Waste Management Hosts Fourth Annual Executive Sustainability Forum

PHOENIX, Ariz., Jan. 23, 2014 /3BL Media/ - Waste Management (NYSE: WM) will gather 200 business executives from leading global companies on Thursday, January 30, 2014 to exchange ideas on advancing sustainable practices at the fourth annual Executive Sustainability Forum in Scottsdale, Ariz.  Guests of the private event will be joined by Waste Management executives and corporate leaders from a wide array of industries for presentations, panels and breakout discussions on innovative solutions and theories, perspectives and best practices related to sustainability. 

“Waste Management is committed to helping businesses and individuals realize and achieve their environmental sustainability goals,” said Waste Management Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Dave Aardsma.  “The Executive Sustainability Forum provides business leaders with information and knowledge to turn the ‘sustainability challenge’ into opportunities to create growth and advance environmental performance in an effort to shape a new and more sustainable future.”

This year’s Forum will feature keynote presentations from Waste Management President and CEO, David Steiner; William McDonough, a globally-recognized leader in sustainable development, co-author of The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance and Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, and design visionary for the Waste Management McDonough Sustainable Innovation Collaboration; and Andrew Winston, expert on green business strategy, advisor to some of the world's leading companies and author of multiple books, including the international bestseller Green to Gold and a new book and focus of his keynote, The Big Pivot. 

Additional presentations include: The Future Structure of Sustainability (Marina Leight, GOVERNING Magazine); The Future of Transparency: How to Avoid Greenwashing When Buying and Selling Greener Products (Scot Case, UL Environment); and Creating and Understanding a Globally Sustainable World (Thomas Farris, Rutgers University School of Engineering). The day-long Forum will conclude with an afternoon of breakout discussions and workshops addressing a variety of sustainability matters.

Held during the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open tournament week (January 27- February 2, 2014), the Executive Sustainability Forum will also provide the select group of business leaders the opportunity to attend the golf tournament and observe all that Waste Management is doing as title sponsor to develop and continuously evolve innovative programs to dramatically increase environmental and social responsibility.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open has become a major platform for showcasing Waste Management’s sustainability initiatives, including the Four Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle and recover.  In 2012, Waste Management launched the “Zero Waste Challenge,” an initiative aimed at controlling materials brought into the event and educating patrons about proper disposal of their materials so that eventually zero waste is sent to the landfill.  In 2014, Waste Management will continue the “Zero Waste Challenge” for a third year as part of its corporate-wide effort to reach its goal to triple the amount of recyclable materials nationwide by the year 2020 and extract the most value possible from all of the materials the company manages.
 

ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste Management (WM) is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is one of the largest residential recyclers and also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in North America. The company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.