Waste Management Mission Statement

Although the top level managers benefited in this situation, the shareholders suffered greatly. They lost a total of around $6 billion dollars in the market value of Waste Management’s stock. By the end of the scandal Waste

Every year Americans collectively create approximately 208 million tons of municipal solid waste, which breaks down to 4.3 pounds of waste generated per American per day. In addition to this normal waste, the United States produces roughly 279 million tons of hazardous waste per year.1 All of this waste has to go somewhere. Two good methods of waste disposal, infrequently used, are incineration and recycling. However, any waste that is not recycled or incinerated ends up in America’s landfills. Landfills that are not in proper working order can pose a serious threat to humans and the environment, but ones that safely store all of their waste may possibly be helpful for the

Municipal solid wastes are leftovers made by the population such as food, plastic bottles, household wares and many more. These items referred by most as “the garage” or “trash”. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015) In the early 1900’s, incinerators were used to burn waste however by the Mid-20th century, lawmakers enacted the first government regulations in an attempt to address increasing concerns about the environmental impact of unregulated waste management practices. With the first waste management legislation being passed in 1965, brought along the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, thus bringing us into a new world of waste management.(Vault, n.d.)

The company has been the subject to numerous environmental laws and regulations that govern the discharge of waste product and disposal of wastes.

"The winding road that led us to flawed garbage numbers in Washington and a garbage mountain in LA begins 120 years ago in the NY of the 1890 's widely considered at the time to be among the most exciting, vibrant and corrupt cities in the world, it was also the foulest, smelliest and dirtiest truly a city of garbage. This is arguably the fertile soil in which Americas modern waste management system begins."

The Waste Management scandal from the late 1990’s was described as “One of the most egregious accounting frauds we have seen," said Thomas C. Newkirk, associate director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. (Cottrell, 2009) The majority of the fraud was centered around the fact that earnings were not growing as fast as projected so earnings were inflated. Waste Management executives avoided recording write offs which overstated their income statement by failing to record abandoned projects. They also capitalized items that should have been left on the income statement to increase their value on the asset side. It is documented that Waste Management’s auditor Arthur Andersen LLP (Anderson) entered into an agreement with Waste Management to help cover up such fraud in

Waste Management Inc. is a publicly traded for profit waste management company and is one of the largest waste collection corporation in North America. It owns 252 landfill sites and has over 39,000 employees. The waste management scandal was one of the largest accounting frauds we have seen. In 2002 there was lawsuit that was brought against the founders of the waste management Inc. which charged them with a huge financial fraud that lasted for about five years which took place between 1992 and 1997. During this scandal Waste Management was accused of increasing profits by $1.7 billion dollars, gaining almost $29 million from annual bonuses and insider trader.

This report through the United Church of Christ and Justice & Witness Ministries was very important in the progress of environmental justice because the report presented that race is the most “potent variable” of where “commercial hazardous waste facilities were located in the U.S.” Throughout this report, the constant theme was about toxic and solid waste, but another underlining theme was the economy versus environment.

Dale Anderson and C Langstan along with the State DEQ, and City of Casper conducted an enterprise when forcing, through regulatory activity, which became a pattern of conduct. The racket of using a position of power to force others to pay more for waste disposal, so that your family makes more money, is no better than Organized Crime extorting business and families!

Whole Foods, like many other organizations, has a motto that guides their day-to-day business. Their motto is, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet” (Our Mission and Vision, n.d.). This motto emphasizes that they are not just focused on food retail. Their mission goes beyond that; they are concerned for the well-being of their customers and employees, and even the planet as a whole. While whole foods does not have a separate mission statement, they do have a strong vision statement. This vision statement compensates for the lack of a mission statement because it brings them both together. They identify their deepest purpose as an organization to be “helping support the health, well-being, and healing of both people — customers, team members, and business organizations in general — and the planet” (Our Mission and Vision, n.d.). This vision statement identifies the main purpose of the company. Their main reason for existing is to provide healthy food for their employees and customers in order to help promote a healthier lifestyle. Their vision statement also emphasizes the importance of both customers and employees. By identifying their Team Members as people of importance, they are showing that they truly care about their well-being and they are not just concerned about making a profit. Their statement is also goal-oriented. It gives the company a sense of direction so that everyone knows the main goal they are to be working towards.

The American people can be easily swayed into buying whatever they are told, and throwing away anything it replaces. This fatal flaw in society is proved by Vance Packard in his book “The Waste Makers”. He tells how corporations tricked the American public into living a wasteful life where they use something once and throw it away. A concept that had previously been unconceivable, but now was the way of living. He also proves how people had succumbed to buying things for convenience alone and nothing more. These companies did anything in their power to trick the consumer and improve their profit margins. Sometimes to their own dismay they would over sell their products and hurt themselves. Then immediately trick the public into believing another lie. Packard’s findings on the wastefulness of the American economy is irrefutable and unequivocal.

Businesses such as the one in this article, by Andy Watkins, show how Wrights GPX is used recycling to decrease costs. Recycling is less costly than sending trash to landfills as space is running out. Also landfills harm the environment and make companies look bad by sending large quantities of trash to them (Watkins,

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) is the leading provider of comprehensive Waste Management and environmental services in North America. It is established in 1971 and headquartered in Houston, Texas. In 2014, its total number of employees reached up 42,700 with a revenue of $ 13.99 Billion (Wikipedia 2015). The company provides private and commercial waste services, including collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services.

For WM the fuel, environmental charge included on a customer’s invoice is determined by first putting in the percentage of the WM Collection Fuel Surcharge Table or WM Disposal Fuel Surcharge Table into the overall invoice charges (excluding taxes). Next the environmental percentage is put in the sum of the total invoice charges and fuel surcharge calculation (excluding tax). Landfills produce harmful gases that if breathed in by people can cause serious health issues. The gases they let off also can ignite huge fires. If the water gets contaminated, then there is a long process to get to clean again and it cost 10 million dollars. Landfills also create a toxic soup of industrial and home-cleaning chemicals. These are just some of the impacts that solid waste management has on people and environments. My group has come up with different ways to solve these

     Another driving force behind the improper disposal of hazardous waste was the Mafia. “Organized crime controlled the solid waste disposal industry through the major trade associations, the relevant Teamster locals, and the connivance of political cronies”(Block, 1985, p.102). The Mafia has the ability to buy public officials with ease. This and their scare tactics led many EPA officials to do nothing about the illegal activities that took place. “Imagine an EPA inspector or state regulatory agent trying to deal with firms controlled by the members of the most powerful crime syndicates in the country”(Block, 1985, p.103).