Climate Leadership
Through our partnerships, innovation and investment, we’re taking an active role in helping to create a more sustainable world.
TAKING ACTION
Partnering for a More Sustainable World
Creating a more sustainable world means advancing a circular economy and supporting decarbonization solutions.
Reducing our carbon footprint begins at our landfills, where we safely and responsibly manage waste for millions of customers. Landfills naturally produce biogas as waste decomposes, and we collect that gas for reuse as renewable energy. Approximately 90% of our active landfill acreage is covered by gas collection wells.
In addition to expanding our recycling and organics infrastructure, we’re investing in and innovating new diversion opportunities for customers. Our Polymer Centers and our Blue Polymers joint venture are helping enable greater circularity for plastics and supporting sustainable packaging.
Since 2017, we’ve reduced greenhouse gas emissions 20%. But we’re not stopping there. Looking ahead, we plan additional investments in innovation and technology to continue our positive impact.
Advancing a Circular Economy
Through our recycling centers, Polymer Center network and organics infrastructure, we’re helping keep materials in circulation for the long-term.
Recycling
Our 75 recycling centers process 5 million tons of materials every year, returning them to the marketplace to conserve natural resources.
Polymer Centers
Through our Polymer Center network, we are reimagining plastics recycling, from curbside collection to consumer packaging and back again.
Organics
Nearly 30% of yard and food waste ends up in the landfill. Republic Services diverts that waste and turns it into renewable energy and compost.
Supporting Decarbonization Solutions
Our landfill gas-to-energy projects and electric fleet are reducing emissions and creating low-carbon solutions in the communities we serve.
Landfills
Our modern, engineered landfills are designed to safely dispose of waste while protecting groundwater and reducing fugitive emissions.
Renewable Energy
There’s power in our landfills. We’re involved with 70+ landfill gas-to-energy projects today and partnering on over 40 more in coming years.
Electrification
We’ve made an industry-leading commitment to electrify our fleet. By 2028, we expect that half of our new truck purchases will be EVs.
Protecting Biodiversity
We’re committed to fostering an environment in which all living things can thrive. Across our operations, Republic Services is striving to protect biodiversity, actively preserving open spaces and critical habitats, and creating opportunities for public access to nature areas. A landfill is essentially an engineered hill, and our network of landfills includes tens of thousands of acres of open space. At many of our landfills, we’re protecting land as wetlands, preserves and plant or animal habitats, or making it available for public trails, sports fields or farming.
REAL-WORLD POSITIVE IMPACTS
Sustainability Through Environmental Solutions
To help our customers manage their diverse recycling and waste streams, our specialized operations divert and reuse materials that can’t be processed by traditional recycling facilities, and properly dispose of what can’t be diverted.
Aerosol Recycling
Our Aerosol Recycling Technology is a fully contained process that recycles the can, its contents and its components.
Glycol Recycling
We collect and recycle glycol from aircraft deicing, producing a low-carbon recycled product and minimizing waste.
Metals Recovery
Industrial processes generate scrap metals including tin, nickel, copper, cobalt and zinc, which can be recovered and recycled.
Drum Reuse
Each year, we reuse or recycle more than 50,000 drums that transport special waste from customer to treatment and disposal site.
Compliant PFAS Management
Our PFAS Solutions provide customers with the expertise, coupled with a network of permitted facilities and transportation options, to responsibly and compliantly manage these “forever chemicals.”
PFAS DISPOSAL
- Injection wells extend thousands of feet underground where liquids are safely confined
- Subtitle C (hazardous waste) landfills constructed with two synthetic liners and two compacted clay layers
- Treatment processes including thermal, carbon ion exchange and resin filtration, reverse osmosis
Measuring Our Impact
70+
LANDFILL GAS-TO-ENERGY PROJECTS
$1B
INVESTED IN RECYCLING, 2018-2025
11K
ACRES OF LAND PRESERVED AT LANDFILLS
100+
EVs IN OUR FLEET
