Our Carbon Footprint
services provided Measured in metric tons CO2e (mil)
operations Measured in metric tons CO2e (mil)
Waste Connections' services contribute to offsetting or reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Specifically, the beneficial use of landfill gas, recycling, and carbon sequestration reduce GHG emissions and benefit the environment.
Many Waste Connections landfills capture the landfill gas generated at those facilities and provide it to offset the need for energy from fossil fuel sources. Additionally, recycled materials have a smaller carbon footprint over their life cycle compared to virgin materials, further avoiding emissions. Lastly, a portion of the waste placed in landfills does not decompose due to the anaerobic conditions within the landfill, effectively sequestering the carbon contained in this nondecomposed waste from the environment.
Along with carbon that is permanently sequestered in our landfills, our recycling services and beneficial use of landfill gas avoided 21.6 million metric tons of CO2e in 2023. These operational offsets or avoided emissions exceeded absolute emissions generated from our operations by 4.1 times. These results reflect the benefit of reductions in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 13% since 2019, concurrent with a 19% increase in operational offsets during the same period.
