Casella Waste Systems, Inc. published its 2024 Sustainability Report, outlining its progress toward five key sustainability metrics, while highlighting significant achievements.
“With this year’s report, we are pleased to highlight several areas of achievement, and exceedingly proud that our commitment to our team continues to shine through in several areas of reporting,” said Casella chairman and chief executive officer, John W. Casella. “The investments we have made in our people, infrastructure, and logistics have had a positive impact on the sustainability and strength of our business, while also benefiting our customers and the communities we serve.”
The Casella team has grown by more than 32 percent since 2022 and is approaching 5,000 total employees. Even with its growth, the company reported continued improvement in its safety performance, with its total recordable incident rate (TRIR) dropping nearly 20 percent since 2019. A key contributor to improving safety performance has been the Company’s success in filling vacancies and maintaining near-full staffing levels, buoyed by the more than 300 drivers and technicians who have successfully trained at the company’s Kenneth A. Hier Sr. CDL Training Center with a focus on safety, service, and commitment to excellence.
In order that the company’s commitment to safety is felt from the front line to the back office, Casella enhanced its annual incentive compensation plans so that all such plans include goals to improve safety and reduce turnover year over year. “Safety is critically important to our success, and it is imperative that everyone shares in the commitment to achieving this goal,” Casella said.
Casella also continues to make significant progress in climate leadership and earned a spot on USA Today’s “America’s Climate Leaders 2024” list for the second consecutive year.
“We estimate that for every ton of greenhouse gas we emit through our operations, we help prevent more than five tons of greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere in the economy through our recycling, renewable energy, and carbon sequestration services,” Casella said. “This reflects our focus on simultaneously reducing our emissions and growing our emission-reducing services. We expect progress will continue as we work to advance renewable natural gas infrastructure and make further upgrades to our recycling infrastructure.”
Continued investments in infrastructure, innovation, and education have the company currently positioned to achieve its materials management goal of recycling more than 2 million tons in 2030.
“Since 2019, we have increased the amount of material we recycle by more than 36 percent, representing nearly 400,000 tons recyclables being put to a higher and better use,” Casella said. “In 2023, we completed a full retrofit of our largest recycling facility, while adding new facilities in New York and Pennsylvania through acquisition. Further investments in the critical infrastructure required to help achieve our materials management goals are scheduled to occur in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, positioning us to see tonnage growth in our resource solutions line of business in 2024 and beyond.”