Waste Management 10-Q 2022-03-31

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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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Form 10-Q

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(Mark One)

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Waste Management, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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800 Capitol Street

Suite 3000

Houston**,** Texas 77002

(Address of principal executive offices)

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(713) 512-6200

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

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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 ☐

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

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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.

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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. ☐

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

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The number of shares of Common Stock, $0.01 par value, of the registrant outstanding as of April 21, 2022 was 415,207,025 (excluding treasury shares of 215,075,436).

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PART I.

WASTE MANAGEMENT, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In Millions, Except Share and Par Value Amounts)

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See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

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WASTE MANAGEMENT, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(In Millions, Except per Share Amounts)

(Unaudited)

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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(In Millions)

(Unaudited)

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See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

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WASTE MANAGEMENT, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In Millions)

(Unaudited)

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The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included under Item 1 and our Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto and related Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q 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,” “plan,” “forecast,” “project,” “estimate,” “intend,” and words of a similar nature and include estimates or projections of financial and other data; comments on expectations relating to future periods; plans or objectives for the future; and statements of opinion, view or belief about current and future events, circumstances or performance. You should view these statements with caution. They are based on the facts and circumstances known to us as of the date the statements are made. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those set forth in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to failure to implement our optimization, growth, and cost savings initiatives and overall business strategy; failure to identify acquisition targets, consummate and integrate acquisitions; failure to obtain the results anticipated from acquisitions, including continuing to realize the strategic benefits and cost synergies from our acquisition of Advanced Disposal Services, Inc. (“Advanced Disposal”); environmental and other regulations, including developments related to emerging contaminants, gas emissions and renewable fuel; significant environmental, safety or other incidents resulting in liabilities or brand damage; failure to obtain and maintain necessary permits; failure to attract, hire and retain key team members and a high quality workforce; changes in wage and labor related regulations; significant storms and destructive climate events; public health risk and other impacts of COVID-19 or similar pandemic conditions, including related regulations, resulting in increased costs and social, labor and commercial disruption; macroeconomic pressures and market disruption resulting in labor, supply chain and transportation constraints and inflationary cost pressure; increased competition; pricing actions; commodity price fluctuations; impacts from Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine and the resulting geopolitical conflict and international response, including increased risk of cyber incidents and exacerbation of market disruption, inflationary cost pressure and changes in commodity prices, fuel and other energy costs; international trade restrictions; disposal alternatives and waste diversion; declining waste volumes; weakness in general economic conditions and capital markets; adoption of new tax legislation; fuel shortages; failure to develop and protect new technology; failure of technology to perform as expected, including implementation of a new enterprise resource planning and human capital management system; failure to prevent, detect and address cybersecurity incidents or comply with privacy regulations; negative outcomes of litigation or governmental proceedings; decisions or developments that result in impairment charges and other risks discussed in our filings with the SEC, including Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, including financial estimates and forecasts, whether as a result of future events, circumstances or developments or otherwise.

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Overview

We are North America’s leading provider of comprehensive waste management environmental services, providing services throughout the United States (“U.S.”) and Canada. We partner with our residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal 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. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the U.S. that produce renewable natural gas, which is a significant source of fuel for 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. Our “Solid Waste” business is operated and managed locally by our subsidiaries that focus on distinct geographic areas and provide collection, transfer, disposal, and recycling and resource recovery services. Consistent with our Company’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, we published our 2021 Sustainability Report, which details our people-first commitment to help make the communities in which we live and work

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safe, resilient, and sustainable. The information in this report can be found at https://sustainability.wm.com but it does not constitute a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this Quarterly Report on Form 10 Q.

In 2021, our senior management began evaluating, overseeing, and managing the financial performance of our Solid Waste operations through two operating segments. 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. Each of our Solid Waste operating segments provides integrated environmental services, including collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal.

Our Solid Waste operating revenues are primarily generated from fees charged for our collection, transfer, disposal, and recycling and resource recovery services, and from sales of commodities by our recycling and landfill gas-to-energy operations. 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 material recovery 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. Recycling revenues generally consist of tipping fees and the sale of recycling commodities to third parties. The fees we charge for our services generally include our environmental, fuel surcharge and regulatory recovery fees which are intended to pass through to customers direct and indirect costs incurred. We also provide additional services that are not managed through our Solid Waste business, described under Results of Operations below.

Strategy

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. As North America’s leading provider of comprehensive waste management environmental services, sustainability and environmental

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Information about market risks as of March 31, 2022 does not materially differ from the following information discussed under Item 7A in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021:

In the normal course of business, we are exposed to market risks, including changes in interest rates, certain commodity prices and Canadian currency rates. From time to time, we use derivatives to manage some portion of these risks. The Company had no derivatives outstanding as of December 31, 2021.

Interest Rate Exposure — Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our financing activities. As of December 31, 2021, we had $13.5 billion of long-term debt, excluding the impacts of accounting for debt issuance costs, discounts and fair value adjustments attributable to terminated interest rate derivatives. We had $2.5 billion of debt that is exposed to changes in market interest rates within the next 12 months comprised of (i) $1.8 billion of short-term borrowings under our commercial paper program; (ii) $645 million of tax-exempt bonds with term interest rate periods that expire within the next 12 months and (iii) $54 million of variable-rate tax-exempt bonds that are subject to repricing on a weekly basis. We currently estimate that a 100-basis point increase in the interest rates of our outstanding variable-rate debt obligations would increase our 2022 interest expense by $7 million.

Our remaining outstanding debt obligations have fixed interest rates through either the scheduled maturity of the debt or, for certain of our fixed-rate tax-exempt bonds, through the end of a term interest rate period that exceeds 12 months. The fair value of our fixed-rate debt obligations can increase or decrease significantly if market interest rates change.

We performed a sensitivity analysis to determine how market rate changes might affect the fair value of our market risk-sensitive debt instruments. This analysis is inherently limited because it reflects a singular, hypothetical set of assumptions. Actual market movements may vary significantly from our assumptions. An instantaneous, 100-basis point increase in interest rates across all maturities attributable to these instruments would have decreased the fair value of our debt by approximately $900 million as of December 31, 2021.

We are also exposed to interest rate market risk from our cash and cash equivalent balances, as well as assets held in restricted trust funds and escrow accounts. These assets are generally invested in high-quality, liquid instruments including money market funds that invest in U.S. government obligations with original maturities of three months or less. We believe that our exposure to changes in fair value of these assets due to interest rate fluctuations is insignificant as the fair value generally approximates our cost basis. We also invest a portion of our restricted trust and escrow account balances in available-for-sale securities, including U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. agency securities, municipal securities, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, which generally mature over the next nine years, as well as equity securities.

Commodity Price Exposure — In the normal course of our business, we are subject to operating agreements that expose us to market risks arising from changes in the prices for commodities such as diesel fuel, electricity and recycled materials, including old corrugated cardboard and plastics. We work to manage these risks through operational strategies that focus on capturing our costs in the prices we charge our customers for the services provided. Accordingly, as the market prices for these commodities increase or decrease, our revenues, operating costs and margins may also increase or decrease. We saw significant increases in commodity prices and demand for recycled materials in 2021, resulting in increased annual revenue for our recycling business of $537 million. Variability in commodity prices can also impact the margins of our business as certain components of our revenue are structured as a pass through of costs, including recycling brokerage and fuel surcharges.

Currency Rate Exposure — We have operations in Canada as well as certain support functions in India. Where significant, we have quantified and described the impact of foreign currency translation on components of income,

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including operating revenue and operating expenses. However, the impact of foreign currency has not materially affected our results of operations.

Effectiveness of Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our principal executive and financial officers, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) in ensuring that the information required to be disclosed in reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, including ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to management (including the principal executive and financial officers) as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Based on such evaluation, our principal executive and financial officers have concluded that such disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of March 31, 2022 (the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q) at a reasonable assurance level.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

In the first quarter of 2022, we implemented a new general ledger accounting system and complementary finance enterprise resource planning system. These new system implementations were achieved after a multi-year review of existing accounting and reporting processes and the design and configuration of system-enabled enhancements to such processes. With the implementation, we have realized certain process efficiencies and we expect this new system to enhance our financial reporting and analysis capabilities in the future. The change in our general ledger and finance enterprise resource planning systems was subject to thorough testing and review by internal and external parties both before and after the implementation. While these systems implementations are intended to enhance our framework for internal control over financial reporting, management, together with our CEO and CFO, has determined that the changes in our internal controls over financial reporting during the quarter ended March 31, 2022 have not been material and are not reasonably likely to materially affect our internal controls over financial reporting.

PART II.

Item 1. Legal Proceedings.

Information regarding our legal proceedings can be found under the Environmental Matters and Litigation sections of Note 6 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

There have been no material changes to the risk factors previously disclosed in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

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Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.

The following table summarizes common stock repurchases made during the first quarter of 2022 (shares in millions):

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

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 quarterly report.

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• Filed herewith.

** Furnished herewith.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

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