Waste Connections Releases 2020 Sustainability Report And Commits Over $500 Million For Related Investments

TORONTO, Oct. 27, 2020 /CNW/ -- Waste Connections, Inc. (TSX/NYSE: WCN) ("Waste Connections" or the "Company") announced the release today of its 2020 Sustainability Report, which illustrates the Company's commitment to environmental stewardship, the health, welfare and development of its employees, and the support of its local communities.  In conjunction with the report, Waste Connections introduced long-term, aspirational targets that reflect the Company's sustainability priorities and its commitment of over $500 million for investments to meet or exceed such targets. 

"Our values and safety-focused, Servant Leadership-driven culture have guided Waste Connections' response to this year's unprecedented health, economic and social challenges, allowing us to execute at a high level while continuing to pursue sustainability initiatives, which are integral to and consistent with our strategy and focus on long-term value creation for our shareholders," said Worthing F. Jackman, President and Chief Executive Officer. 

Highlights of the 2020 Sustainability Report include:

• Addressing Unprecedented Challenges: As an essential services provider during uncertain times, Waste Connections recognized that reducing employee concerns regarding income, healthcare and family obligations would enable the Company to meet customer commitments, reduce voluntary turnover and further improve safety performance. To provide that support, Waste Connections committed more than $35 million in incremental costs primarily directed to discretionary supplemental pay for frontline employees, and, among other initiatives, increased its minimum wage target to $15/hour, expanded benefits and provided scheduling flexibility to accommodate employee needs.
  
  
  The Company also recognized the challenges faced by the communities it serves, increasing the level of charitable contributions to assist food banks, families at risk, and organizations with a focus on addressing racial inequities at a local or national level.
  
  
• Establishing Sustainability Targets: Waste Connections specified long-term, aspirational sustainability targets and committed over $500 million for investments to meet or exceed such targets. These investments primarily focus on reducing emissions, increasing resource recovery of both recyclable commodities and biogas, reducing reliance on off-site disposal for landfill leachate, increasing employee engagement, and further improving our industry-leading safety performance.
  
  
• Advancing Diversity and Inclusion: Waste Connections is a signatory to the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace, and maintains a formal Diversity Policy for the Board of Directors and Senior Management. In 2020, in keeping with its efforts to advance diversity and inclusion, the Company focused its leadership summit on understanding and mitigating unintended biases, incorporated diversity and inclusion into both Servant Leadership training and assessments of managers by employees, enhanced recruiting practices to ensure the broadest candidate pools, and supported the development of employee resource groups including the Waste Connections Women's Network and Veterans' S.E.R.V.E. Network.

The Waste Connections 2020 Sustainability Report is available at www.wasteconnections.com/sustainability.   

About Waste Connections

Waste Connections is an integrated solid waste services company that provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer and disposal services, along with recycling and resource recovery, in mostly exclusive and secondary markets across 42 states in the U.S. and six provinces in Canada. The Company serves more than seven million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Waste Connections also provides non-hazardous oilfield waste treatment, recovery and disposal services in several basins across the U.S., as well as intermodal services for the movement of cargo and solid waste containers in the Pacific Northwest.

For more information, visit the Waste Connections website at www.wasteconnections.com.  Copies of financial literature, including this release, are available on the Waste Connections website or through contacting us directly at either (905) 532-7510 or (832) 442-2200.  Investors can also obtain these materials and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and the Canadian securities regulators free of charge at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and at the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval maintained by the Canadian Securities Administrators at www.sedar.com.

Safe Harbor and Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA"), including "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance and reflect Waste Connections' current beliefs and expectations regarding future events and operating performance. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "intends," "may," "might," "will," "could," "should" or "anticipates," or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. All of the forward-looking statements included in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the PSLRA and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements about the timing and amount of investments and the ability to meet or exceed sustainability targets.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, risk factors detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the SEC and the securities commissions or similar regulatory authorities in Canada. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.  Waste Connections undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements set forth in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws.

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SOURCE Waste Connections, Inc.