughout the U.S. and Canada. As of December 31, 2024, we owned or controlled the management of 239 sites with remedial activities that are in closure or have received a certification of closure from the applicable regulatory agency. Solid waste landfills are constructed and operated on land with engineering safeguards that limit the possibility of water and air pollution and are operated under procedures prescribed by regulation. A landfill must meet federal, state or provincial and local regulations during its design, construction, operation and closure. The operation and closure activities of a solid waste landfill include excavation, construction of liners, continuous spreading and compacting of waste, covering of waste with earth or other acceptable material and constructing final capping of the landfill. These operations are carefully planned to maintain environmentally safe conditions and to maximize the use of the airspace.

All solid waste management companies must have access to a disposal facility, such as a solid waste landfill. The significant capital requirements of developing and operating a landfill serve as a barrier to landfill ownership and, thus, third-party haulers often dispose of waste at our landfills. It is usually preferable for our collection operations to use disposal facilities that we own or operate, a practice we refer to as internalization, rather than using third-party disposal facilities. Internalization generally allows us to realize higher consolidated margins and stronger operating cash flows. The fees charged at disposal facilities, which are referred to as tipping fees, are based on several factors, including our cost to construct, maintain and close the landfill, the distance to an alternative disposal facility, the type and weight or volume of solid waste deposited and competition.

Under environmental laws, the federal government (or states with delegated authority) must issue permits for all hazardous waste landfills. All of our hazardous waste landfills have obtained the required permits, although some can accept only certain types of hazardous waste. These landfills must also comply with specialized operating standards. Only hazardous waste in a stable, solid form, which meets regulatory requirements, can be deposited in our secure disposal cells. In some cases, hazardous waste can be treated before disposal. Generally, these treatments involve the separation or removal of solid materials from liquids and chemical treatments that transform waste into inert materials that are no longer hazardous. Our hazardous waste landfills are sited, constructed and operated in a manner designed to provide long-term containment of waste.

We also operate a hazardous waste facility at which we isolate treated hazardous waste in liquid form by injection into deep wells that have been drilled in certain acceptable geologic formations far below the base of fresh water to a point that is safely separated by other substantial geological confining layers.

Included within our Collection and Disposal businesses are landfills having (i) 20 third-party power generating facilities converting our landfill gas to fuel electricity generators; (ii) 16 third-party renewable natural gas (“RNG”) facilities processing landfill gas to be sold to natural gas suppliers and (iii) six third-party projects delivering our landfill gas by pipeline to industrial customers as a direct substitute for fossil fuels in industrial processes. In return for providing our landfill gas, we receive royalties from each facility, including the benefit of a 15% royalty from our WM Renewable Energy segment based on net operating revenue generated through the sale of RNG, renewable identification numbers (“RINs”), electricity and capacity, Renewable Energy Credits (“RECs”) and related environmental attributes from the 84 landfill beneficial use renewable energy projects owned by WM Renewable Energy on our active landfills, which is eliminated in consolidation.

Transfer. As of December 31, 2024, we owned or operated 339 transfer stations in the U.S. and Canada. We deposit waste at these stations, as do other waste haulers. The solid waste is then consolidated and compacted to reduce the volume and increase the density of the waste and transported by transfer trucks or by rail to disposal sites.

Access to transfer stations is critical to haulers who collect waste in areas not in close proximity to disposal facilities. Fees charged to third parties at transfer stations are usually based on the type and volume or weight of the waste deposited at the transfer station, the distance to the disposal site, market rates for disposal costs and other general market factors.

The utilization of our transfer stations by our own collection operations improves internalization by allowing us to retain fees that we would otherwise pay to third parties for the disposal of the waste we collect. It enables us to manage costs associated with waste disposal because (i) transfer trucks, railcars or rail containers have larger capacities than collection trucks, allowing us to deliver more waste to the disposal facility in each trip; (ii) waste is accumulated and compacted at transfer stations that are strategically located to increase the efficiency of our network of operations and (iii) we can retain the volume by managing the transfer of the waste to one of our own disposal sites.

The transfer stations that we operate but do not own generally are operated through lease agreements under which we lease property from third parties. There are some instances where transfer stations are operated under contract, generally for municipalities. In most cases, we own the permits and will be responsible for any regulatory requirements relating to the operation and closure of the transfer station.

Other. Other businesses providing collection and disposal services include the following:

Strategic Business Solutions (“WMSBS”) — Although many waste management services such as collection and disposal are local services, our WMSBS business works with customers whose locations span the U.S. and Canada. Our strategic accounts program provides these customers with streamlined service, enhanced reporting, measurement tools aimed at meeting sustainability objectives and centralized billing and management of accounts.

Sustainability and Environmental Solutions (“SES”) — Our SES business collaborates with our geographic areas and national accounts sales team to offer our customers end-to-end solutions that help businesses achieve their sustainability, recycling and waste diversion goals while meeting industry-specific compliance requirements and rising environmental demands. These solutions include (i) Sustainability Services, where our employees provide full-service waste management solutions and advisory services, working full-time onsite at our customers’ facilities or through remote-managed programs (this service is managed through our SES business but reflected principally in our collection line of business); (ii) remediation and construction services; (iii) management and marketing of fly ash, which is residue generated from the combustion of coal to generate electricity; and (iv) industrial waste services, which uses thermal and mechanical separation technologies to minimize waste volumes and recover commodities at the point of generation. The breadth of these service offerings, combined with our large and expanding network of technology-enabled infrastructure in recycling, organics and renewable energy give us the ability to help customers reduce the amount of waste they generate, identify recycling opportunities and determine efficient and environmentally friendly means for waste collection and disposal. Through these services, we aim to help customers increase circularity and accelerate their decarbonization goals.

Recycling Processing and Sales

Recycling involves the separation of reusable materials from the waste stream for processing and resale or other disposition. We are North America’s leading recycler of post-consumer materials. We not only collect materials from households and businesses across the U.S. and Canada, we also process and sell them to manufacturers to be recycled and sold generally within the North American market. Demand for recycled materials is generally growing. Several states have recently passed minimum-recycled-content mandates, and many companies are responding to requirements for recycled content from their own customers and to meet sustainability targets. We are helping expand the availability of recycled materials by investing in infrastructure, increasing access to recycling services and educating customers through our Recycle Right® program.

Our recycling operations provide communities and businesses with an alternative to traditional landfill disposal and support our strategic goals to extract more value from the materials we manage. We were the first major solid waste company to focus on residential single-stream recycling, which allows customers to mix clean bottles, cans, paper and cardboard in one bin. Residential single-stream programs have greatly increased recycling volumes. Single-stream recycling is possible through the use of various mechanized screens and optical sorting technologies. In addition to advancing our single stream recycling programs for commercial applications, we continue to invest in recycling technologies and businesses designed to offer services and solutions to support and grow our current operations. We are investing in enhanced recycling facility technology at new and existing facilities to benefit labor productivity, support increased recycling capacity and allow for dynamic adjustments to respond to evolving end-market demands. In 2023 and 2024, we opened eight and three new recycling facilities, respectively, within the U.S. and Canada equipped with advanced recycling technology. We continue to invest in recycling facility automation and new markets across the U.S. and Canada. Our Recycling Processing and Sales segment includes the following:

Materials processing — Through our collection operations and third-party customer base, we collect recyclable materials from residential, commercial and industrial customers and direct these materials to one of our recycling facilities for processing. As of December 31, 2024, we operated 105 recycling facilities, of which 45 are single stream, where cardboard, paper, glass, metals, plastics, construction and demolition materials and other recycling commodities are recovered for resale or redirected for other purposes.

Recycling commodities — We market and resell recycling commodities globally. We manage the marketing of recycling commodities that are processed in our facilities by continuously analyzing market prices, logistics, market demands and product quality through our dedicated recycling service centers and account managers.

Recycling brokerage services — We also provide recycling brokerage services, which involve managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties. Our experience in managing recycling commodities for our own operations gives us the expertise needed to effectively manage volumes for third parties. Utilizing the resources and capabilities of our recycling service centers and account managers, we can assist customers in marketing and selling their recycling commodities with minimal capital requirements.

Organics processing and sales — We collect recyclable food and yard waste from commercial, residential, and industrial customers, and process these materials through a network of mulching, composting, CORe®, and anaerobic digestion facilities. As of December 31, 2024, we operated 49 organics recycling facilities and also partner with third-party processors. Our network of facilities utilizes, markets and sells products including mulch, compost, soil amendments, and renewable energy.

The recyclable materials processed in our recycling facilities are received from various sources, including third parties and our own operations. In recent years, we have been focused on reducing dependency on market prices for recycled commodities by recovering our processing costs first. In our materials processing business, we have been transitioning our customer base over time from the traditional rebate model, where we paid suppliers for the inbound material, to a fee-for-service model that ensures the cost of processing the recyclable materials is covered along with an acceptable margin. With our current fee-for-service model, the pricing for these recyclable materials can either be a charge or “tip fee” when commodity pricing does not cover our cost to process the recyclable materials or a “rebate” when commodity pricing is higher than our processing costs and we are able to share this benefit with the customers generating recyclable materials.

In some cases, our pricing is based on fixed contractual rates or on defined minimum per-ton rates. Generally, this pricing also considers the price we receive for sales of processed goods, market conditions and transportation costs. As a result, changes in commodity prices for recycled materials also significantly affect the pricing to our suppliers. Depending on the key terms of the arrangement, these “rebates” are recorded as either operating expenses or a reduction in operating revenues within our Consolidated Statements of Operations. If the key terms result in a charge to the customer, the associated “tip fees” would be recorded as operating revenues within our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

WM Renewable Energy

We develop, operate and promote projects for the beneficial use of landfill gas through our WM Renewable Energy segment. Landfill gas is produced naturally as waste decomposes in a landfill. The methane component of the landfill gas is a readily available, renewable energy source that can be gathered and used beneficially as an alternative to fossil fuel. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) endorses landfill gas as a renewable energy resource, in the same category as wind, solar and geothermal resources. As of December 31, 2024, we had 102 landfill gas beneficial use projects producing commercial quantities of methane gas at owned or operated landfills. For 65 of these projects, the processed gas is used to fuel electricity generators. The electricity is then sold to public utilities, municipal utilities or power cooperatives. For 23 of these projects, the gas is used at the landfill or delivered by pipeline to industrial customers as a direct substitute for fossil fuels in industrial processes. For 11 of these projects, the landfill gas is processed to pipeline quality RNG and then sold to natural gas suppliers. Additionally, three of these projects are on third-party landfills. The revenues from these facilities are primarily generated through the sale of RNG, RINs, electricity and capacity, heat and/or steam, RECs and related environmental attributes. WM Renewable Energy is charged a 15% royalty on net operating revenue from these facilities residing on our active and closed landfills from our Collection and Disposal and Corporate and Other businesses, which is eliminated in consolidation. Additionally, WM Renewable Energy operates and maintains seven third-party landfill beneficial gas use projects in return for service revenue. Our Collection and Disposal and Corporate and Other businesses benefit from these projects as well as 52 additional third-party landfill beneficial gas use projects in the form of royalties.

WM Renewable Energy converts landfill gas into several sources of renewable energy, which include RNG, electricity and capacity, heat and/or steam. WM Renewable Energy also generates RINs under the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) program, other credits under a variety of state programs associated with the use of RNG in our compressed natural gas fleet, and RECs associated with the production of electricity. The RINs, RECs and other credits are sold to counterparties who are obligated under the regulatory programs and have a responsibility to procure RINs, RECs and other credits proportionate to their fossil fuel production and imports. RINs and RECs prices generally respond to regulations enacted by the EPA or other regulatory bodies, as well as fluctuations in supply and demand.

WM Healthcare Solutions

Our WM Healthcare Solutions segment, through our subsidiary Stericycle, is primarily a business-to-business company providing RWCS and SID services that protect people and brands, promote health and well-being and safeguard the environment. WM Healthcare Solutions serves customers in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe with solutions to safely manage materials that could otherwise spread disease, contaminate the environment, or compromise one’s identity. Services provided through our WM Healthcare Solutions segment includes the following:

Regulated Waste and Compliance Services

WM Healthcare Solutions includes compliance programs and collection, processing, and disposal of regulated and specialized waste, including medical, pharmaceutical and hazardous waste. RWCS are provided to customers in the U.S., Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom (“U.K.”).

Regulated waste can be defined as any material subject to government-imposed guidelines for handling the material for transportation or disposal. Examples include medical waste, pathological waste, sharps and pharmaceutical waste.

Collection and Transportation — The collection process for regulated waste streams begins at the customer location with waste segregation. To assure regulatory compliance, we educate our customers and will not accept material from

customers unless it complies with our waste acceptance protocols and is properly stored or packaged in containers that we have either supplied or approved and is appropriately labeled.

Our team members then collect containers at the customer location via our fleet of vehicles. The majority of collected waste is then transported directly to one of our processing facilities or to one of our WM Healthcare Solutions transfer stations where waste is aggregated until it is transported to a processing facility.

Processing and Disposal of Regulated Waste — Upon arrival at a processing facility, containers or boxes of regulated waste undergo a quality control process to verify that they do not contain any unacceptable substances. Any container or box that is discovered to contain unacceptable waste goes through a corrective action process which could include redirecting the waste, returning the waste to the customer and/or notifying the appropriate regulatory authorities. From there, regulated waste is processed using one of several treatments or processing technologies, predominantly at one of our facilities:

Upon completion of the treatment process, the resulting waste or incinerator ash is transported for disposal in a landfill owned by unaffiliated third parties or by the Company. Additionally, in several of our incineration facilities, primarily in the U.K., we use different types of waste-to-energy solutions as part of our processes.

Secure Information Destruction

WM Healthcare Solutions also provides for the collection of personal and confidential information for secure destruction and recycling of sorted office paper. SID services are provided to customers in the U.S., Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the U.K.

We leverage a combination of off-site and on-site document destruction methods for one-time and recurring paper shredding. Our service offerings leverage cross-cut shredding technology to enhance the security level of destruction and can provide secure chain-of-custody and proof of service. Shredded paper is then sold as sorted office paper.

Corporate and Other

We also provide additional services that are not managed through our operating segments, which are presented in this report as Corporate and Other as they do not meet the criteria to be aggregated with other operating segments and do not meet the quantitative criteria to be separately reported. This includes the activities of our corporate office, including costs associated with our long-term incentive program, expanded service offerings and solutions (such as our investments in businesses and technologies that are designed to offer services and solutions ancillary or supplementary to our current operations) as well as our closed sites.

Included within our Corporate and Other businesses’ closed sites are (i) six third-party power generating facilities converting our landfill gas to fuel electricity generators; (ii) two third-party projects delivering our landfill gas by pipeline to industrial customers as a direct substitute for fossil fuels in industrial processes and (iii) two third-party RNG facilities processing landfill gas to be sold to natural gas suppliers in return for a royalty. Additionally, Corporate and Other benefits from a 15% royalty from our WM Renewable Energy segment based on net operating revenue generated through the sale of RNG, RINs, electricity and capacity, RECs and related environmental attributes from the 15 landfill beneficial use renewable energy projects owned by WM Renewable Energy on our closed sites, which is eliminated in consolidation.

We continue to invest in businesses and technologies that are designed to offer services and solutions ancillary or supplementary to our current operations. While most of these investments are in the form of minority equity stakes, they can also include joint ventures, joint development agreements or majority equity stakes. The solutions and services include (i) waste collection, processing and recycling; (ii) the development, operation and marketing of waste processing facilities and technologies; (iii) operation of RNG plants and (iv) the development and operation of organic recycling technologies. Furthermore, we continually scout, evaluate and run proof-of-concepts of innovative technologies within our core operations to improve safety, operational efficiencies and customer solutions.

Competition

We encounter intense competition from governmental, quasi-governmental and private sources in all aspects of our operations. We principally compete with large national waste management companies, counties and municipalities that maintain their own waste collection and disposal operations and regional and local companies of varying sizes and financial resources. The industry also includes companies that specialize in certain discrete areas of waste management, operators of alternative disposal facilities, companies that seek to use parts of the waste stream as feedstock for renewable energy and other by-products and waste brokers that rely upon haulers in local markets to address customer needs.

Operating costs, disposal costs and collection fees vary widely throughout the geographic areas in which we operate. The prices that we charge are determined locally, and typically vary by volume and weight, type of waste collected, treatment requirements, risk of handling or disposal, frequency of collections, distance to final disposal sites, the availability of airspace within the geographic region, labor costs and amount and type of equipment furnished to the customer. We face intense competition based on pricing and quality of service. We also compete for business based on breadth of service offerings. As companies, individuals and communities look for ways to be more sustainable, we are promoting our comprehensive services that go beyond our core business of collecting and disposing of waste in order to meet their needs.

Seasonal Trends

Our financial and operating results may fluctuate for many reasons, including period-to-period changes in the relative contribution of revenue by each line of business, changes in commodity prices and general economic conditions. Our operating revenues and volumes typically experience seasonal increases in the summer months that are reflected in second and third quarter revenues and results of operations.

Service or operational disruptions caused by severe storms, extended periods of inclement weather or climate events can significantly affect the operating results of the geographic areas affected. Extreme weather events may also lead to supply chain disruption and delayed project development, or disruption of our customers’ businesses, reducing the amount of waste generated by their operations.

Conversely, certain destructive weather and climate conditions, such as wildfires in the Western U.S. and hurricanes that most often impact our operations in the Southern and Eastern U.S. during the second half of the year, can increase our revenues in the geographic areas affected as a result of the waste volumes generated by these events. While weather-related and other event-driven special projects can boost revenues through additional work for a limited time, due to significant start-up costs and other factors, such revenue can generate earnings at comparatively lower margins.

Human Capital Resources

Employees

As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately 61,700 full-time employees across the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, and India. Approximately 54,300 employees were located within the U.S. and 7,400 employees were located outside of the U.S. Approximately 8,400 employees were employed in administrative and sales positions with the remainder in operations. Approximately 9,900 of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Additional information about our workforce can be found in our 2024 Sustainability Report at sustainability.wm.com, which was issued prior to our acquisition of Stericycle and does not incorporate any aspects of the acquired operations. Our 2024 Sustainability Report does not constitute a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this report or any other report we file with (or furnish to) the SEC, whether made before or after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

People First Commitment

Our People First commitment means knowing that the daily contributions of our team members are what enable us to play a vital role in the communities we serve. Our success depends upon effective leadership, the contributions of each employee and our ability to give them the tools they need to safely execute their roles as well as to develop and excel in their careers. As our industry and workforce evolve, we are focused on our imperatives of keeping our employees safe, being an inclusive employer at all levels of our Company, managing employee turnover, increasing retention, succession planning and development, and supporting employee experience, ongoing cultural integration and knowledge transfer. We regularly focus on these objectives when managing our business.

​

We strive to be a workplace of choice through competitive pay, comprehensive benefits for long-term financial and personal health and opportunities for growth across our ranks. "We Are WM" is our Employer Value Proposition, grounded in our People First commitment and shared through a framework that enables us to demonstrate that we are (i) investing in our teams by providing comprehensive benefits; (ii) committed to the growth of our team by providing state-of-the-art trainings and our education benefit, Your Tomorrow, as further discussed under Compensation and Benefits; (iii) performing essential and meaningful work and (iv) working for a sustainable tomorrow by leaving the world a better place than we found it. Being an employer of choice is critical to our efforts to attract and retain a high-quality workforce, while motivating us to sharpen our focus on our values that help us empower and develop good employees. By promoting from within and offering training and experiential opportunities, we help employees maximize their effectiveness and grow in their careers.

Safety as a Core Value

At the Company, safety is a core value, with no compromise. A large number of our employee population work as drivers, heavy equipment operators and sorters, which are essential jobs that carry inherent risks. For nearly 20 years, we have engaged employees on safety to continually improve our culture and performance. As part of those efforts, in 2023 we developed and implemented a new safety vision for WM, which seeks to ensure that our employees make health and safety the foundation of their work, guiding each step they take. Our safety commitment is to value every voice, protect our communities, and work to enable everyone to get home safe, every day. Employees learn safety best practices through new-hire training, onboarding programs and ongoing training. To build upon lessons learned in training, we conduct structured observations of frontline employees that cover all aspects of our collection and post-collection operations, including driving, loading, unloading, lifting and lowering and arriving prepared for work. In 2023, the Company announced a safety goal focused on reduction of our Total Recordable Incident Rate (“TRIR”) by 3% annually, targeting TRIR of 2.0 annually by 2030. TRIR measures the number of injuries occurring per 100 employees per year (number of injuries per 200,000 hours). Our TRIR as of December 31, 2024 was 3.23. While our overall results in 2024 did not demonstrate targeted progress toward the 2030 goal, we were able to determine that the number of incidents is meaningfully improving for our core operations, though these improvements have been offset by the impacts of acquisition activity as well as a significant reduction in work hours from an improvement in driver retention and operational efficiency. We often find that the discipline and culture of the Company benefit acquired businesses. Accordingly, while there can be short-term impacts from acquisitions on measures such as TRIR, we are confident that the time and resources dedicated to pursuing our safety commitment have us on track for continued progress in the years ahead.

The Company reduced overall (5.8%), OSHA recordable (2.2%), and Lost Time (2.4%) injuries in 2024 and remains focused on the prevention of serious injuries.

Cultivating Belonging

We embrace and cultivate respect, trust, open communications and diversity of thought and people. We are committed to fostering an environment where all team members feel welcomed, valued and seen. Our commitment to a culture of belonging is reflected in the diverse backgrounds of our Board of Directors and senior leadership team and in our overall workforce in the U.S., which is comprised of individuals of all ethnicities and genders. Additional information about our workforce can be found in our 2024 Sustainability Report at sustainability.wm.com. We are proud of what we have been able to achieve so far, and we will continue to strive to further embed a culture of belonging within the Company. To enable us to achieve a workplace where all feel welcomed and valued, we are committed to evaluating our policies, practices and procedures, recruitment and partnerships to ensure that our efforts are fair, sustainable and tied to our business strategy.

Learning and Development

We offer expansive learning and development solutions to meet the development needs of our people and support opportunities for growth and improvement. Our talent management strategy is designed to reach employees at all levels. Given the wide variety of employee roles and skill sets in our Company, our training and development programs are varied but generally fall into the following categories: (i) compliance, including Code of Conduct and cybersecurity training; (ii) safety; (iii) environmental excellence; (iv) professional development and leadership and (v) job-specific.

Compensation and Benefits

The objective of our compensation and benefit programs is to attract, engage, reward and incentivize valuable employees who will drive the successful execution of our strategy. We pay the full cost to provide employees with short-term disability benefits, long-term disability benefits, basic life insurance for the employee and their dependents, and employee and family assistance benefits. The costs for medical and dental coverage are shared with employees, with the Company paying for a majority of the premium expense. The Company offers other important benefits such as paid vacation and holidays, mental health services, legal services, flexible spending accounts, dependent care assistance, adoption assistance, employee discounts and student loan refinancing services. We also recognize the value of learning beyond the workplace. Our education benefit, Your Tomorrow, pays benefits-eligible employees’ and dependents’ tuition for a broad range of four-year college degree programs, as well as programs such as high-school equivalency and, for employees, other certificate programs and graduate degrees. We also provide plans to help employees save for their future for example, through our 401(k) retirement savings plan. Refer to Note 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on our employee benefit plans.

Financial Assurance and Insurance Obligations

Financial Assurance

Municipal and governmental waste service contracts generally require contracting parties to demonstrate financial responsibility for their obligations under the contract. Financial assurance is also a requirement for (i) obtaining or retaining disposal site or transfer station operating permits; (ii) supporting certain variable-rate tax-exempt debt and (iii) estimated final capping, closure, post-closure and environmental remedial obligations at many of our landfills. We establish financial assurance using surety bonds, letters of credit, insurance policies, trust and escrow agreements and financial guarantees. The type of assurance used is based on several factors, most importantly: the jurisdiction, contractual requirements, market factors and availability of credit capacity.

Surety bonds and insurance policies are supported by either (i) a diverse group of third-party surety and insurance companies; (ii) an entity in which we have a noncontrolling financial interest or (iii) a wholly-owned insurance captive, the sole business of which is to issue surety bonds and/or insurance policies on our behalf. Letters of credit generally are supported by our long-term U.S. and Canadian revolving credit facility (“$3.5 billion revolving credit facility”) and other credit lines established for that purpose.

Insurance

We carry a broad range of insurance coverages, including health and welfare, general liability, automobile liability, workers’ compensation, real and personal property, directors’ and officers’ liability, pollution legal liability, cyber incident liability and other coverages we believe are customary to the industry. Our exposure to loss for insurance claims is generally limited to the per-incident deductible under the related insurance policy and any amounts that exceed our insured limits. We use a wholly-owned insurance captive to insure the deductibles for our general liability, automobile liability and workers’ compensation claims programs. We do not expect the impact of any known casualty, property, environmental or other contingency to have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Our estimated insurance liabilities as of December 31, 2024 are summarized in Note 10 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Regulation

Overview

Our business is subject to extensive and evolving laws and regulations pertaining to environmental protection, health, safety, land use, zoning, transportation, ethical business conduct, data privacy and security, and other related and similar subjects. These laws and regulations are administered by the EPA, Environment and Climate Change Canada (“ECCC”), and various other agencies at the federal, state, provincial, regional and local level in the U.S., Canada and other international jurisdictions in which we operate. Many of these agencies regularly examine our operations to monitor compliance with applicable laws and regulations and have the power to enforce compliance, obtain injunctions or impose civil or criminal penalties in cases of violations.

Our business primarily involves the collection, transport, handling, treatment, destruction, and other processing and management of solid waste, medical waste, controlled substances waste, hazardous waste, organics, and recyclables in an environmentally sound manner. A significant amount of our capital expenditures is related, either directly or indirectly, to compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including environmental protection measures. With the acquisition of Stericycle, we have increased our exposure to international jurisdictions, primarily Western Europe, and we are subject to additional laws and regulations in the U.S. and internationally concerning transportation, management and disposal or destruction of medical waste streams, including regulations that govern the definition, generation, segregation, handling, packaging, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal or destruction of medical waste and controlled substances waste, along with extensive recordkeeping and documentation requirements. Additionally, Stericycle’s secure information destruction services are subject to additional laws and regulations regarding proper handling and protection of personal and confidential information.

There are costs associated with siting, design, permitting, construction, operating, monitoring, site maintenance, corrective actions, financial assurance and closure and post-closure obligations at our facilities. In connection with the acquisition, development or expansion of a waste management or disposal facility, recycling facility, compost facility, transfer station, processing facility, or landfill gas-to-energy facility, or the transport, handling, treatment and disposal or destruction of various waste streams, we must often spend considerable time, effort and money to obtain and maintain required permits and approvals. There are no assurances that we will be able to obtain or maintain permits or other required governmental approvals. Once obtained, permits are subject to renewal, modification, suspension or revocation by the issuing authority. Permit issuance or renewal may also be subject to public participation or other governmental reviews and may be subject to challenges and delays. Compliance with current regulations and future requirements could require us to make significant capital and operating expenditures. However, most of these expenditures are made in the normal course of business and do not place us at a competitive disadvantage.

The regulatory environment in which we operate is influenced by changes in governmental administrations and leadership. The priorities set forth under the prior U.S. presidential administration, for example, were generally in favor of increasing regulation, while the new administration is generally anticipated to reverse course on many regulatory policies. The new administration has called for substantial changes to areas of foreign trade policy and has generally appeared to be in favor of reducing regulation, including environmental regulation.

We do not know what impact the change in U.S. presidential administration will have on specific regulatory policies impacting our industry and our Company, especially given the number of rules currently in litigation, nor can we predict the timing of any such changes. Reduction of regulation may have a favorable impact on our operating costs, but the extensive environmental regulation applicable to our industry is also a barrier to rapid entry that benefits our Company. Moreover, the risk reduction provided by appropriate regulation is valuable to our customers and the communities we serve. Significant new restrictions and tariffs on foreign trade could have a negative impact on our recycling export business and our cross-border commerce, particularly with Canada, and could increase the cost of certain equipment and other materials used in our operations that we procure from outside the U.S., including our trucks and certain equipment used to implement our sustainability growth strategy. It is likely that some policies adopted by the new administration will benefit us and others will negatively affect us.

In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a number of decisions that will affect the future of federal regulation, including Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The Loper decision overturned the Chevron doctrine, which had held that a court must give deference to a regulatory agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute the agency implements. The full impact of that decision is not yet known, but at a minimum, our operations could face increased regulatory uncertainty in connection with legal challenges to agency actions and rulemakings impacting our industry.

Federal Regulation

Certain key U.S. federal statutes affecting our business are summarized below:

​

Our operations are primarily in the U.S.; however, Canada and other countries in which we operate have various environmental, safety, health, transportation and materials handling laws and regulations that we must comply with in the ordinary course of our business.

​

State, Provincial, Regional and Local Regulations

There are also various state, provincial, regional and local regulations, in the U.S. and internationally, that affect our operations and may require a specific operating plan. Many jurisdictions in which we operate have their own laws and regulations governing solid waste disposal, including for hazardous wastes, medical wastes and controlled substances wastes; water and air pollution; and, in most cases, releases and cleanup of hazardous substances and liabilities for such matters. Many governmental organizations have also adopted regulations governing the design, operation, maintenance and closure of landfills, transfer stations, incineration facilities and processing facilities, and laws governing where recyclable materials can be sold.

Our landfill operations are affected by the increasing preference for alternatives to landfill disposal. Many state and local governments mandate recycling and waste reduction at the source and prohibit the disposal of certain types of materials at landfills, such as recyclable materials (cardboard, bottles and cans), yard waste, food waste and electronics. The number of governments with recycling and diversion requirements and disposal bans continues to grow, while the logistics and economics of recycling or processing many of these items remain challenging. In addition, regulations requiring the diversion of organic wastes away from landfills could have the effect of decreasing the amount of landfill gas produced over time in our landfills, negatively impacting our WM Renewable Energy segment.

Various states have enacted, or are considering enacting, laws that restrict or discourage the disposal of solid waste generated outside the state. While laws that overtly discriminate against out-of-state waste have been found to be unconstitutional, some laws that are less overtly discriminatory have been upheld in court. From time to time, the U.S. Congress has considered legislation authorizing states to adopt regulations, restrictions, or taxes on the importation of out-of-state or out-of-jurisdiction waste. Additionally, several state and local governments have enacted “flow control” regulations, which attempt to require that all waste generated within the state or local jurisdiction be deposited at specific sites, which has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court for waste directed to facilities owned by the local government. The U.S. Congress’ adoption of legislation allowing restrictions on interstate transportation of out-of-state or out-of-jurisdiction waste or certain types of flow control, or courts’ interpretations of interstate waste and flow control legislation, could adversely affect our solid waste, hazardous waste, medical waste and controlled substances management services.

Many governmental organizations have enacted “fitness” laws that allow the agencies that have jurisdiction over waste services contracts or permits to deny or revoke these contracts or permits based on the applicant’s or permit holder’s compliance history. Some governmental organizations also consider the compliance history of the parent, subsidiaries or affiliated companies, in addition to the applicant or permit holder. These laws authorize the agencies to make determinations of an applicant’s or permit holder’s fitness to be awarded a contract to operate, and to deny or revoke a contract or permit because of unfitness, unless there is a showing that the applicant or permit holder has been rehabilitated through the adoption of various operating policies and procedures put in place to assure future compliance with applicable laws and regulations. While fitness laws can present potential increased costs and barriers to entry into market areas, these laws have not, and are not expected to have a material adverse impact on our business as a whole.

The EPA does not regulate medical waste at the federal level, resulting in a lack of uniformity of applicable laws and regulations. States have adopted their own regulations related to the handling, treatment and storage of medical waste, with many states following requirements similar to the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988, a U.S. federal law concerning disposal of biological material that expired in 1991. Other states have placed medical waste regulations within solid waste regulations. Further, while the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment has promulgated the Guidelines for the Management of Biomedical Waste in Canada, these are not enforceable unless adopted by provincial legislation or municipal by-laws, and local by-laws may be more stringent than such guidelines.

​

Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation

Climate and Sustainability

Jurisdictions are increasingly taking action to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions through a broad range of climate policies. Landfills are one of the focal points for advancing climate-related goals, and we are actively working with policymakers to promote recognition of the significant reductions in GHG emissions that our industry already has achieved and the work being done to further measure and reduce emissions, the challenges associated with quantifying landfill emissions precisely, and the role of our sector in providing an essential, and highly regulated, public service.

We are closely monitoring the evolving capabilities of ground, aerial and satellite-based methane detection and monitoring systems and conducting our own research at several landfills to assess accuracy and reliability of various methane measurement technologies for applicability to our operations. We also continue to expand our work with various private and government entities employing such technologies at our sites, and we are actively engaged with the EPA, the ECCC, state agencies, nongovernmental organizations and environmental stakeholders on the implications of the changing landscape for the waste industry and potential future regulation. Continued dialogue, engagement and collaboration with these regulatory agencies will be important, as both the EPA and the ECCC are evaluating landfill emissions standards that may require the application of various emerging methane measurement technologies and plan to develop methods and standards for such measurement technologies. The EPA has indicated that methane emissions from landfills will remain a focus of its expanded National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives through 2027 and has announced its intent to propose updated performance standards for new and existing landfills. While we cannot predict what regulations will result from these initiatives, these developments could result in increased compliance costs and adversely affect our operations.

Specifically, these various regulatory actions could result in changes to how we have historically reported GHG emissions and may result in increases in such emissions reported for our operations. For example, in August 2024, the EPA released revised emission factors for the reporting of methane emissions from landfills that would, amongst other matters, result in increased reported emissions from flares and other equipment and processes. Industry groups have filed legal challenges to the EPA’s updated emission factors.

In light of regulatory and business developments related to concerns about climate change, we have identified strategic business opportunities to provide our public and private sector customers with sustainability-related solutions intended to help reduce their carbon footprint. We assess customer demand for and opportunities to develop waste services with potential to avoid lifecycle emissions, such as waste reduction, increased recycling, composting and conversion of landfill gas and discarded materials into renewable energy. We use carbon lifecycle assessment tools in evaluating potential new services and in establishing the value proposition that makes us attractive as an environmental service provider. We are active in support of public policies that encourage development and use of lower carbon energy and waste services that can lower lifecycle carbon footprints. We understand the importance of broad stakeholder engagement in these endeavors and actively seek opportunities for public policy discussion on how materials management practices can be more sustainable. In addition, we work with stakeholders at the federal, state, and provincial level in support of legislation that encourages production and use of renewable, lower-carbon fuels and electricity.

The nature, scope, and complexity of matters that our Company must assess, quantify and disclose are expanding due to current, proposed, and recently enacted governmental reporting requirements pertaining to sustainability and climate-related risks and other topics. Such topics include water usage, waste production, labor, human capital, environmental justice, cybersecurity, privacy and risk oversight. For example, in September 2024, the California Governor signed into law amendments to the 2023 California Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act, which among other things, requires the disclosure of Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions and other climate-related risks consistent with the framework established by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. We will be required to begin making disclosures of our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions in compliance with certain of these requirements in 2026, and Scope 3 GHG emissions disclosures will be required beginning in 2027. Additional U.S. states are in various stages of considering adoption of similar GHG-related disclosure requirements. In March 2024, the SEC also adopted final rules that would require registrants to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports including, but not limited to, information about our governance and management of climate-related risks and metrics pertaining to emissions data and climate-related targets and goals. The SEC voluntarily stayed implementation of these rules indefinitely, pending judicial review of ongoing legal challenges. Furthermore, beginning as early as 2026, we may be subject to certain reporting requirements in the European Union under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”), which requires in-scope companies to disclose extensive sustainability information, including risks and opportunities arising from environmental and social matters, and the impact of their business on people and the environment. These and other similar laws and regulations could result in increased compliance costs and affect the results of our operations and financial position. Such similar laws and regulations could also increase our litigation risks or may increase risks related to our reputation or goodwill, as we cannot predict how disclosures under these laws may be perceived or interpreted by our customers and stakeholders. Methodology and timelines for mandatory reporting requirements may be inconsistent with requirements enacted by other governmental entities, including with respect to measuring emissions and requiring a determination of “materiality” that may differ from traditional disclosure requirements under U.S. federal securities laws. Such inconsistency could further increase costs and divert management time and attention.

Our industry faces challenges to implement these rapidly developing disclosure requirements, as well as the risk of enforcement actions by governmental and regulatory agencies for noncompliance. Significant expenditures and commitment of time by management, employees and consultants is involved in developing, implementing and overseeing policies, practices, additional disclosures and internal controls related to environmental and sustainability risk and performance. Public statements with respect to sustainability matters are becoming increasingly subject to heightened scrutiny from public and governmental authorities related to the risk of potential “greenwashing,” i.e., misleading information or false claims overstating potential sustainability benefits. We are aware that non-governmental organizations and other private actors have filed lawsuits against companies under various securities and consumer protection laws alleging that certain sustainability-related statements, goals or standards were misleading, false or otherwise deceptive.

Consistent with our Company’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, we have published our 2024 Sustainability Report, providing details on our sustainability-related performance and outlining progress towards our 2030 sustainability goals. The Sustainability Report conveys the strong linkage between the Company’s sustainability goals and our growth strategy, inclusive of the planned and ongoing expansion of the Company’s Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments. The information in this report can be found at sustainability.wm.com but it does not constitute a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The Company also participates in a number of voluntary reporting programs and frameworks that provide further transparency on our commitment to sustainability.

PFAS

Federal and state governments have increased their focus on efforts to safeguard communities from the potentially harmful effects associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”). PFAS are a large group of chemicals that have been used in industrial and consumer products since the 1940s, including in products as diverse as carpets, paints and stains, water-resistant clothing and fabrics, nonstick cookware, food packaging, and firefighting chemicals. Possible human health effects of exposure to certain PFAS compounds may include low infant birth weights, immune system impacts, or cancer.

There are a number of risks related to PFAS that could impact our business, and the EPA has prioritized PFAS-related issues in recent years. For example, in 2021, the EPA released its PFAS Strategic Roadmap, providing a high-level overview of activities that the agency intends to take to safeguard public health, protect the environment and hold polluters accountable. These actions include establishing drinking water standards, evaluating landfill discharges of PFAS in leachate, finalizing new risk assessments and test procedures and updating guidance on PFAS disposal and destruction options. In April 2024, the EPA finalized the designation of two PFAS compounds (perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)) as hazardous substances under CERCLA. We are actively working with both Congress and the EPA to provide landfills and other essential public services with relief from CERCLA liability and instead hold accountable manufacturers and heavy users of these compounds. Without such relief, we may face increased exposure to remediation and litigation costs associated with properties that the EPA may designate as CERCLA sites due to the presence of PFAS. Additionally, in April 2024, the EPA announced the final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for six PFAS compounds and established legally enforceable maximum contaminant levels, as well as non-enforceable maximum contaminant level goals for these PFAS compounds. We expect that there could be continued efforts to regulate or impose liability with respect to PFAS at the federal level. At the state level, an increasing number of jurisdictions have enacted new drinking water, surface water and/or groundwater limits for various PFAS compounds, which has led to a patchwork of PFAS standards across the U.S. Compliance with new and future state and federal PFAS standards is anticipated to result in additional expense to the Company, but such standards are also anticipated to present potential business opportunities in the area of PFAS management, treatment and disposal.

Recycling; Foreign Import and Export Regulations and Material Restrictions

Regulations affecting, and in some cases restricting, the international flow of certain recyclables have led to a reduction in export activity for such recyclables, as well as higher quality requirements, and higher processing costs. We do not ship plastics collected on our residential recycling routes and processed at our single stream recycling facilities to locations outside of North America; however, current and developing international regulations may limit our ability to export other commodities, including certain plastics. Additionally, the new U.S. presidential administration has called for substantial changes to foreign trade policy. Significant new restrictions and tariffs on foreign trade could have a negative impact on our recycling export business and could increase the cost of certain equipment and other materials used in our operations that we procure from outside the U.S., including certain equipment used to implement our sustainability growth strategy.

Prices and demand for recyclables fluctuate. We have discussed our sustainability growth strategy that includes planned and ongoing investments in our recycling business to increase automation and reduce labor dependency. Such investments are also targeted at addressing increases in regulatory- and customer-driven quality requirements for commodities. These investments increase our exposure to commodity price fluctuations. We mitigate some of the effects of price fluctuation through the contract terms pursuant to which we sell commodities, such as floor pricing.

Additionally, future regulation, tariffs, international trade policies or other initiatives, including extended producer responsibility regulations, minimum recycled content laws, container deposit laws, or regulations addressing climate change or GHG emissions, may impact supply and demand of material, or increase operating costs, which could impact the profitability of our recycling operations.

With a heightened awareness of the global problems caused by plastic waste in the environment, and actual or perceived risks for human health, many governments have passed ordinances banning certain types of plastics from sale or use. The most common materials banned include plastic bags and straws, polystyrene plastic and some types of single use packaging. These bans have resulted in increased pressure by manufacturers for our recycling facilities to accept a broader array of materials in curbside recycling and composting programs to alleviate public pressures to ban the sale of those materials. However, with no or limited viable end markets for many of these materials, we and other recyclers are working to educate and remind customers of the need for end market demand and economic viability to support the inclusion of certain materials in recycling programs. We are also making investments in end markets to support the collection and processing of some of these materials. With increased focus on responsible management of plastics, our procurement team has taken a proactive approach to help ensure environmental sustainability goals are prioritized in managing the products we buy.

Extended Producer Responsibility

Regulations establishing extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) are being considered or implemented in many places around the world, including in certain states in the U.S. and provinces in Canada. EPR regulations are designed to place either partial or total responsibility on producers of consumer-packaged goods and other products to fund the post-use life cycle of the products and packaging they create. Along with the funding responsibility, producers may be required to undertake additional responsibilities, such as taking over management of local recycling programs by taking back their products from end users or managing the collection operations and recycling processing and marketing infrastructure. During periods of economic difficulty, governmental entities have increased their interest in implementing EPR regulations to reduce municipal spending on recycling programs. There is no federal law establishing EPR in the U.S. or Canada; however, governments could take, and in some cases have taken, steps to implement EPR regulations for packaging, including traditional recyclables such as cardboard, bottles and cans. If wide-ranging EPR regulations were adopted, or other recycling-related regulations like container deposit laws were widely adopted, they could significantly impact the waste, recycling and other streams we manage, including with respect to quality and volume, and how we operate our business, including contract terms and pricing.

Tax Legislation

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) contains several tax-related provisions, including with respect to (i) alternative fuel tax credits; (ii) tax incentives for investments in renewable energy production, carbon capture, and other climate actions and (iii) the overall measurement of corporate income taxes. Given the complexity and uncertainty around the applicability of the legislation to our specific facts and circumstances, we continue to analyze the IRA provisions to identify and quantify potential opportunities and applicable benefits included in the legislation. The provisions of the IRA related to alternative fuel tax credits secured approximately $60 million of annual pre-tax benefit (recorded as a reduction in our operating expense) from tax credits in 2023 and 2024. The alternative fuel credit expired at the end of 2024 and will not provide any future benefit to the Company absent further legislative action. With respect to the investment tax credit, we expect the cumulative benefit to be between $300 million and $400 million, a large portion of which is anticipated to be realized in 2024 through 2026. The expected benefit from the investment tax credit for 2025 and 2026 is dependent on a number of estimates and assumptions, including the timing of project completion. Finally, we expect that the production tax credit incentives for investments in renewable energy and carbon capture, as expanded by the IRA, will likely result in an incremental benefit to the Company, although at this time, the anticipated amount of such benefit has not been quantified due, in part, to the lack of regulatory guidance.

Investment in Natural Gas Vehicles and Infrastructure

We operate a large fleet of natural gas vehicles, and we plan to continue to invest in these assets for our collection fleet. Natural gas fueling infrastructure is not yet broadly available in the U.S. and Canada; as a result, we have constructed and operate natural gas fueling stations, some of which also serve the public or pre-approved third parties.

There is increasing pressure to reduce the use of fossil fuel in the heavy-duty truck industry, and some regulatory bodies are pursuing requirements for using alternative engine technology, such as electric powered vehicles, rather than natural gas or diesel vehicles. This is resulting in regulatory actions to advance the adoption of zero-emission vehicles and a shift away from tax incentives and grants for natural gas trucks and RNG infrastructure. For example, in April 2024, the EPA established new GHG emissions standards applicable to heavy-duty vehicles that rely on increased deployment of electric vehicles to meet declining emissions targets. California is also at various stages of regulation that would require heavy-duty vehicle fleets to phase-in zero-emissions vehicles. The extent to which states adopt standards similar to California’s into their own regulatory frameworks could accelerate the industry-wide adoption of electric powered vehicles. The full impact of these standards and regulations is uncertain, as several of the specific regulations are the subject of legal challenge, and could impact our long-term vehicle fleet strategies.

Current options for heavy-duty electric powered vehicles lack sufficient range, recharging infrastructure and efficiency and proven experience for our operations, but we are proactively engaging in pilots of electric powered heavy-duty vehicles and anticipate that we could redirect future planned capital investments in our fleet toward these assets when the vehicles prove economically and operationally viable. We also are actively working with policymakers to help them understand the challenges involving the electrification of heavy-duty collection vehicles. If regulation requires widespread adoption of electric powered vehicles before the technology improves, we may suffer operational inefficiencies and incur higher operating costs. Regulation mandating an accelerated transition to electric powered vehicles would increase our cost to acquire vehicles needed to service our customers, and capital investment required to establish sufficient charging infrastructure could be significant. Additionally, the investments we have made in an industry-leading natural gas fleet and infrastructure could be impaired. Tax incentives and grants that advance the adoption of zero-emissions vehicles and lead to a shift away from natural gas trucks and RNG infrastructure would likely also negatively impact our investments in landfill gas-to-energy facilities.

WM Renewable Energy

In recent years, we have discussed our sustainability growth strategy that includes significant planned and ongoing investments in our WM Renewable Energy segment. We have invested, and continue to invest, in facilities to capture methane produced from the Company’s landfills and process it into RNG and electricity. RNG produced from our landfills constitutes a significant source of fuel allocated to our natural gas collection vehicles. The primary drivers of renewable fuel development at our landfills are tax policies, such as the federal tax credits for RNG production and renewable electricity generation under the IRA, and federal and state incentive programs, such as the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) program, California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and similar state programs that promote the production and use of renewable transportation fuels. At the federal level, oil refiners and importers are required through the RFS program to blend specified volumes of various categories of renewable transportation fuels with gasoline or buy credits, referred to as Renewable Identification Numbers (“RINs”), from renewable fuel producers. Many of our facilities are EPA-registered producers of transportation fuel making compressed and liquefied RNG from landfill biogas, which qualifies as a cellulosic biofuel under the RFS program. The Company has invested, and continues to invest, in facilities that capture and process landfill gas into RNG so that we can participate in the RFS program, and the Company has grown and stated its intention to continue to grow its asset base to increase its RNG production.

RINs prices generally respond to regulations enacted by the EPA, as well as fluctuations in supply and demand. The value of the RINs is set through a market established by the RFS program, which market has historically been very volatile. Prior to 2022, the EPA had promulgated rules on an annual basis establishing refiners’ obligations to purchase RNG and other cellulosic biofuels under the RFS program, which introduced a level of uncertainty into the renewable fuels and RINs market. However, in 2023, the EPA issued a rule establishing biofuel blending volumes under the RFS program for compliance years 2023 through 2025. The rule reflected the outsized role of biogas under the program, delivered on many reforms that benefit the solid waste sector, and recognized the continued growth of the market for RNG in vehicle applications. However, we cannot be certain that these changes, or the outcome of pending litigation challenging various aspects of the rule, will ultimately reduce volatility in the RINs market or that future rulemakings will be similarly favorable to our business. The new U.S. presidential administration could seek to reduce existing renewable fuel targets in a new rulemaking or otherwise set reduced targets for renewable fuels under the RFS program in future rulemakings. Moreover, consistent with its prior approach, the new administration may also increase the frequency with which it grants small refinery exemptions from RFS program requirements.

While we cannot predict what actions the new administration may take with respect to the RFS program, any changes to existing or future renewable fuel targets or more frequent approval of requests for small refinery exemptions could have a significant negative impact on demand for renewable fuels and the value of RINs. In an effort to mitigate against such risk and stabilize our RNG portfolio, we are pursuing long-term RNG sales transactions in the voluntary market. We continue to advocate for policies that could reduce the potential for volatility in the RINs market and ensure long-term stability for renewable transportation fuels, as changes in the RINs market or the structure of the RFS program can and has impacted the financial performance of our facilities. We are closely working with state policymakers and non-governmental stakeholders to understand the role of RNG as a renewable energy resource and in delivering GHG reductions.

The Company’s sustainability growth strategy also is informed by the increased adoption of state and Canadian clean fuel standard programs, utility policies, and voluntary market demand for RNG in transportation and industrial applications. Clean fuel standard programs, originally developed in California and subsequently adopted in Oregon, Washington, and New Mexico, establish annual carbon intensity benchmarks for transportation fuels that decrease over time. These programs operate similar to the RFS program in that certain regulated parties purchase credits from fuel producers, including RNG producers, to meet their carbon intensity obligations. Like RINs, clean fuel standard program credit values can fluctuate with policy and market dynamics. As such, we are advocating for existing programs to adopt measures to promote stability in credit pricing and for other states to adopt similar programs that incentivize the growth in RNG. We also are working closely with stakeholders to encourage the voluntary market for RNG demand, including utility RNG procurement programs, and sustainability protocols, as companies and other customers increasingly look to reduce their GHG emissions profiles. However, these state and voluntary programs may be altered, paused, or otherwise revoked by the applicable governmental authorities or as result of legal challenges.

Environmental Justice

Governments are increasingly adopting requirements for environmental justice reviews as part of certain permitting decisions. These policies generally require permitting agencies to give heightened attention to the potential for projects to disproportionately impact low-income and minority communities. To that end, regulatory agencies have developed a number of screening tools, such as the EPA’s EJScreen, to aid and support relevant regulatory bodies in implementing various programs, such as permitting. Environmental justice considerations are also being increasingly adopted beyond permitting actions; for example, in rulemaking and enforcement priorities. In August 2023, the EPA announced that it would integrate environmental justice into each of its National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives, and, in November 2023, the agency published a draft update to its Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis, which aims to provide agency analysts with the approaches and methods to use in evaluating environmental justice concerns in regulatory actions. Our Company supports policies seeking to advance high standards of environmental performance and the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes, and we continue to proactively engage with local communities. We are actively monitoring recent regulatory developments in this area, particularly with respect to permitting, as additional conditions imposed on permitting decisions could increase the time and cost involved to pursue and maintain necessary authorizations.

Privacy and Information Security Regulation

Various U.S. and international laws and regulations related to data privacy, the protection of confidential information and secure information destruction services apply to our business. Applicable laws require businesses to provide notice under certain circumstances to individuals whose personal information has been disclosed in a data breach. Regulatory enforcement action concerning privacy and security is generally increasing, including significant fines imposed by regulators. Secure handling and disposal of waste that may contain sensitive information may be subject to heightened privacy requirements, and in the event of a breach, could result in regulatory penalties or wider enforcement action, reputational harm, and financial liabilities.

​

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. You should carefully consider the following risk factors in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 and our “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in Item 8. In addition to the following risks, there may be additional risks and uncertainties that adversely affect our business, performance, or financial condition in the future that are not presently known or are not currently believed to be material.

​

Strategy and Operational Risks

​

If we fail to implement our business strategy, our financial performance and our growth could be materially and adversely affected.

Our future financial performance and success are dependent in large part upon our ability to implement our business strategy successfully. Implementation of our strategy will require effective management of our operational, financial and human resources and will place significant demands on those resources. See Item 1. Business for more information on our business strategy. There are risks involved in pursuing our strategy, including the following:

In addition to the risks set forth above, implementation of our business strategy could be affected by other factors beyond our control, such as increased competition, legal developments, government regulation, global geopolitical instability, general economic conditions, including slower growth or recession, increased operating costs or expenses, inflation, subcontractor costs and availability and changes in industry trends. We may decide to alter or discontinue certain aspects of our business strategy at any time. Even if we are able to implement some or all of the initiatives of our business strategy successfully, our operating results may not improve to the extent we anticipate, or at all.

We may not realize the strategic benefits and cost synergies anticipated from the Stericycle acquisition.

The benefits we expect to receive from the acquisition of Stericycle depend on the performance of the Stericycle business and its ability to achieve financial and operational targets and strategic goals. The acquired Stericycle business, which is now presented as our new WM Healthcare Solutions segment, is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause performance to be materially different than we anticipate; such factors include, but are not limited to, decreases in the volume of medical waste and controlled substances wastes or personal and confidential information collected from customers; disruptions resulting from deployment of systems, including with respect to the implementation of Stericycle’s enterprise resource planning system and billing and collection delays that Stericycle has experienced following the launch of such system upgrade; changing market conditions in the healthcare industry; competition and demand for services for the medical waste, controlled substances waste and secure information destruction industries; commodity price volatility; changes in regulation of the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal or destruction of medical waste and controlled substances waste or the proper handling and protection of personal and confidential information; the level of government enforcement of regulations governing medical waste and controlled substances waste collection and treatment or the proper handling and protection of personal and confidential information; and the outcome of pending, future or settled litigation or investigations. Should the Stericycle business be unsuccessful in achieving financial and operational targets and implementing the WM Healthcare Solutions business strategy, it could negatively impact our realization of benefits from the acquisition, as well as our stock price and our future business and financial results.

The benefits that are expected to result from our acquisition of Stericycle also depend, in part, on our ability to realize anticipated cost synergies. Our success in realizing these benefits and cost synergies, and the timing of this realization, depends on the successful integration of the Stericycle business. There is a significant degree of difficulty and management attention inherent in the process of integrating an acquisition of this size. The process of integrating operations could cause business interruption and distraction. Some members of our management may be required to devote considerable time to this integration process, which will decrease the time they will have to manage our Company, service existing customers, attract new customers and develop new products or strategies. If management is not able to effectively manage the integration process, including retention of key Stericycle personnel, or if any significant business activities are interrupted as a result of the integration process, our business, financial condition and results of operations could suffer. The acquisition of Stericycle may not result in realization of the benefits and cost synergies that we currently expect, and we cannot guarantee that these benefits and cost synergies will be achieved within anticipated time frames or at all. Additionally, we may incur substantial expenses in connection with the integration of the Stericycle business, which may exceed expectations and offset certain benefits.

​

Our operations must comply with extensive existing regulations, and changes in regulations, including with respect to emerging contaminants and extended producer responsibility, can restrict or alter our operations, increase our operating costs, increase our tax liabilities, reduce revenues, or require us to make additional capital expenditures.

Stringent government regulations at the federal, state, provincial and local level in the U.S. and Canada, as well as other international jurisdictions where we operate, have a substantial impact on our operations, and compliance with such regulations is costly. See Item 1. Business – Regulation for additional information. Many complex laws, rules, orders and interpretations govern environmental protection, health, safety, land use, zoning, transportation, ethical business conduct, data privacy and security, and other related and similar subjects.

Among other things, governmental regulations and enforcement actions restrict our operations at times and may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows by imposing conditions such as:

Regulations affecting the siting, design and closure of landfills require us, at times, to undertake investigatory or remedial activities, curtail operations or close landfills temporarily or permanently. We have significant financial obligations relating to final capping, closure, post-closure and environmental remediation at our existing landfills and we establish accruals for these estimated costs. Expenditures could be accelerated or materially exceed our accruals due to earlier than expected closure of landfills; the types of waste collected and manner in which it is transported and disposed of, including actions taken in the past by companies we have acquired or third-party landfill operators; environmental regulatory changes; new information about waste types previously collected, or other emerging contaminants. Similar issues can also result in a significant increase in operating costs; for example, developments in recent years related to management of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) have increased our landfill operating costs. Federal and state governments have increased their focus on efforts to safeguard communities from the potentially harmful effects associated with PFAS. See Item 1. Business – Regulation – Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation – PFAS for additional information. We may face increased exposure to testing, remediation and litigation costs as a result of new and emerging PFAS regulations and requirements.

Regulations establishing extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) are being considered or implemented in many places around the world, including in certain states in the U.S. and provinces in Canada. EPR regulations are designed to place either partial or total responsibility on producers of consumer-packaged goods and other products to fund the post-use life cycle of the products and packaging they create. For additional information, See Item 1. Business – Regulation – Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation – Extended Producer Responsibility. A significant reduction in the waste, recycling and other streams we manage, including with respect to quality and volume, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Following our acquisition of Stericycle, we are subject to additional laws and regulations in the U.S. and internationally concerning transportation, management and disposal or destruction of medical waste streams, including regulations that govern the definition, generation, segregation, handling, packaging, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal or destruction of medical waste and controlled substances waste, along with extensive recordkeeping and documentation requirements. Additionally, Stericycle’s secure information destruction services are subject to additional laws and regulations regarding proper handling and protection of personal and confidential information. Relaxation of enforcement, government shutdowns, or other changes in governmental regulation of medical waste and controlled substances waste and personal and confidential information could increase the number of competitors we face or reduce or delay the need for these services.

Stericycle is, and has been, involved in government investigations, enforcement proceedings, private lawsuits and other disputes alleging noncompliance with applicable regulations, including alleged noncompliance with the Controlled Substances Act and other statutes involving its now-divested Domestic Environmental Solutions business of collecting, transporting, and destroying controlled substances from retail customers. With the acquisition of Stericycle, these matters may result in adverse consequences, including permit revocations or denials and civil, criminal and administrative penalties.

The new U.S. presidential administration has called for substantial changes to areas of foreign trade policy and has generally appeared to be in favor of reducing regulation, including environmental regulation. We do not know what impact the change in U.S. presidential administration will have on specific regulatory policies impacting our industry and our Company, especially given the number of rules currently in litigation, nor can we predict the timing of any such changes.

Reduction of regulation may have a favorable impact on our operating costs, but the extensive environmental regulation applicable to our industry is also a barrier to rapid entry that benefits our Company. Significant new restrictions and tariffs on foreign trade could have a negative impact on our recycling export business and our cross-border commerce, particularly with Canada, and could increase the cost of certain equipment and other materials used in our operations that we procure from outside the U.S., including our trucks and certain equipment used to implement our sustainability growth strategy. It is likely that some policies adopted by the new administration will benefit us and others will negatively affect us.

If we encounter regulatory compliance issues in the course of operating our business, we may experience adverse publicity, which may intensify if such noncompliance results in legal liability. Any legal liability or adverse publicity from such noncompliance may harm our reputation and result in difficulties in attracting new customers, or retaining existing customers, which would negatively impact our results of operations and financial condition.

Our business is subject to operational and safety risks, including the risk of injury to employees and others.

Providing environmental and waste management services, including constructing and operating landfills, transfer stations, processing facilities, recycling facilities and other disposal or destruction facilities, and landfill gas-to-energy facilities, involves risks such as truck accidents, equipment defects, malfunctions and failures, and improper use of dangerous equipment. Additionally, we closely monitor and manage landfills to minimize the risk of waste mass instability, releases of hazardous materials, and odors that are sometimes triggered by weather or natural disasters. There are also risks presented by the potential for subsurface heat reactions causing elevated landfill temperatures and increased production of leachate, landfill gas and odors, and we have proactively incurred increased costs to manage leachate in response to this risk. We build and operate natural gas fueling stations, some of which also serve the public or third parties. Operation of fueling stations and landfill gas collection and control systems, as well as operation of heavy machinery and management of flammable materials at our recycling facilities and transfer stations, involves additional risks of fire and explosion. The Stericycle business requires handling of medical waste and controlled substances waste. Incidents such as truck accidents, damaged or leaking containers, improper storage of medical waste and controlled substances waste, placement of prohibited materials into the waste stream, or malfunctioning plant equipment could result in exposure to contaminated or infectious waste or other hazardous materials.  

Any of these risks could potentially result in injury, illness or death of employees and others. These risks could also result in a need to shut down or reduce operation of facilities, increased operating costs and exposure to liability for pollution, public nuisance, and other environmental damage, and property damage or destruction. While we seek to minimize our exposure to such risks through comprehensive training, compliance and response and recovery programs, as well as vehicle and equipment maintenance programs, if we were to incur substantial liabilities in excess of any applicable insurance, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. Any such incidents could also tarnish our reputation and reduce the value of our brand. Additionally, a major operational failure, even if suffered by a competitor, may bring enhanced scrutiny and regulation of our industry, with a corresponding increase in operating expense.

We may be unable to obtain or maintain required permits for our operations or expand existing permitted capacity at our landfills, due to land scarcity, public opposition or otherwise, which can require us to identify disposal alternatives, resulting in decreased revenue and increased costs.

Our ability to meet our financial and operating objectives depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain the permits, authorizations, approvals, certificates, and other governmental permissions necessary to operate landfill sites, recycling facilities, compost facilities, processing facilities, landfill gas-to-energy facilities, incineration facilities and transfer stations in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. Changes in applicable laws and regulations could require us to obtain new permits or to change the way in which we operate our business. Even where permits are obtained, they may contain conditions or restrictions that limit our ability to operate efficiently. Permits to build, operate and expand solid waste management facilities, including landfills and transfer stations, have become more difficult and expensive to obtain and maintain. Permits often take years to obtain as a result of numerous hearings and compliance requirements with regard to zoning, environmental and other regulations. These permits are also often subject to resistance from citizen or other groups and other political pressures. Local communities and citizen groups, adjacent landowners or governmental agencies may oppose the issuance of a permit or approval we may need, allege violations of the permits under which we currently operate or laws or regulations to which we are subjected, or seek to impose liability on us for alleged environmental damage. Such actions could also impact our ability to do business by causing reputational harm. Our ability to receive permits is also impacted by land scarcity, particularly in densely populated areas.

Diminishing disposal capacity, typically in proximity to major metropolitan areas, sometimes requires us to transport waste by rail or find alternative disposal solutions in affected areas, increasing our operating costs. Governments are increasingly adopting requirements for environmental justice reviews as part of certain permitting decisions. These policies generally require permitting agencies to give heightened attention to the potential for projects to disproportionately impact low-income and minority communities. Responding to permit challenges has, at times, increased our costs and extended the time associated with establishing new facilities and expanding existing facilities. Our failure to obtain the required permits and necessary capacity expansion to operate our business, including our landfills, could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

If we are unable to attract, hire or retain key team members and a high-quality workforce, or if our succession planning does not develop an adequate pipeline of future leaders, it could disrupt our business, jeopardize our strategic priorities and result in increased costs, negatively impacting our results of operations.

Our operations require us to attract, hire, develop and retain a high-quality workforce to provide a superior customer experience. This includes key individuals in leadership and specialty roles, as well as a very large number of drivers, technicians and other front-line and back-office team members necessary to provide our environmental services. We experience significant competition to hire and retain individuals for certain front-line positions, such as commercial truck drivers, from within and outside our industry. (Also see Item 1A. Risk Factors — Market disruption, including labor shortages, external strikes, and supply chain constraints, and macroeconomic pressures, including inflation, have recently had, and may in the future have, an adverse impact on our business and results of operations.) Additionally, the market for employees that serve on our digital team is highly competitive. As we have accelerated our investments in our technology-led automation and optimization strategy, it is increasingly important that we are able to attract and retain employees with the skills and expertise necessary to implement and manage these projects. We also compete to attract skilled business leaders, and our own key team members are sought after by our competitors and other companies. We make significant investments, and engage in internal succession planning, to provide us with a robust pipeline of future leaders. If we are not able to attract, hire, develop and retain a high-quality workforce with the necessary skills and expertise, as well as key leaders, or if we experience significant employee turnover, it can result in business and strategic disruption, increased costs, and loss of institutional knowledge, which could negatively impact our results of operations.

Increases in our labor costs as a result of labor unions organizing, changes in regulations related to labor unions or increases in employee minimum wages, could adversely affect our future results.

Labor unions continually attempt to organize our employees, and these efforts will likely continue in the future. Certain groups of our employees are currently represented by unions, and we have negotiated collective bargaining agreements with these unions. Additional groups of employees may seek union representation in the future, and, if successful, would enhance organized labor’s leverage to obtain higher than expected wage and benefits costs and resist the introduction of new technology and other initiatives, which can result in increased operating expenses and lower net income. If we are unable to negotiate acceptable collective bargaining agreements, our operating expenses could increase significantly as a result of work stoppages, including strikes. Additionally, a large portion of our workforce are hourly personnel, and many of these individuals, particularly in our recycling business, are paid at rates related to federal and state minimum wages. Increases in minimum wage rates, or the enactment of new wage-related legislation, may significantly increase our labor costs. Any of these matters could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The seasonal nature of our business, severe weather events resulting from climate change and event driven projects cause our results to fluctuate, and prior performance may not be indicative of our future results.

Our financial and operating results may fluctuate for many reasons. Our operating revenues and volumes typically experience seasonal increases in the summer months, that are reflected in second and third quarter revenues and results of operations. Service or operational disruptions caused by severe storms, extended periods of inclement weather or climate events can significantly affect the operating results of the geographic areas affected. Extreme weather events may also lead to supply chain disruption and delayed project development, or disruption of our customers’ businesses, reducing the amount of waste generated by their operations. Conversely, certain destructive weather and climate conditions, such as wildfires in the Western U.S. and hurricanes that most often impact our operations in the Southern and Eastern U.S. during the second half of the year, can increase our revenues in the geographic areas affected as a result of the waste volumes generated by these events. While weather-related and other event-driven projects can boost revenues through additional work for a limited time, due to significant start-up costs and other factors, such revenue can generate earnings at comparatively lower margins.

For these and other reasons, operating results in any period may not be indicative of operating results for any other period. Our stock price may be negatively impacted by interim variations in our results.

Damage to our reputation and the value of our brand would negatively impact our business.

We believe we have developed a reputation for high-quality service, reliability and social and environmental responsibility, and we believe our brand symbolizes these attributes. The WM brand name, trademarks and logos and our reputation are powerful sales and marketing tools, and we devote significant resources to promoting and protecting them. Adverse publicity, whether or not justified, relating to activities by our operations, employees or agents, or challenges to our assertions of social and environmental responsibility, could tarnish our reputation and reduce the value of our brand. (Also see Item 1A. Risk Factors — Focus on, and regulation of, sustainability performance and disclosure can result in increased costs, risk of noncompliance, damage to our reputation and related adverse effects).

We have made significant investments in an extensive natural gas truck fleet, which makes us partially dependent on the availability of natural gas and fueling infrastructure and vulnerable to natural gas prices, and requirements to transition away from our current vehicle fleet to electric powered vehicles could impair our investments and result in cost increases and significant additional capital investment.

We operate a large fleet of natural gas vehicles, and we plan to continue to invest in these assets for our collection fleet. However, natural gas fueling infrastructure is not yet broadly available in the U.S. and Canada; as a result, we have constructed and operate natural gas fueling stations, some of which also serve the public or pre-approved third parties. It will remain necessary for us to invest capital in fueling infrastructure to power our natural gas fleet. Fluctuations in the price and supply of natural gas or diesel fuel could substantially increase our operating expenses; a reduction in the existing cost differential between natural gas and diesel fuel could materially reduce the benefits we anticipate from our investment in natural gas vehicles.

There is increasing pressure to reduce the use of fossil fuel in the heavy-duty truck industry, and some regulatory bodies are pursuing requirements for using alternative engine technology, such as electric powered vehicles, rather than natural gas or diesel vehicles. This is resulting in regulatory actions to advance the adoption of zero-emission vehicles and a shift away from tax incentives and grants for natural gas trucks and RNG infrastructure. See Item 1. Business – Regulation – Investment in Natural Gas Vehicles and Infrastructure for additional information. Regulation mandating an accelerated transition away from natural gas trucks and our remaining diesel vehicles, including the recently acquired Stericycle fleet, to electric powered vehicles would increase our cost to acquire vehicles needed to service our customers, and capital investment required to establish sufficient charging infrastructure could be significant. Additionally, the investments we have made in an industry-leading natural gas fleet and infrastructure could be impaired. Tax incentives and grants that advance the adoption of zero-emissions vehicles and lead to a shift away from natural gas trucks and RNG infrastructure would likely also negatively impact our investments in landfill gas-to-energy facilities.

We may not be able to achieve our sustainability-related goals, including reduction of our greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions, or execute on our sustainability-related growth strategy and initiatives, within planned timelines or anticipated budget, which could damage our reputation and negatively impact the benefits anticipated from our investments.

Consistent with our Company’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, we have set goals to reduce our GHG emissions and announced other sustainability-related goals and initiatives. We may not be able to meet such goals or implement such initiatives in the manner or on timelines contemplated due to challenges including, but not limited to, unforeseen costs or delays, changes in how GHG emissions are calculated or otherwise reported, supply chain disruptions, regulatory impacts, integration of acquired assets or businesses, technology limitations or technical difficulties associated with achieving such goals. Changes to our business or asset base that were not contemplated when we set our sustainability-related goals, including the acquisition and integration of Stericycle’s business, assets and operations, could adversely impact our progress towards these goals and require us to adjust them. These changes could negatively impact public perception of our Company and stakeholders may view these changes unfavorably. Also, despite voluntarily announcing such sustainability goals, we may receive pressure from investors or other groups to adopt more aggressive sustainability-related goals that may not be technically, operationally, or financially feasible.

In addition, our sustainability-related growth strategy includes significant planned and ongoing investments in our Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments. Our ability to successfully execute this strategy may be impacted by the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with our business and the environmental services industry, including financial and operating performance, availability of technology and financing, changes in regulation, commodity price fluctuation and general economic conditions. (Also see Item 1A. Risk Factors — Our revenues, earnings and cash flows fluctuate based on changes in commodity prices and demand and may fluctuate substantially without notice in the future and — Our sustainability growth strategy includes significant planned and ongoing investments in our WM Renewable Energy segment; changes to federal and state renewable fuel policies could affect our financial performance, and such investments may not yield the results anticipated.) Favorable expectations regarding potential investment tax credits or other benefits stemming from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) may not materialize or could fail to meet expectations. See Item 1. Business – Regulation – Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation – Tax Legislation for additional information.

Some or all of the expected benefits of our sustainability-related investments and initiatives may not occur within the anticipated time periods or may cost more to achieve than anticipated. An inability to develop, obtain, or scale necessary equipment, technology and innovations, and challenges arising from the availability or cost of materials and infrastructure or regulatory approvals or permitting requirements associated with our sustainability investments and initiatives, could impede our ability to execute on our plans and achieve our goals or realize our expected financial performance from these investments. Actions we take to achieve these goals and implement our sustainability growth strategy and initiatives, including development and implementation of enhanced technology and reporting systems, will require increased capital expenditures and management focus, which may divert investment and management focus away from other aspects of our business operations.

We have also forecasted or projected certain operational and financial information with respect to our sustainability investments and initiatives, and many of these statements are based on expectations and assumptions that are necessarily uncertain and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from our forecasts and projections. For example, the amount of gas produced over time at landfills can vary depending on many factors, including weather and the composition of the inbound waste stream. While we have sophisticated systems to predict gas curves, they are inherently uncertain, and if we have less gas than predicted at a site where we have invested in RNG infrastructure, it may take longer to achieve our return on investment. Relatedly, the quality of the gathered gas is subject to the composition of the waste deposited at our landfills, and the prevalence of certain chemical compounds may adversely affect the usability of such gas and require further investment in the treatment and management of such compounds. Regulations requiring diversion of organic wastes away from landfills could have the effect of decreasing the amount of landfill gas produced over time in our landfills.

Focus on, and regulation of, sustainability performance and disclosure can result in increased costs, risk of noncompliance, damage to our reputation and related adverse effects.

The nature, scope, and complexity of matters that our Company must assess, quantify and disclose are expanding due to current, proposed, and recently enacted governmental reporting requirements pertaining to sustainability and climate-related risks and other topics, such as water usage, waste production, labor, human capital, environmental justice, cybersecurity, privacy, and risk oversight. For example, see Item 1. Business – Regulation – Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation – Climate and Sustainability for information about California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act and Climate-Related Financial Risk Act, the SEC’s climate-related disclosure rule, which is currently stayed pending judicial review, as well as potential international reporting obligations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Methodology and timelines for mandatory reporting requirements may be inconsistent with requirements enacted by other governmental entities, including with respect to measuring emissions and requiring a determination of “materiality” that may differ from traditional disclosure requirements under U.S. federal securities laws. Such inconsistency could further increase costs and divert management time and attention.

Our industry faces challenges to implement these rapidly developing disclosure requirements, as well as the risk of enforcement actions by governmental and regulatory agencies for noncompliance. Significant expenditures and commitment of time by management, employees and consultants is involved in developing, implementing and overseeing policies, practices, additional disclosures and internal controls related to environmental and sustainability risk and performance. Public statements with respect to sustainability matters are becoming increasingly subject to heightened scrutiny from public and governmental authorities related to the risk of potential “greenwashing,” i.e., misleading information or false claims overstating potential sustainability benefits. We are aware that non-governmental organizations and other private actors have filed lawsuits against companies under various securities and consumer protection laws alleging that certain sustainability-related statements, goals or standards were misleading, false or otherwise deceptive.

An inability to implement such policies, practices, and internal controls and maintain compliance with laws and regulations, or a perception among stakeholders that our sustainability disclosures and goals are insufficient or our goals are unattainable, could harm our reputation and competitive position and negatively impact our stock price and business performance.

External Economic and Industry Risks

​

Market disruption, including labor shortages, external strikes, and supply chain constraints, and macroeconomic pressures, including inflation, have recently had, and may in the future have, an adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

Market disruption resulting from labor shortages, external labor disputes and strikes (such as the recent port strike) and supply chain and transportation constraints, and macroeconomic pressures, including inflation and rising interest rates, have recently had, and may in the future have, an adverse impact our results and can create risk and uncertainty in financial outlook. Inflation can and has increased costs for the goods and services we purchase, particularly for labor, repair and maintenance, and subcontractor costs. Supply chain activity has largely normalized, but disruption can reduce availability of certain assets used in our business. Aspects of our business rely on third-party transportation providers, and such services have become more limited and expensive. We may also experience margin pressures from commodity-driven business impacts. The October 2024 port strike negatively impacted recycling commodity prices, and the risk of another port strike, or global economic slowdown, could impact future prices. The constrained labor market has resulted in increased costs for wage adjustments, overtime hours and training new hires. If we are not able to overcome limitations on labor availability, it could materially impact our ability to service our customers and our financial results. Significant new restrictions and tariffs on foreign trade could have a negative impact on our recycling export business and our cross-border commerce, particularly with Canada, and could increase the cost of certain equipment and other materials used in our operations that we procure from outside the U.S., including our trucks and certain equipment used to implement our sustainability growth strategy.  Geopolitical conflicts and the resulting international responses may also exacerbate market disruption, leading to volatility in commodity prices, impacts on the availability and cost of energy, increased cyberattacks, and vendor and supplier disruptions across the global supply chain. The extent and duration of the impact of these labor market, supply chain, transportation and commodity-price challenges are subject to numerous external factors beyond our control. If such impacts are prolonged and substantial, they could have a material negative effect on our results of operations.

Accelerated and pronounced economic pressures, such as rising interest rates and inflationary cost pressures, have impacted and continue to impact our cost structure and capital expenditures. Significant components of our operating expenses vary directly as we experience changes in revenue due to volume and inflation, and we may not be able to dynamically manage our cost structure in response to such changes. A significant portion of our revenue is tied to a price escalation index with a lookback provision, resulting in a timing lag in our ability to recover increased costs under those contracts during periods of rapid inflation. Separately, for many of our customers we provide services under multi-year contracts that can restrict our ability to increase prices and the timing of such increases. Our overall strategic pricing efforts are focused on recovering as much of the inflationary cost increases we experience in our business as possible by increasing our average unit rate, but such efforts may not be successful for various reasons including the pace of inflation, operating cost inefficiencies, contractual limitations, and market responses. The inability to adequately increase prices to offset increased costs and inflationary pressures, or otherwise mitigate the impact of these conditions on our business, will increase our costs of doing business and reduce our margins.

The environmental services industry is highly competitive, and if we cannot successfully compete in the marketplace, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected.

We encounter intense competition from governmental, quasi-governmental and private sources in all aspects of our operations and when expanding to new lines of business or new markets. We principally compete with large national waste management companies, counties and municipalities that maintain their own waste collection and disposal or recycling operations and regional and local companies of varying sizes and financial resources. The industry also includes companies that specialize in certain discrete areas of waste management, operators of alternative disposal facilities, companies that seek to use parts of the waste stream as feedstock for renewable energy and other by-products, and waste brokers that rely upon haulers in local markets to address customer needs. In recent years, the industry has seen some additional consolidation, though the industry remains intensely competitive. Counties and municipalities may have financial competitive advantages because tax revenues are available to them and tax-exempt financing is more readily available to them.

Also, such governmental units may attempt to impose flow control or other restrictions that would give them a competitive advantage. In addition, some of our competitors may have lower financial expectations, allowing them to reduce their prices to expand sales volume or to win competitively-bid contracts, including large national accounts and exclusive franchise arrangements with municipalities. When this happens, we may lose customers and be unable to execute our pricing strategy, resulting in a negative impact to our revenue growth from yield on base business.

Our revenues, earnings and cash flows fluctuate based on changes in commodity prices and demand and may fluctuate substantially without notice in the future.

Prices and demand for recyclables fluctuate and are particularly susceptible to volatility based on macroeconomic conditions and regulations. The fluctuations in the market prices or demand for these commodities can affect our operating income and cash flows positively, as we experienced in 2024, or negatively, as we experienced in 2023. The increase in market prices in 2024 for recyclable commodities resulted in a year-over-year increase in revenue of $245 million, and the decline in market prices in 2023 for recyclable commodities resulted in a year-over-year decrease in revenue of $308 million.

Regulations affecting, and in some cases restricting, the international flow of certain recyclables have led to a reduction in export activity for such recyclables, as well as higher quality requirements and higher processing costs. Additionally, the new U.S. presidential administration has called for substantial changes to foreign trade policy. Significant new restrictions and tariffs on foreign trade could negatively impact commodity prices and our recycling export business. We are making significant planned and ongoing investments in our recycling business to increase automation and reduce labor dependency and address increases in regulatory- and customer-driven quality requirements for commodities. These investments increase our exposure to commodity price fluctuations. Future regulation, tariffs, international trade policies or other initiatives, including regulations addressing climate change or GHG emissions, may impact supply and demand of material, or increase operating costs, which could impact the profitability of our recycling operations. If we do not effectively manage changes in demand and commodity prices for recyclable materials, or if we do not successfully execute our sustainability growth strategy, our investments in recycling infrastructure and technology may not yield the results anticipated.

Fluctuation in energy-related prices also affects our business, including recycling of plastics manufactured from petroleum products. Our sustainability growth strategy includes increased investment in landfill gas-to-energy facilities and expansion of our WM Renewable Energy segment, which generates and sells credits referred to as Renewable Identification Numbers (“RINs”). RINs prices generally respond to regulations enacted by the EPA, as well as fluctuations in supply and demand, and have historically been very volatile. Additionally, significant variations in the price of biogas, electricity and other energy-related products that are marketed and sold by our landfill gas recovery operations can result in a corresponding impact to our revenue from yield from such operations. Expansion of our WM Renewable Energy segment may introduce additional risks and volatility to our financial performance.

Increasing customer preference for alternatives to landfill disposal and bans on certain types of waste could reduce our landfill volumes and cause our revenues and operating results to decline.

Our customers are increasingly diverting waste to alternatives to landfill disposal, such as recycling and composting, while also working to reduce the amount of waste they generate. In addition, many state and local governments mandate diversion, recycling and waste reduction at the source and prohibit the disposal of certain types of materials at landfills, such as recyclables (cardboard, bottles and cans), yard waste, food waste and electronics. Where organic waste is not banned from disposal in landfills, some large customers such as grocery stores and restaurants are choosing to divert their organic waste from landfills. Zero-waste goals (sending no waste to the landfill) have been set by many large North American and global companies and government agencies. This increased focus on minimizing climate impacts may require the Company to invest in higher-cost technologies for more efficient waste collection and processing. Although such mandates and initiatives help to protect our environment, these developments reduce the volume of waste going to our landfills, which may affect the prices that we can charge for landfill disposal. Our landfills currently provide our highest income from operations margins. Reducing landfilled organic waste also reduces the amount of landfill gas produced from our landfills, adversely impacting our landfill gas-to-energy facilities. If we are not successful in expanding our service offerings, growing lines of businesses to service waste streams that do not go to landfills, and providing alternative services for customers that wish to reduce waste entirely, then our revenues and operating results may decline. Additionally, despite the development of new service offerings and lines of business, it is possible that our revenues and our income from operations margins could be negatively affected due to disposal alternatives.

With a heightened awareness of the global problems caused by plastic waste in the environment, and actual or perceived risks for human health, many governments have passed ordinances banning certain types of plastics from sale or use. The most common materials banned include plastic bags and straws, polystyrene plastic and some types of single use packaging. These bans have increased pressure by manufacturers on our recycling facilities to accept a broader array of materials in curbside recycling and composting programs to alleviate public pressures to ban the sale of those materials. However, there are currently no or limited viable end markets for recycling many of these materials, and inclusion of such materials in our recycling stream increases contamination and operating costs that can negatively affect the results of our recycling operations.

General economic conditions can directly and adversely affect revenues for our services and our income from operations margins.

Our business is directly affected by changes in national and general economic factors that are outside of our control, including consumer confidence, inflation, interest rates and access to capital markets. A weak economy generally results in decreased consumer spending and decreases in volumes of waste generated, which negatively impacts the ability to grow through new business or service upgrades, and may result in customer turnover and reduction in customers’ waste service needs. Consumer uncertainty and the loss of consumer confidence may also reduce the number and variety of services requested by customers. Additionally, a weak market for consumer goods can significantly decrease demand by paper mills for recycled corrugated cardboard used in packaging, which could negatively impact commodity prices and our operating income and cash flows.

A decrease in waste volumes generated results in an increase in competitive pricing pressure; such economic conditions may also interfere with our ability to implement our pricing strategy. Many of our contracts have price adjustment provisions that are tied to an index such as the Consumer Price Index. Our costs may increase more than the increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index, partially due to our relatively high fixed-cost structure. We may not be able to dynamically manage our cost structure in response to shifting volume levels and vendor costs, and our cost structure may not correlate with the Consumer Price Index or the waste industry. An economic recession or other economic weakness is likely to negatively impact our revenues and margins.

Reduction in volumes of medical waste, controlled substances wastes, and personal and confidential information, and changing conditions in the healthcare industry, could adversely affect our financial results.

Following our acquisition of Stericycle, we provide compliance-based services that rely on the generation of medical waste, controlled substances waste and personal and confidential information by our customers. The volume of such material may be impacted by macroeconomic trends associated with manufacturing and industrial markets, healthcare market dynamics, and trends associated with an increase in work-from-home arrangements and electronic and digital record keeping. Long-term trends resulting from these factors could reduce the demand for these services.

In addition, in the U.S. and elsewhere, the healthcare industry is evolving to meet competing demands for increased healthcare coverage of a growing and aging population and economic pressures to reduce healthcare costs. As a result of these dynamics, hospital networks are consolidating physician practices into their networks, independent practices are consolidating, and healthcare providers are focused on cutting costs within their businesses. These changes and consolidation of the customer base increase the competitive nature of the healthcare waste industry and exert downward pricing pressure, which could adversely affect our financial results.

Weakness in the economy may expose us to credit risk of governmental entities and municipalities and other major customers, which could negatively impact our financial results.

We provide service to a number of governmental entities, municipalities, and large national accounts. During periods of economic weakness, governmental entities and municipalities can suffer significant financial difficulties, due in part to reduced tax revenue and/or high-cost structures. During these periods, such entities, and our non-governmental customers, could be unable to pay amounts owed to us or renew contracts with us at previous or increased rates.

Purchasers of our recycling commodities can be particularly vulnerable to financial difficulties in times of commodity price volatility. The inability of our customers to pay us in a timely manner or to pay increased rates, particularly large national accounts, could negatively affect our operating results.

In addition, the financial difficulties of municipalities could result in a decline in investors’ demand for municipal bonds and a correlating increase in interest rates. As of December 31, 2024, we had $1.4 billion of tax-exempt bonds with term interest rate periods that expire within the next 12 months, which is prior to their scheduled maturities.

If market dynamics resulted in repricing of our tax-exempt bonds at significantly higher interest rates, we would incur increased interest expenses that may negatively affect our operating results and cash flows.

Changes to applicable tax laws and regulation or interpretation thereof or the imposition of new or increased taxes may increase our tax liabilities and could adversely affect our operating results and cash flows.

We are subject to various complex and evolving U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Existing tax laws, policies, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances, including those related to any non-U.S. tax jurisdictions in which we operate, could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us, in each case, possibly with retroactive effect. Any significant variance in our interpretation of current tax laws or a successful challenge of one or more of our tax positions by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or other tax authorities could increase our future tax liabilities and adversely affect our operating results and cash flows.

Shortages in diesel fuel supply or increases in diesel fuel prices will increase our operating expenses.

The price and supply of diesel fuel can fluctuate significantly based on international, political and economic circumstances, as well as other factors outside our control, such as actions by oil and gas producers, regional production patterns, weather conditions and environmental concerns. We need diesel fuel to run a notable portion of our collection and transfer trucks and our equipment used in our landfill operations. We also recently acquired Stericycle’s fleet, including a substantial number of diesel vehicles. Fuel supply shortages and price increases could substantially increase our operating expenses. Regardless of any offsetting surcharge programs, increased operating costs due to higher diesel fuel prices will decrease our income from operations margins.

Large-scale disruption of social and commercial activity and financial markets may have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Major external events, including pandemic conditions that result in large-scale disruption of social and commercial activity, such as business closures and social restrictions, could adversely impact our volumes, costs and operational execution. While pandemic conditions can increase demand for medical waste and controlled substances waste collection, treatment and disposal or destruction, protective actions such as travel restrictions, quarantines, or facility closures may interfere with our ability to provide services. If such conditions were to be severe, resulting in a broad-based economic slow-down, it may have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and hinder our ability to grow our business and execute our business strategy.

Technology and Information Security Risks

Developments in technology could trigger a fundamental change in our industry, as waste streams are increasingly viewed as a resource, which may adversely impact volumes at our landfills and our profitability.

Our industry has recognized the value of the traditional waste stream as a potential resource. Research and development activities are ongoing to provide disposal alternatives that maximize the value of waste, including using waste as a source for renewable energy and other valuable by-products. We and many other companies are investing in and/or developing these new technologies. It is possible that such investments and technological advancements may reduce the cost of waste disposal or the value of landfill gas recovery to a level below our costs and may reduce the demand for landfill space. As a result, our revenues and margins could be adversely affected due to advancements in disposal alternatives.

If we are not able to develop new service offerings and protect intellectual property or if a competitor develops or obtains exclusive rights to a breakthrough technology, our financial results may suffer.

Our existing and proposed service offerings to customers require that we invest in, develop, license, and protect new technologies. Our Company is increasingly focusing on new technologies that automate and innovate our operations, improve the customer experience, provide alternatives to traditional disposal and maximize the resource value of waste. We are continuing our multi-year commitment to strategic investments in technology that prioritize the reduction of labor dependency for certain high-turnover jobs, further digitalize our customer self-service and implement technologies to further enhance the safety, reliability and efficiency of our operations. Research, development and implementation of enhanced technology often requires significant spending that may divert capital investment away from our traditional business operations. We may experience difficulties or delays in the research, development, production and/or marketing of new products and services or implementation of technologies in which we have invested or acquired, which may negatively impact our operating results and prevent us from recouping or realizing a return on these investments and acquisitions.

Further, protecting our intellectual property rights and combating unlicensed copying and use of intellectual property is difficult, and an inability to obtain or protect new technologies could impact our services to customers and the development of new revenue sources. We rely on a combination of patents and trade secrets to protect our intellectual property, as well as confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with employees, contractors, and other third parties. We cannot guarantee that these measures will fully prevent unauthorized access or use. Furthermore, there is no assurance that current or future applications will result in issued patents or, if issued, will provide adequate protection against competitors. If a competitor develops or obtains exclusive rights to a “breakthrough technology” that provides a revolutionary change in our industry, or if we have inferior intellectual property to our competitors, our financial results may suffer.

We are dependent on technology, and if our technology fails, our business would be adversely affected.

Our Company, our customers, and the economy in general are increasingly dependent on continuous information technology systems and digital tools to conduct operations. This dependence spans nearly all areas of our business, from overseeing and controlling critical infrastructure to processing and securing proprietary and sensitive information. The information technology systems and networks that we, our customers, suppliers, and other third parties rely on can be vulnerable to disruptions from cyberattacks, power failures, telecommunications outages, major events like natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism, employee errors, and other unexpected or uncontrollable occurrences. Should these systems be compromised or cease to function effectively, we may face substantial costs to repair or replace them, as well as potential liability, loss of crucial data, reputational harm, and interruptions to our services or operations.

Challenges in implementing new systems can also affect our ability to realize projected cost savings or other benefits. Significant system failures could impede our ability to timely collect and report financial results in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Our post-acquisition efforts to integrate Stericycle’s technology and systems may result in substantial costs and uncertainties. Systems that increase our utilization of, and dependency on, third-party cloud computing services, and digital platforms to accommodate work-from-home arrangements, also increase various technology risks, including potential exposure to cyber incidents, loss of data, fraud, internal control challenges and other disruptions as a consequence of more employees accessing Company systems and information remotely in the course of their ordinary work.

Inability to adapt to and manage the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence could expose us to liability or put us at a disadvantage.

Artificial intelligence could disrupt certain aspects of our business and change use of technology in ways that are not yet known. Artificial intelligence technologies are subject to a variety of laws, including intellectual property, privacy, data protection and cybersecurity, consumer protection, competition, and equal opportunity laws, and are expected to be subject to increased regulation and new laws or new applications of existing laws. Such laws and regulations may present a variety of compliance risks. The use of artificial intelligence may also result in litigation, ethical concerns, and other legal and business risks. If we are not able to adapt and effectively incorporate potential advantages of artificial intelligence in our business, it may negatively impact our ability to compete. If we are not able to effectively manage the risks of artificial intelligence, we may suffer harm to our results of operations and reputation.

Significant cybersecurity incidents may negatively impact our business and our relationships with customers, vendors and employees and expose us to increased liability.

Substantially all aspects of our business operations rely on digital technology. We use computers, mobile devices, social networking and other online platforms to connect with our employees, customers, vendors, as well as other individuals and third parties. These uses give rise to cybersecurity risks, including security breach, ransomware, espionage, system disruption, theft and/or inadvertent, accidental, unlawful, unauthorized access, loss, alteration, destruction and/or disclosure or release of information. Our business necessitates the processing, collection, use, storage and transmission of numerous classes of sensitive and/or confidential information and intellectual property, including individuals’ personal information, private and sensitive employment-related personal information, and financial and strategic information about the Company and other businesses. In addition to our own safeguarding efforts, we also rely on third parties to process, collect and store sensitive data, including a Payment Card Industry compliant third-party to protect our customers’ credit card information. We are regularly the target of attempted cyber intrusions, have experienced cyber intrusions, and we anticipate continuing to be subject to such attempts as cyber intrusions become increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to predict and protect against. Geopolitical conflicts and developments and technological advancements also increase the risk and likelihood of cyber incidents.

As such, we must commit substantial resources to continuously monitor and further develop our networks and infrastructure to prevent, detect, and address the risk of unauthorized access, misuse, computer viruses and other events. These protections and other systems designed to mitigate cybersecurity risks may not fully defend against an attack or future cybersecurity incident, which can be unpredictable in nature.

Additionally, we cannot assure that any security measures that our third-party service providers have implemented will be effective against current or future security threats. We also cannot guarantee that our systems and networks or those of our third-party service providers or the equipment and related third-party software that we use to operate our network have not been breached or otherwise compromised, or that they and any software in our or their supply chains do not contain bugs, vulnerabilities, or compromised code that could result in a breach of, or disruption to, our systems and networks or the systems and networks of third parties that support us and our services.

Although we believe that the probability of occurrence of a significant cybersecurity incident is less than likely, if such an incident were to occur, the impact on the Company could be substantial. The magnitude of future cyber intrusions that result in a theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation, or release of sensitive and/or confidential information (belonging to us or third parties) or intellectual property, or material interference with our information technology systems or the technology systems of third parties on which we rely cannot be predicted, such incidents could result in material business disruption, direct financial loss, remediation costs, negative publicity, brand damage, alleged violation of privacy laws, loss of customers, potential regulatory investigations and enforcement or private litigation liability and competitive disadvantage. To mitigate these risks, we maintain a cybersecurity insurance policy; however, due to policy terms, limits and exclusions, such insurance may not apply in all cases, and it may not be adequate to cover all liabilities incurred. Regulatory enforcement action concerning privacy infringement and security incidents is generally increasing, including significant fines recently imposed by European regulators. With the acquisition of Stericycle, we may be subject to short notification deadlines in international jurisdictions in the event of a significant cybersecurity incident that impacts us globally; it may not be possible for us to comply with such notification deadlines due to the time required to conduct investigations and assess the impact of such incident. Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulatory deadlines could attract enforcement action, penalties, litigation, investigations, proceedings, reputational harm and brand damage.

As the Company pursues its strategy to grow through acquisitions, including the acquisition of Stericycle, and to pursue new initiatives that improve our operations and cost structure, the Company is also expanding and improving its information technologies, resulting in a larger technological presence, utilization of cloud computing services, and corresponding exposure to cybersecurity risk. Certain new technologies, such as the use of autonomous vehicles, remote-controlled equipment, virtual reality, automation and artificial intelligence, present new and significant cybersecurity safety risks that must be analyzed and addressed before implementation. If we fail to assess and identify cybersecurity risks associated with acquisitions and new initiatives, we may become increasingly vulnerable to such risks.

Increased state, federal and international laws and regulations related to cybersecurity protections and disclosures will require additional resources for compliance, and any inability, or perceived inability, to adequately address new requirements could subject us to regulatory enforcement, private litigation, public criticism, disrupt our operations, cause us to lose customers, result in additional costs and legal liability, damage our reputation, and otherwise harm our business.

Increasing regulatory focus on privacy and data protection issues and expanding laws could negatively impact our business, subject us to criticism and expose us to increased liability.

The legislative and regulatory framework for security, privacy and data protection issues worldwide is rapidly evolving and becoming increasingly demanding and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. We collect, use, share, retain, delete and otherwise process certain personal information and other sensitive information in connection with our operations and while providing services, including secure information destruction. We are subject to a variety of U.S. and international laws and regulations related to data privacy and the protection of confidential information, and we anticipate that regulation in this area will continue to expand. Applicable laws and regulations require disclosure and create other obligations for businesses that collect personal information and provide individual rights relating to personal information.

These laws and regulations are inconsistent across jurisdictions and are subject to evolving interpretations. Government officials, regulators, customers, privacy advocates and class action attorneys are increasingly scrutinizing how companies collect, process, use, store, share, transmit and destroy personal data. The continued emphasis on personal privacy and information security may result in customers requesting that we implement additional safeguards or controls. We must continually monitor the development and adoption of, and commit substantial time and resources to comply with, new and emerging laws and regulations and/ or expanded or novel interpretations of existing laws.

Additionally, customers and regulators may seek to hold us responsible for the actions of third parties we work with, such as sub-processors, vendors, or developers.

Any inability, or perceived inability, to adequately address privacy and data protection concerns, even if unfounded, or to comply with laws, regulations, policies, industry standards, contractual obligations, or other legal obligations, including through acquired companies or third parties, could subject us to regulatory enforcement, private litigation, public criticism, business disruption, loss of customers, additional costs and legal liability, reputational damage, and other harm.

Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Risks

Our operations are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, as well as contractual obligations that may result in significant liabilities.

There is risk of incurring significant environmental liabilities in the use, treatment, storage, transfer, processing and disposal or destruction of waste materials. Under applicable environmental laws and regulations, we could be liable if it is alleged that our operations cause environmental damage to our properties or to the property of other landowners, particularly as a result of the contamination of air, drinking water or soil. Under current law, we could also be held liable for damage caused by conditions that existed before we acquired the assets or operations involved and for conditions resulting from waste types or compounds previously considered non-hazardous but later determined to present possible threat to public health or the environment. The risks of successor liability and emerging contaminants are of particular concern as we execute our growth strategy, partially through acquisitions, because we may be unsuccessful in identifying and assessing potential liabilities during our due diligence investigations. Further, the counterparties in such transactions may be unable to perform their indemnification obligations owed to us. Any substantial liability for environmental damage could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In the ordinary course of our business, we have in the past, we are currently, and we may in the future, become involved in legal and administrative proceedings relating to land use and environmental laws and regulations. These include proceedings in which governmental entities, private groups or individuals seek to impose liability on us for alleged environmental damage or violation of statutes or desire to revoke or deny permits required for our operations. We generally seek to work with the authorities or other persons involved in these proceedings to resolve any issues raised. If we are not successful, the adverse outcome of one or more of these proceedings could result in, among other things, material increases in our costs or liabilities as well as material charges for asset impairments.

Further, we often enter into agreements with landowners imposing obligations on us to meet certain regulatory or contractual conditions upon site closure or upon termination of the agreements. Compliance with these agreements inherently involves subjective determinations and may result in disputes, including litigation. Costs to remediate or restore the condition of closed sites may be significant.

Our sustainability growth strategy includes significant planned and ongoing investments in our WM Renewable Energy segment; changes to federal and state renewable fuel policies could affect our financial performance, and such investments may not yield the results anticipated.

The primary drivers of renewable fuel development at our landfills are tax policies, such as the federal tax credits for RNG production and renewable electricity generation under the IRA, and federal and state incentive programs, such as the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) program, the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and similar state programs that promote the production and use of renewable transportation fuels. At the federal level, oil refiners and importers are required through the RFS program to blend specified volumes of renewable transportation fuels with gasoline or buy RINs, from renewable fuel producers. The Company has invested, and continues to invest, in facilities that capture and process landfill gas into RNG so that we can participate in the RFS program, and the Company has grown and stated its intention to continue to grow its asset base to increase its RNG production.

RINs prices generally respond to regulations enacted by the EPA, as well as fluctuations in supply and demand. The value of the RINs is set through a market established by the RFS program, which market has historically been very volatile. The new U.S. presidential administration could seek to reduce existing renewable fuel targets in a new rulemaking or otherwise set reduced targets for renewable fuels under the RFS program in future rulemakings. Moreover, consistent with its prior approach, the new administration may also increase the frequency with which it grants small refinery exemptions from RFS program requirements. While we cannot predict what actions the new administration may take with respect to the RFS program, any changes to existing or future renewable fuel targets or more frequent approval of requests for small refinery exemptions could have a significant negative impact on demand for renewable fuels and the value of RINs.

See Item 1. Business – Regulation – Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation – WM Renewable Energy for additional information. Changes and volatility in the RINs market, or changes in the structure of the RFS program or other clean fuel standard programs, can and has impacted the financial performance of our facilities. Such changes could impact or alter our projected future investments, and such investments may not yield the results anticipated.

The impact of climate change, and the adoption of climate change legislation or regulations restricting emissions of GHGs, could increase our costs to operate.

We continue to assess the physical risks, such as sea-level rise, catastrophic storms and other extreme weather conditions and long-term shifts in climate patterns, and transition risks, such as regulatory, market, policy, and technology changes, to our operations from the effects of climate change. These risks are expected to be unpredictable and widespread.

Although we have made investments to mitigate risk associated with severe storm events, damage to our facilities or disruption of service caused by more frequent or more severe storms associated with climate extremes could negatively impact operating results. We have also identified risk to our assets and our employees associated with drought or water scarcity, flooding, extreme heat and rain events, and fire conditions associated with climate change. For example, wildfires influenced by climate change can damage landfill infrastructure such as gas collection systems, and extreme rain events and flooding in low-lying areas enhanced by sea level rise can result in greater maintenance expenses at our facilities, service disruption, erosion of the protective vegetative caps on our landfills and increased volumes of leachate to manage. Those areas of the country most prone to these occurrences have protocols in place, or are developing protocols to address these conditions, including employee safety, driver training, and equipment and facility protection protocols. We have incurred and will incur costs to develop and implement these protocols, and these protocols may not be effective in offsetting these risks. Additionally, the actions of others in response to climate change effects, such as rolling power blackouts, can result in service disruptions and increase our costs to operate.

Our landfill operations emit methane, identified as a GHG. Existing technology presents challenges to our ability to quantify landfill emissions precisely. Ongoing review by government agencies of emerging methane measurement technologies and related regulatory developments could result in changes to how we have historically reported GHG emissions and may result in increases in such emissions reported for our operations. Such regulatory developments could also result in increased compliance costs and adversely affect our operations. Specifically, see Item 1. Business – Regulation – Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation – Climate and Sustainability for additional information.

Meanwhile, a number of legislative and regulatory efforts at the state, provincial, regional and federal levels and internationally aim to cap and/or curtail the emission of GHGs to ameliorate the effect of climate change, and otherwise to promote adaptation to climate change, support the transition to a low-carbon economy, and require disclosure of climate-related matters. We continue to monitor these efforts and the potential impacts to our operations. Should comprehensive federal climate change legislation be enacted, we expect it could impose operational and compliance costs that might not be offset by the revenue increases associated with our lower-carbon service options, the materiality of which we cannot predict. Climate change laws and regulations could also result in increased operational costs or disruption to the business of our customers, potentially impacting our operations and financial condition. We could experience damage to our reputation and brand, including as a result of a failure or perceived failure to respond responsibly and effectively to changes in legal and regulatory measures adopted to address climate change.

​

Failure to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, due to technology issues, difficulties integrating Stericycle’s operations and systems, or otherwise, could adversely affect our ability to provide accurate and timely financial statements, which may harm our business and reputation.

It is critical that we maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting. As described further in Item 9A. Controls and Procedures, in accordance with SEC staff guidance, we have excluded Stericycle from the assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024 contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K; however, this exclusion may not extend beyond one year from the November 4, 2024 closing date. We are in the process of integrating Stericycle’s operations and systems to ensure the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting for this acquired business.

Establishing, testing and maintaining an effective system of internal control over financial reporting requires significant resources and time commitments on the part of our management and our finance staff, and the time and expenditures needed may exceed our expectations.

If we encounter issues with technology systems or difficulties integrating Stericycle’s operations and systems into our system of internal control over financial reporting, and if we are unable to correct any issues encountered in a timely manner, our ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial data may be adversely affected, which may impact the accuracy, quality and completeness of our financial statements. Such failure could materially and adversely impact our business and subject us to potential investigations, liability, and penalties. Additionally, if we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective in any future period (or if our auditors are unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls or conclude that our internal controls are ineffective), we could lose investor confidence and suffer an adverse effect on our stock price.

We could be subject to significant fines and penalties, and our reputation could be adversely affected, if we or third parties with whom we have a relationship fail to comply with U.S. or foreign laws or regulations.

It is our policy to comply with all applicable anti-bribery laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), and with applicable local laws of the foreign countries in which we operate, and we monitor our local partners’ compliance with such laws as well. Our reputation may be adversely affected if we were reported to be associated with corrupt practices or if we or our local partners failed to comply with such laws. Additionally, violations of such laws could subject us to significant fines and penalties.

Under previously reported settlements with governmental authorities relating to Stericycle’s compliance with the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws with respect to now-divested operations in Latin America, Stericycle engaged an independent compliance monitor for two years and is required to undertake compliance with self-reporting obligations for an additional year through November 2025. Other matters may arise in the future involving alleged violations of the FCPA, other anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, or laws prohibiting doing business with sanctioned parties. These could subject us to enforcement actions, fines, penalties, further oversight by an independent compliance monitor and/or self-reporting obligations, litigation, or orders of suspension or debarment, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Currently pending or future litigation or governmental proceedings could result in material adverse consequences, including judgments or settlements.

As a large company with extensive operations, we are subject to various proceedings, lawsuits, disputes and claims arising in the ordinary course of our business, including governmental proceedings. Actions that have been filed against us, and that may be filed against us in the future, include personal injury, property damage, commercial, customer, and employment-related claims, including purported state and national class action lawsuits related to:

The timing of the final resolutions to these types of matters is often uncertain. Additionally, the possible outcomes or resolutions to these matters could include adverse judgments or settlements, either of which could require substantial payments, adversely affecting our liquidity.

Stericycle is, and has been, involved in government investigations, enforcement proceedings, private lawsuits and other disputes alleging noncompliance with applicable regulations, including alleged noncompliance with the Controlled Substances Act and other statutes involving its now-divested Domestic Environmental Solutions business of collecting, transporting, and destroying controlled substances from retail customers. With the acquisition of Stericycle, these matters may result in adverse consequences, including permit revocations or denials and civil, criminal and administrative penalties.

​

Financial Risks

Our capital requirements and our business strategy could increase our expenses, cause us to change our growth and development plans, or result in an inability to maintain our desired credit profile.

If economic conditions or other risks and uncertainties cause a significant reduction in our cash flows from operations, we may reduce or suspend capital expenditures, growth and acquisition activity, implementation of our business strategy, dividend declarations or share repurchases. We may choose to incur indebtedness to pay for these activities, although our access to capital markets is not assured and we may not be able to incur indebtedness at a cost that is consistent with current borrowing rates. We also may need to incur indebtedness to refinance scheduled debt maturities, and it is possible that the cost of financing could increase significantly, thereby increasing our expenses and decreasing our net income. Macroeconomic pressures, including inflation and rising interest rates, and market disruption are continuing. The U.S. government’s future actions regarding its debt ceiling and any possibility that the U.S. could default on its debt obligations could cause further interest rate increases, disrupt access to capital markets and trigger recessionary conditions. Further, our ability to execute our financial strategy, manage interest rate exposure and incur indebtedness is somewhat dependent upon our ability to maintain investment grade credit ratings on our senior debt. The credit rating process is contingent upon our credit profile and several other factors, many of which are beyond our control, including methodologies established and interpreted by third-party rating agencies. An important factor in our credit ratings is our leverage. We have communicated the Company’s expectation that our leverage will return to targeted levels about 18 months after the November 2024 acquisition of Stericycle. If we do not achieve our projected reduction in leverage, it could negatively impact our credit ratings. If we were unable to maintain our investment grade credit ratings in the future, our interest expense would increase and our ability to obtain financing on favorable terms could be adversely affected. We have $2.7 billion of debt as of December 31, 2024 that is exposed to changes in market interest rates within the next 12 months, associated with our commercial paper borrowings and tax-exempt bonds. If interest rates increase, our interest expense would also increase, lowering our net income and decreasing our cash flow.

We may use our $3.5 billion long-term U.S. and Canadian revolving credit facility (“$3.5 billion revolving credit facility”) to meet our cash needs, to the extent available, until maturity in May 2029. As of December 31, 2024, we had no outstanding borrowings under this facility. We had $1.2 billion of outstanding borrowings (net of related discount on issuance) under our commercial paper program and $224 million of letters of credit issued, both supported by this facility, leaving unused and available credit capacity of $2.1 billion as of December 31, 2024. In the event of a default under our $3.5 billion revolving credit facility we could be required to immediately repay all outstanding borrowings and make cash deposits as collateral for all obligations the facility supports, which we may not be able to do. Additionally, any such default could cause a default under many of our other credit agreements and debt instruments. Without waivers from lenders party to those agreements, any such default would have a material adverse effect on our ability to operate.

Increases in the costs of obtaining adequate financial assurance, or the inadequacy of our insurance coverages, could negatively impact our liquidity and increase our liabilities.

The amount of insurance we are required to maintain for environmental liability is governed by statutory requirements. We also carry a broad range of other insurance coverages that are customary for a company our size. To the extent our obligations for claims are more than we estimated, our insurance coverage is inadequate to cover our obligations, or our insurers are unable to meet their obligations, the requirement that we pay such obligations could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

In addition, to fulfill our financial assurance obligations with respect to variable-rate tax-exempt debt, and final capping, closure, post-closure and environmental remediation obligations, we generally obtain letters of credit or surety bonds, rely on insurance, including captive insurance, fund trust and escrow accounts or rely upon WMI financial guarantees. Our financial position, which can be negatively affected by asset impairments, our credit profile and general economic factors, may increase the cost of our current financial assurance instruments, and changes in regulations may impose stricter requirements on the types of financial assurance that will be accepted. In the event we are unable to obtain sufficient surety bonding, letters of credit or third-party insurance coverage at reasonable cost, or one or more states cease to view captive insurance as adequate coverage, we would need to rely on other forms of financial assurance. It is possible that we could be required to deposit cash to collateralize certain obligations, which could negatively impact our liquidity.

We may record material charges against our earnings due to impairments to our assets.

Events that have in the past and may in the future lead to an impairment include, but are not limited to, shutting down a facility or operation, abandoning a development project, project cost overruns or the denial of an expansion permit. Additionally, declining waste volumes and development of, and customer preference for, alternatives to traditional waste disposal could warrant asset impairments. If we determine an asset or expansion project is impaired, we will charge against earnings any unamortized capitalized expenditures and advances relating to such asset or project reduced by any portion of the capitalized costs that we estimate will be recoverable, through sale or otherwise. We also carry a significant amount of goodwill on our Consolidated Balance Sheets, which is required to be assessed for impairment annually, and more frequently in the case of certain triggering events. We have in the past and may in the future be required to incur charges against earnings if such impairment tests indicate that the fair value of a reporting unit is below its carrying amount. Any such charges could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We could face significant liabilities for withdrawal from Multiemployer Pension Plans.

We are a participating employer in a number of trustee-managed multiemployer defined benefit pension plans (“Multiemployer Pension Plans”) for employees who are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In the event of our withdrawal from a Multiemployer Pension Plan, we may incur expenses associated with our obligations for unfunded vested benefits at the time of the withdrawal. Depending on various factors, including potential legislative changes, future withdrawals could have a material adverse effect on results of operations or cash flows for a particular reporting period, and our ongoing costs of participation in Multiemployer Pension Plans may increase. See Notes 9 and 10 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for more information related to our participation in Multiemployer Pension Plans.

​

​

​

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

​

Item 1C. Cybersecurity.

Strategy, Governance and Risk Management

Our Technology Risk Program is designed to proactively identify, monitor, and mitigate technology-related risks across our digital operations and assess cybersecurity risks related to third-party vendors and suppliers. Our Cybersecurity Program and our Technology Risk Program are led by our Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”) a Certified Information Systems Security Professional with two decades of cybersecurity leadership. The CISO and his team are responsible for leading enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy, policy, standards, architecture and processes. The Technology Risk Oversight Committee chaired by our CISO, with members representing leadership throughout our Company, provides oversight and guidance to technology risks, including cybersecurity. Our Company’s Cybersecurity Program is designed to align with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) Cybersecurity Framework and leading industry practices, and our Cybersecurity Program is integrated into our Company’s Enterprise Risk Management framework. Internal and external experts regularly evaluate our Cybersecurity Program, and the results of those reviews are reported to senior management and our Company’s Board of Directors. Our Incident Response Committee, which is comprised of leaders in the areas of information security, digital, legal, finance, privacy, compliance and ethics, corporate security and communications, is responsible for leading our Company’s response to cyber incidents. Our Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan outlines the processes by which management is informed about and monitors detection and mediation of cyber incidents. We actively engage with key vendors, industry participants, and intelligence and law enforcement communities as part of our continuing efforts to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of our information security policies and procedures. We have a Data Protection Office that works closely with, and assists, our enterprise Privacy Program, overseen by the Chief Privacy Officer, along with advisory support from appointed Data Protection Officers in Europe and Quebec.

While we have experienced cybersecurity threats and breaches targeting our information technology systems and networks and those of our third-party providers, including within the last three years, these incidents have not had a material impact on our Company, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition. Risks from cybersecurity threats, including previous cybersecurity incidents encountered by the Company and known incidents encountered by third parties with a connection to the Company, are also not currently viewed as reasonably likely to materially impact our Company, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition. We are regularly the target of attempted cyber intrusions, have experienced cyber intrusions, and we anticipate continuing to be subject to such attempts as cyber intrusions become increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to predict and protect against. Geopolitical conflicts and developments and technological advancements also increase the risk and likelihood of cyber incidents. As such, we must commit substantial resources to continuously monitor and further develop our networks and infrastructure to prevent, detect, and address the risk of unauthorized access, misuse, computer viruses and other events. Although we have implemented and maintain commercially reasonable security measures and safeguards, including to protect against and identify potential threats, these protections and other systems designed to mitigate cybersecurity risks may not fully defend against an attack or future cybersecurity incident, which can be unpredictable in nature. Although we believe that the probability of occurrence of a significant cybersecurity incident is less than likely, if such an incident were to occur, the impact on the Company could be substantial. See Item 1A. Risk Factors — Significant cybersecurity incidents negatively impact our business and our relationships with customers, vendors and employees and expose us to increased liability for additional discussion.

Board Oversight

Management has primary responsibility for risk management within our Company. The Company’s Board of Directors, with the support of its committees, oversees risk management to ensure that the processes designed, implemented and maintained by our executives are functioning as intended and adapted when necessary to respond to changes in our Company’s strategy as well as emerging risks. The Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors has responsibility for oversight of information and cybersecurity risks and assessment of cyber threats and defenses. The Audit Committee receives reports on these matters from our most senior executives in the digital organization, including our Chief Information Officer and CISO, and the Company’s executive officers, at least twice a year.

Topics historically covered in such reports, and for which our Board exercises oversight, include third-party evaluation of our technology infrastructure and information security against the NIST cybersecurity framework; management of emerging cyber threats such as merger and acquisition activity and the adoption and governance of artificial intelligence; risk mitigation through the Company’s enterprise-wide cybersecurity training, including our Board of Directors, conducted at least annually; regular simulated phishing tests and third-party penetration testing; review of the Company’s cyber incident insurance coverage and external cyber incident resources; review of the Company’s Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan; review of readouts from cyber incident table top exercises; and consideration of applicable laws and regulations, including those related to privacy. The Company’s Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan includes a section on Board escalation that specifies the process for notification of the Chair of the Audit Committee and the Chair of the Board of the Directors upon certain triggering events, and that group then determines the appropriate form and frequency of communication with the full Audit Committee or Board of Directors, depending on the unique characteristics of the incident.

​

Item 2. Properties.

Our principal executive offices are in Houston, Texas where we lease approximately 285,000 square feet under a lease expiring in 2035. We also have administrative offices in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, India and parts of Western Europe. We own or lease real property in most locations where we have operations or administrative functions. We have operations (i) in all 50 states; (ii) in the District of Columbia; (iii) parts of Canada and (iv) parts of Western Europe.

Our principal property and equipment consist of land (primarily landfills and other disposal facilities, transfer stations and bases for collection operations), buildings, vehicles and equipment. We believe that our operating properties, vehicles and equipment are adequately maintained and sufficient for our current operations. However, we expect to continue to make investments in additional property and equipment for expansion, for the replacement of aging assets and investment in assets that support our strategy of continuous improvement through efficiency and innovation. In addition, we continue to make progress on our planned investments to expand our Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments. As of December 31, 2024, we had 102 landfill gas beneficial use projects producing commercial quantities of methane gas at owned or operated landfills. For 65 of these projects, the processed gas is used to fuel electricity generators. The electricity is then sold to public utilities, municipal utilities or power cooperatives. For 23 of these projects, the gas is used at the landfill or delivered by pipeline to industrial customers as a direct substitute for fossil fuels in industrial processes. For 11 of these projects, the landfill gas is processed to pipeline quality RNG and then sold to natural gas suppliers. Additionally, three of these projects are on third-party landfills. For more information, see Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included within this report.

The following table summarizes our various operations as of December 31:

​

​

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

Information regarding our legal proceedings can be found under the Environmental Matters and Litigation sections of Note 10 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included within this report.

​

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Information concerning mine safety and other regulatory matters required by Section 1503(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and Item 104 of Regulation S-K is included in Exhibit 95 to this annual report.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “WM.” The number of holders of record of our common stock on February 14, 2025 was 7,046.

The graph below shows the relative investment performance of Waste Management, Inc. common stock, the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Waste & Disposal Services Index for the last five years, assuming reinvestment of dividends at date of payment into the common stock. The graph is presented pursuant to SEC rules and is not meant to be an indication of our future performance.

​

​

​

The Company repurchases shares of its common stock as part of capital allocation programs authorized by our Board of Directors. Share repurchases are a part of our long-term strategy and incorporated into our overall capital allocation plan to enhance our Company’s performance, in conjunction with our other uses of capital, and to return value to stockholders in a tax-efficient manner. During 2024, we allocated an aggregate of $262 million to repurchase our common stock under accelerated share repurchase (“ASR”) agreements and open market transactions. As of December 31, 2024, we had received 1.5 million shares with a weighted average price per share of $196.95, exclusive of per-share commissions. As a result of the Stericycle acquisition, the Company has temporarily suspended share repurchases. We expect to resume share repurchases once the Company’s leverage returns to targeted levels, which is currently projected to be about 18 months after the November 2024 acquisition of Stericycle. See Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

There were no common stock repurchases during the fourth quarter of 2024.

​

Item 6. [Reserved]

None.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

This section includes a discussion of our results of operations for the three years ended December 31, 2024. This discussion may contain forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Statement about Forward-Looking Statements” in Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or anticipated results. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in Part I, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this report and may also be described from time to time in our future reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The following discussion should be read considering those disclosures and together with the Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto.

Overview

We are North America’s leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions, primarily providing services throughout the United States (“U.S.”) and Canada. We partner with our customers and the communities we serve to manage and reduce waste at each stage from collection to disposal, while recovering valuable resources and creating clean, renewable energy. We own or operate the largest network of landfills throughout the U.S. and Canada. In order to make disposal more practical for larger urban markets, where the distance to landfills is typically farther, we manage transfer stations that consolidate, compact and transport waste efficiently and economically. Our solid waste business is operated and managed locally by our subsidiaries that focus on distinct geographic areas and provide collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and resource recovery services. Through our subsidiaries, including our Waste Management Renewable Energy (“WM Renewable Energy”) segment, we are also a leading developer, operator and owner of landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the U.S. and Canada that produce renewable electricity and renewable natural gas, which is a significant source of fuel that we allocate to our natural gas fleet. Additionally, we are a leading recycler in the U.S. and Canada, handling materials that include paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal.

Stericycle Acquisition

On November 4, 2024, we completed our acquisition of all outstanding shares of Stericycle for $62.00 per share in cash, pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated June 3, 2024. Total enterprise value of the acquisition was $7.2 billion (net of cash acquired) when including the assumption of $0.5 billion of debt and the repayment of approximately $0.8 billion of net debt. The acquisition expands our offerings in the U.S., Canada and parts of Western Europe. The post-closing operating results of Stericycle have been included in our Consolidated Financial Statements, as a new reportable segment referred to as WM Healthcare Solutions.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, we incurred approximately $160 million of acquisition and integration related costs, which are primarily classified as “Selling, general and administrative expenses.” Refer to Note 19 for more information on the performance of our WM Healthcare Solutions segment.

Our senior management evaluates, oversees and manages the financial performance of our business through five reportable segments, referred to as (i) Collection and Disposal - East Tier (“East Tier”); (ii) Collection and Disposal - West Tier (“West Tier”); (iii) Recycling Processing and Sales; (iv) WM Renewable Energy and (v) WM Healthcare Solutions. Our East and West Tiers along with certain ancillary services (“Other Ancillary”) that are not managed through our Tier segments, but that support our collection and disposal operations, form our “Collection and Disposal” businesses. We also provide additional services not managed through our five reportable segments, which are presented as Corporate and Other.

Collection and Disposal

Our Collection and Disposal businesses provide integrated environmental services, including collection, transfer, disposal and resource recovery services. We evaluate our Collection and Disposal businesses primarily through two geographic segments, East Tier and West Tier. Our East Tier primarily consists of geographic areas located in the Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes region and substantially all of Canada. Our West Tier primarily includes geographic areas located in the Western U.S., including the upper Midwest region, and British Columbia, Canada. Additionally, we provide Other Ancillary services that are not managed through the Tier segments but that support our collection and disposal operations. Other Ancillary includes specialized services performed for customers that have differentiated needs. These specialized services are targeted at large industrial customers managed through our Sustainability and Environmental Solutions (“SES”) business or geographically dispersed customers managed through our Strategic Business Solutions (“WMSBS”) business. Also included within Other Ancillary are the results of non-operating entities that provide financial assurance and self-insurance support for our business, net of intercompany activity.

Our Collection and Disposal businesses’ operating revenues are primarily generated from fees charged for our collection, transfer, disposal and resource recovery services. Revenues from our collection operations are influenced by factors such as collection frequency, type of collection equipment furnished, type and volume or weight of the waste collected, distance to the disposal facility or recycling facility and our disposal costs. Revenues from our landfill operations consist of tipping fees, which are generally based on the type and weight or volume of waste being disposed of at our disposal facilities. Fees charged at transfer stations are generally based on the weight or volume of waste deposited, considering our cost of loading, transporting and disposing of the solid waste at a disposal site.

Included within our Collection and Disposal businesses are landfills having (i) 20 third-party power generating facilities converting our landfill gas to fuel electricity generators; (ii) 16 third-party renewable natural gas (“RNG”) facilities processing landfill gas to be sold to natural gas suppliers and (iii) six third-party projects delivering our landfill gas by pipeline to industrial customers as a direct substitute for fossil fuels in industrial processes. In return for providing our landfill gas, we receive royalties from each facility, including the benefit of a 15% royalty from our WM Renewable Energy segment based on net operating revenue generated through the sale of RNG, renewable identification numbers (“RINs”), electricity and capacity, Renewable Energy Credits (“RECs”) and related environmental attributes from the 84 landfill beneficial use renewable energy projects owned by WM Renewable Energy on our active landfills, which is eliminated in consolidation.

Recycling Processing and Sales

Our Recycling Processing and Sales segment includes the processing and sales of materials collected from residential, commercial and industrial customers. The materials are delivered to and processed at one of our many recycling facilities. Through our brokerage business, we also manage the marketing of recycling commodities that are processed in our facilities and by third parties by maintaining comprehensive service centers that continuously analyze market prices, logistics, market demands and product quality.

Recycling Processing and Sales revenues generally consist of tipping fees and the sale of recycling commodities to and/or on behalf of third parties. Our Recycling Processing and Sales segment excludes the collection of recycled materials from our residential, commercial, and industrial customers which is included within our Collection and Disposal businesses.

WM Renewable Energy

Our WM Renewable Energy segment develops, operates and promotes projects for the beneficial use of landfill gas. Landfill gas is produced naturally as waste decomposes in a landfill. The methane component of the landfill gas is a readily available, renewable energy source that can be gathered and used beneficially as an alternative to fossil fuel. WM Renewable Energy converts landfill gas into several sources of renewable energy to be sold which include RNG, electricity and capacity, heat and/or steam. WM Renewable Energy also generates and sells (i) RINs under the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) program; (ii) other credits under a variety of state programs associated with the use of RNG in our compressed natural gas fleet and (iii) RECs associated with the production of electricity. The RINs, RECs, and other credits are sold to counterparties who are obligated under the regulatory programs and have a responsibility to procure RINs, RECs, and other credits proportionate to their fossil fuel production and imports. RINs and RECs prices generally fluctuate in response to regulations enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) or other regulatory bodies, as well as changes in supply and demand.

As of December 31, 2024, we had 102 landfill gas beneficial use projects producing commercial quantities of methane gas at owned or operated landfills. For 65 of these projects, the processed gas is used to fuel electricity generators. The electricity is then sold to public utilities, municipal utilities or power cooperatives. For 23 of these projects, the gas is used at the landfill or delivered by pipeline to industrial customers as a direct substitute for fossil fuels in industrial processes. For 11 of these projects, the landfill gas is processed to pipeline quality RNG and then sold to natural gas suppliers. Additionally, three of these projects are on third-party landfills. The revenues from these facilities are primarily generated through the sale of RNG, RINs, electricity and capacity, heat and/or steam, RECs and related environmental attributes. WM Renewable Energy is charged a 15% royalty on net operating revenue from these facilities residing on our active and closed landfills from our Collection and Disposal and Corporate and Other businesses, which is eliminated in consolidation. Additionally, WM Renewable Energy operates and maintains seven third-party landfill beneficial gas use projects in return for service revenue. Our Collection and Disposal and Corporate and Other businesses benefit from these projects as well as 52 additional third-party landfill beneficial gas use projects in the form of royalties.

WM Healthcare Solutions

Our WM Healthcare Solutions segment includes (i) Regulated Waste and Compliance Services (“RWCS”) which provide compliance programs and collection, processing, and disposal of regulated and specialized waste, including medical, pharmaceutical and hazardous waste and (ii) Secure Information Destruction (“SID”) services, which provide for the collection of personal and confidential information for secure destruction and recycling of sorted office paper. RWCS are provided to customers in the U.S., Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom (“U.K.”). SID services are provided to customers in the U.S., Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the U.K. 

Our WM Healthcare Solutions customers are primarily in the following industries: enterprise healthcare (i.e., hospitals, health systems, and national and corporate healthcare), practices and care providers (i.e., physician offices, surgery centers, veterinary clinics, nursing and long-term care facilities, dental clinics, clinics and urgent care, dialysis centers, and home health organizations), and pharmacy labs and research centers. Our WM Healthcare Solutions businesses also provide services to airports and seaports, education institutions, funeral homes and crematories, government and military, banks and professional services, and other businesses. While the WM Healthcare Solutions businesses manage large volumes of waste and other materials, the average volume per customer site is relatively small.

Our customers typically enter into a contract for the provision of services on a scheduled basis, including weekly, monthly or on an as-needed basis over the contract term. Under the contract terms, the WM Healthcare Solutions businesses receive fees based on a monthly, quarterly or annual rate and/or fees based on contractual rates depending upon measures including the volume, weight, and type of waste. Operating revenues are invoiced based on the terms of the underlying contract either on a regular basis, or as services are performed and are generally due within a short period of time after invoicing based upon normal terms and conditions for our business type and the geography of the services performed.

As of December 31, 2024, our WM Healthcare Solutions businesses include a global fleet of approximately 6,100 routed trucks, tractors, collection vans and small duty vehicles. Our WM Healthcare Solutions segment operates out of approximately 361 leased and owned facilities worldwide with 69 autoclaves or other alternative medical waste treatment facilities, 18 medical waste incinerator facilities, 107 SID processing facilities and 167 transfer stations. Included within our WM Healthcare Solutions segment are 35 locations that are classified as held for sale as of December 31, 2024.

Corporate and Other

We also provide additional services that are not managed through our operating segments, which are presented in this report as Corporate and Other. This includes the activities of our corporate office, including costs associated with our long-term incentive program, expanded service offerings and solutions (such as our investments in businesses and technologies that are designed to offer services and solutions ancillary or supplementary to our current operations) as well as our closed sites. Also included within our Corporate and Other businesses closed sites are (i) six third-party power generating facilities converting our landfill gas to fuel electricity generators; (ii) two third-party projects delivering our landfill gas by pipeline to industrial customers as a direct substitute for fossil fuels in industrial processes and (iii) two third-party RNG facilities processing landfill gas to be sold to natural gas suppliers in return for a royalty. Additionally, Corporate and Other benefits from a 15% royalty from our WM Renewable Energy segment based on net operating revenue generated through the sale of RNG, RINs, electricity and capacity, RECs and related environmental attributes from the 15 landfill beneficial use renewable energy projects owned by WM Renewable Energy on our closed sites, which is eliminated in consolidation.

Included in the fees we charge for our services is our energy surcharge and other charges that are intended to pass through costs to customers.

Business Environment

The waste industry is a comparatively mature and stable industry. However, customers increasingly expect more of their waste materials to be recovered and those waste streams are becoming more complex. In addition, many state and local governments mandate diversion, recycling and waste reduction at the source and prohibit the disposal of certain types of waste at landfills. We monitor these developments to adapt our service offerings. As companies, individuals and communities look for ways to be more sustainable, we promote our comprehensive services that go beyond our core business of collecting and disposing of waste in order to meet their needs. This includes expanding traditional recycling services, increasing organics collection and processing, providing medical waste services and expanding our renewable energy projects to meet the evolving needs of our diverse customer base. As North America’s leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions, we are taking big, bold steps to catalyze positive change – change that will impact our Company as well as the communities we serve. Consistent with our Company’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, we have published our 2024 Sustainability Report, providing details on our sustainability-related performance and outlining progress towards our 2030 sustainability goals. The Sustainability Report conveys the strong linkage between the Company’s sustainability goals and our growth strategy, inclusive of the planned and ongoing expansion of the Company’s Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments. The information in this report can be found at sustainability.wm.com but it does not constitute a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For further discussion see Item 1. Business – Regulation – Recent Developments and Focus Areas in Policy and Regulation.

We encounter intense competition from governmental, quasi-governmental and private service providers based on pricing, and to a much lesser extent, the nature of service offerings, particularly in the residential line of business. Our industry is directly affected by changes in general economic factors, including increases and decreases in consumer spending, business expansions and construction activity. These factors generally correlate to volumes of waste generated and impact our revenue. Negative economic conditions and other macroeconomic trends can and have caused customers to reduce their service needs. Such negative economic conditions, in addition to competitor actions, can impact our strategy to negotiate, renew, or expand service contracts and grow our business. We also encounter competition for acquisitions and growth opportunities. General economic factors and the market for consumer goods, in addition to regulatory developments, can also significantly impact commodity prices for the recyclable materials we sell. Significant components of our operating expenses vary directly as we experience changes in revenue due to volume and inflation. Volume changes can fluctuate significantly by line of business and volume changes in higher margin businesses can impact key financial metrics.

We must dynamically manage our cost structure in response to volume changes and cost inflation.

We believe the Company’s industry-leading asset network and strategic focus on investing in our people and our digital platform will give the Company the necessary tools to address the evolving challenges impacting the Company and our industry. In line with our commitment to continuous improvement and a differentiated customer experience, we remain focused on our automation and optimization investments to enhance our operational efficiency and change the way we interact with our customers. Advancements made through these initiatives are intended to seamlessly and digitally connect all enterprise functions required to service customers and provide the best experience. We have made significant progress in executing this technology enablement strategy to automate and optimize certain elements of our service delivery model. The key benefits are reduced labor dependency on certain high-turnover jobs, particularly in customer experience, recycling and residential collection, while further elevating our customer self-service through digitalization and implementation of technologies to enhance the safety, reliability and efficiency within our collection operations. Additionally, in 2022, we implemented a new general ledger accounting system, complementary finance enterprise resource planning system and a human capital management system, which will continue to drive operational and service excellence by empowering our people through a modern, simplified and connected employee experience.

We sometimes experience margin pressures and variability in earnings and margins from our commodity-driven businesses, specifically within our Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments. While recycling commodity prices have recovered in 2024 from the low levels experienced in 2023, commodity prices are still below levels seen at the beginning of 2022. The impacts of commodity price fluctuations are not currently material to our WM Renewable Energy segment; however, as we continue to make investments to grow that segment, we may experience more significant impacts from fluctuations in the prices of electricity, natural gas, RINs and RECs. We continue to take proactive steps to adjust our business models to protect against the down-side risk of changes in commodity prices.

Variability in economic conditions, including inflation, interest rates, employment trends and supply chain reliability, can create risk and uncertainty in financial outlook. We take proactive steps to recover and mitigate inflationary cost pressures through our overall pricing efforts and by managing our costs through efficiency, labor productivity, and investments in technology to automate certain aspects of our business. We remain committed to putting our people first to ensure that they are well positioned to execute our daily operations diligently and safely. We remain focused on delivering outstanding customer service, managing our variable costs with changing volumes and investing in technology that will enhance our customers’ experience and provide operating efficiencies intended to reduce our cost to serve.

Current Year Financial Results

During 2024, we continued to focus on our priorities to advance our strategy—enhancing employee engagement, reducing our cost to serve through the use of technology and automation, and investing in growth through acquisitions and our Recycling Processing and Sales and WM Renewable Energy segments. We invested approximately $8 billion, with $7.5 billion funded in cash and $0.5 billion as the assumption of debt, on acquisitions in 2024, including having completed our acquisition of Stericycle in early November. We remain diligent in offering competitive and differentiated services that meet the needs of our customers, and we are focused on driving operating efficiencies and reducing discretionary spend. We continue to invest in our people through paying a competitive market wage, investing in our digital platform and providing training for our team members. We also continue to make investments in automation and optimization to enhance our operational efficiency and improve labor productivity for all lines of business. This strategic focus, combined with strong operational execution, resulted in increased revenue, income from operations and income from operations margin in 2024 when compared to the prior year. During 2024, the Company allocated $3,231 million of available cash to capital expenditures. We also allocated $1,472 million of available cash to our shareholders during 2024 through dividends and common stock repurchases.

Key elements of our 2024 financial results include:

Results of Operations

Operating Revenues

The mix of operating revenues for the years ended December 31 are as follows (in millions):

The following table provides details associated with the period-to-period change in revenues and average yield for the year ended December 31 (dollars in millions):