This Week in Waste: Top Stories January 31 - February 4

This week in waste, investments in circular solutions drive company investments in 2022, and younger generations are working to eliminate food waste. Here are this week's top stories on Waste360.com.

1. WM Touts Strategic Capital Investments in Renewable Energy, Recycling in 2022 Outlook
Stefanie Valentic

Despite inflationary cost pressures, Waste Management, Inc. (WM) reported robust Q4 2021 results and provided anticipated figures for 2022. Core pricing surpassed Q4 2019 figures, rising to 5.1 percent in Q4 2021, up from 3.2 percent in 2020 and 4.2 percent in 2019. Full-year core price arrived at 4.8 percent in 2021, a sharp rise from 2.9 percent the previous year.

Read the story here.

2. Gen Z, Millennials Take On Food Waste: Part 2
Arlene Karidis

"Food is much more than simply what we put into our bodies; it’s tied to how we relate to the world at large. It’s how we relate to each other culturally. It’s how we structure our food systems. This relationship is complex. Yet children as young as two are capable of having complex relationships with the world around them, and we honor that," says Megan Haupt of Hungry Education.

Read the story here.

3. Gen Z, Millennials Take On Food Waste: Part 1
Arlene Karidis

Youth typically like to ask a lot of questions and to explore, and when their curiosity leads to what they see as jarring, far-reaching problems, they like to belly up to the bar and help solve them. Knowing this, some of their educators, employers, and their entrepreneurial peers are challenging them to address some of the world’s most pressing environmental dilemmas: food waste, hunger, and other problems tied to a complex, flawed food system.

Read the story here.

4. Sneak Peek: 5th Annual Waste & Recycling Facility Fire Report
Ryan Fogelman

2021 is in the books, and I am putting the finishing touches on the “5^th Annual Waste & Recycling Facility Fires Annual Report for the US and Canada.” This year’s report promises to be one for the ages as we officially experienced more reported fire incidents this year than we have since I began consolidating the data in 2016.

Read the story here.

5. WHO: COVID-19 Waste Places Strain on Medical Waste Management System
Stefanie Valentic

In at least 47 of the world's least-developed countries, half of health care clinics lack basic water services.

With the absence of adequate environmental services and sanitation, the impact of health care waste during the pandemic has been devastating, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Read the story here.