Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (Nasdaq: CWST) published its 2022 Sustainability Report today, outlining the company’s progress toward its sustainability vision, while elevating five key sustainability metrics to the forefront of its strategic goals.
“With this year’s report, we introduce a distilled focus on five primary goals,” said Casella Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John W. Casella. “While we intend to continue internally measuring our performance against many key sustainability indicators, we believe that elevating our five primary metrics will allow us to maintain a high level of focus around our most important and impactful 2030 goals.”
Casella’s five key elements to its sustainability strategy include metrics focused on the people who work for the company, the materials the company manages, the operations that manage those materials, the emissions those operations produce, and the communities in which the company operates. For each element, Casella has established a primary metric and a 2030 goal as well as additional factors that will help the company advance its sustainability vision.
“This Report showcases the progress we have made since we introduced our Sustainability Goals in 2020, while also recognizing the changing environment in which we operate,” Casella said. “It is increasingly important to all our key stakeholders that we remain both economically and environmentally sustainable. Our industry is evolving, and our company is proud to be one of the leaders of this evolution.”
Casella’s history as a leader in sustainability is marked by several milestones in materials management featured in the report, and its focus on climate leadership has been present for nearly two decades.
As the only waste and recycling company among the founding members of the EPA Climate Leaders program, Casella reduced its carbon footprint by 45% from 2005 to 2010. The company’s climate achievements were recognized in 2012 by the EPA, the Association of Climate Change Officers, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and the Climate Registry with a Climate Leadership Award for Excellence in GHG management. Casella’s first sustainability report was issued in 2009.
A pioneer in sustainable waste and recycling innovation, Casella established the first recycling facility in Vermont in 1977 and, was a charter member of the EPA Climate Leaders program, and the 2022 Sustainability Report is the company’s sixth biennial report on its sustainability activities.
Casella’s 2022 Sustainability Report can be read or downloaded here.
2030 Goals
Our sustainability strategy has five key elements. For each element, we have established a primary metric and a 2030 goal. We have also identified additional factors that will help us to advance our sustainability vision.
Essential Workers
HEALTH & SAFETY
Improve our safety performance, reducing our Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), a measure of recordable incidents compared to hours worked
2019 6.2
2020 5.9
2021 5.4
2030 4.0
- Adhering to our Core Values of service, trust, responsibility, integrity, continuous improvement, and teamwork
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Enhancing employee engagement and improving employee retention
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Advancing workplace diversity and fostering a culture of inclusion
Materials Management
RESOURCE SOLUTIONS
Grow our Resource Solution business to reduce, reuse or recycle over 2,000 million tons of solid waste materials per year by 2030
2019 1.053 million
2020 1.221 million
2021 1.213 million
2030 2.000 million
- Supporting circular economy innovation
- Increasing renewable energy production
- Celebrating consumer achievements through our Sustainability Leadership Awards
Sustainable Operations
FUEL EFFICIENCY
Improve our fuel efficiency, reducing our Gigajoules (GJ) of fuel consumed per ton of waste and recycling collected by 20% below a 2019 baseline
2019 0.495
2020 0.464
2021 0.459
2030 0.396
- Pursuing alternative fuel vehicle pilots
- Advancing our environmental compliance programs
Climate Leadership
GHG EMISSIONS
Further reduce our carbon footprint, measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) from scopes 1 and 2 with a 2010 baseline
2019 33%
2020 35%
2021 37%
2030 40%
- Increasing the net climate benefit we achieve through recycling, renewable energy, and carbon sequestration
- Preparing and adapting for the effects of climate change through planning and resilience
Community Engagement
COMMUNITY GIVING
Increase our community giving, including charitable donations, in-kind services, and local community sponsorships
2019 N/A TRACKING BEGAN IN 2020
2020 $1.062 million
2021 $1.063 million
2030 $2.000 million
- Serving our communities through employee volunteering
- Providing educational outreach to help advance our vision for sustainable materials management
About Casella Waste Systems, Inc.
Casella Waste Systems, Inc., headquartered in Rutland, Vermont, provides solid waste management services consisting of collection, transfer, disposal, and recycling services in the northeastern United States. http://www.casella.com.
RUTLAND, Vt., Oct. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Casella Waste Systems, Inc