For Future Generations Update Q4 2019

Waste Management is proud to release our final quarterly update for 2019, focused on five specific projects identified in our sustainability strategy For Future Generations.

Summary

For Future Generations has five programme areas and 13 projects that will support achievement of our sustainability goals. We have committed to reporting our progress on these annually, but also provide these progress updates each quarter.

Five programme areas

• Our Environment reflects a continuation of our efforts in protecting and enhancing the environment.
• Our Communities reflects the expressed desire from our stakeholders that our communities are wanting to make better choices around waste – but they would like our help, knowledge and expertise to do this.
• Our Customers recognises the increasing importance of waste and environmental services to our customers.
• Our People addresses the importance of our Waste Management team in making us a sustainable company into the future.
• Our Business reflects the essential and enduring nature of the services we provide.

Each programme area is linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring we are positively influencing achievement of these global goals as well as creating value for our business and stakeholders.

Our Environment

Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Over the last quarter we created our first reduction plan for managing and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. This plan identifies a range of carbon reduction projects to reduce our impact on climate change and help us move towards a future low carbon economy. These projects include ongoing expansion of our EV truck programme and new projects such as our first ever electric bin and truck washes at our new facility in East Tamaki in Auckland.

Our Community

Regenerating our communities

Kate Valley Landfill and Energy Park is currently visited by a number of bellbirds and kereru. In order to increase this biodiversity of our native species, pest trapping has been instigated in Tiromoana Bush near Christchurch for the first time. Since October the traps have caught 73 possums, 12 stoats, 61 weasels, 39 hedgehogs, 15 ship rats and 17 mice, 2 rabbits and there has been an increase in tui sightings already.

Our Customers

Improving customer experience

Our digital solutions continue to provide customers with a better experience in managing their waste and recycling.

More than 4,400 residents have signed up for the Waimakariri and Queenstown Lakes district councils digital solution, with almost 4,000 texts are sent every week to remind customers of their collections. Go Build, our self-service web app for building and construction customers, continues to grow with close to 800 orders placed to date.

Our People

Increasing diversity

To support our action to increase woman truck drivers in our team a series of videos featuring our Waste Management women drivers has been developed and shared across our social media channels. We also have a new partnership underway with Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology which encourages women drivers to do work experience with Waste Management. This partnership has already resulted in one permanent appointment and we are looking forward to additional team members joining us over the coming months.

Our Business

Identifying solutions for problem waste streams

We are expanding our tyre recycling collection capability into the Waikato and Bay of Plenty. This extends our service to new regions, and enables us to turn old tyres into tyre derived fuel, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from Golden Bay Cement by substituting the rubber biofuel for coal.

Following the collapse in global demand for mixed paper recycling in late 2019, we have initiated a new project to assess further onshore uses for paper. We are also conducting a full review of Waste Management’s paper collection customers to assess the volume of recycling by region, and the impact of the changing recycling market.