In 2021, our senior management began evaluating, overseeing and managing the financial performance of our Solid Waste operations through two operating segments. Our East Tier primarily consists of geographic areas located in the Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes region and substantially all of Canada. Our West Tier primarily includes geographic areas located in the Western U.S., including the upper Midwest region, and British Columbia, Canada. Each of our Solid Waste

operating segments provides integrated environmental services, including collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal. The Company finalized the assessment of our segments during the fourth quarter of 2021. The East and West Tiers are presented in this report and constitute our existing Solid Waste business. This did not result in a change in our reporting units for purposes of evaluating our goodwill. Reclassifications have been made to our prior period consolidated financial information to conform to the current year presentation.

The operating segments not evaluated and overseen through our East and West Tiers are presented herein as “Other” as these operating segments do not meet the criteria to be aggregated with other operating segments and do not meet the quantitative criteria to be separately reported.

Summarized financial information concerning our reportable segments as of December 31 and for the year then ended is shown in the following table (in millions):

(a)	Income from operations provided by our Solid Waste business is generally indicative of the margins provided by our collection, landfill, transfer and recycling lines of business. From time to time, the operating results of our reportable

segments are significantly affected by certain transactions or events that management believes are not indicative or representative of our results.

Income from operations in our Solid Waste business increased for 2021, as compared with 2020, primarily due to (i) revenue growth in our collection and disposal businesses driven by both yield and volume, as well as the acquisition of Advanced Disposal; (ii) improved profitability in our recycling business from higher market prices for recycling commodities and improved costs at facilities where we have made investments in enhanced technology and equipment and (iii) changes from divestitures, asset impairments and unusual items as discussed further in Note 11. These increases were partially offset by (i) labor cost pressure from frontline employee wage adjustments, increased turnover driving up training costs and higher overtime due to driver shortages and volume growth; (ii) increased landfill amortization from higher volumes and revisions in landfill estimates, including the anticipated timing of capping, closure and post-closure activities at certain landfills and adjustments in 2020 to the inflation rate used to estimate capping, closure, and post-closure asset retirement obligations that benefitted costs in 2020 and (iii) inflationary cost pressures. During 2021, the positive earnings contributions from Advanced Disposal were offset by elevated depreciation and amortization of acquired assets.

Income from operations for 2020 decreased, as compared with 2019, for the Solid Waste business due to the overall negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in revenue declines from lower volumes and higher depreciation expense which was primarily related to investments in capital assets, including our fleet and facilities. The declines were partially offset by (i) higher yield in our collection and disposal businesses; (ii) the benefit of resumed fees and price increases; (iii) lower operating costs directly related to our proactive steps taken to manage our variable costs in the lower volume environment and (iv) a net divestiture gain of $33 million associated with the sale of net assets to GFL Environmental, primarily within our West Tier segment.

Additionally, income from operations for our West Tier segment was impacted by $41 million of non-cash asset impairment charges primarily related to two landfills and an oil field waste injection facility. Income from operations for our East Tier segment was impacted by a $20 million non-cash impairment charge related to management’s decision to close a landfill once its constructed airspace is filled and abandon any remaining permitted airspace. Furthermore, in 2019, our West Tier segment benefited from the clean-up efforts of natural disasters primarily in California and similar efforts did not recur in 2020.

(b)

“Other” includes (i) elements of our WMSBS business; (ii) elements of our landfill gas-to-energy operations managed by our WM Renewable Energy business and not included in the operations of our reportable segments; (iii) elements of our third-party subcontract and administration revenues managed by our EES business and not included in the operations of our reportable segments; (iv) our recycling brokerage services and (v) certain other expanded service offerings and solutions. In addition, our “Other” segment reflects the results of non-operating entities that provide financial assurance and self-insurance support for our Solid Waste business, net of intercompany activity.

The increase in income from operations for 2021, as compared with 2020, was primarily driven by increased market values for renewable energy credits generated by our WM Renewable Energy business.

Income from operations for the Other segment for 2020, as compared with 2019, was favorably impacted primarily by (i) volume increases in our WM Renewable Energy business as a result of a new renewable energy facility coming online; (ii) our WMSBS business as a result of newly executed national account contracts and (iii) our recycling brokerage business.

(c)

“Corporate and other” operating results reflect certain costs incurred for various support services that are not allocated to our reportable segments. These support services include, among other things, treasury, legal, digital, tax, insurance, centralized service center processes, other administrative functions and the maintenance of our closed landfills. Income from operations for “Corporate and Other” also includes costs associated with our long-term incentive program.

These costs increased in 2021, as compared with 2020, due to (i) higher incentive compensation costs; (ii) increased labor, support and integration costs following our acquisition of Advanced Disposal; (iii) strategic investments in our digital platform; (iv) increased health and welfare costs attributable to medical care activity generally returning to pre-pandemic levels from the lower levels experienced during 2020 and (v) charges pertaining to reserves for certain loss contingencies during 2021. These increases were partially offset by lower consulting, advisory and legal fees following the completion of our acquisition of Advanced Disposal in 2020 and changes in the measurement of our environmental remediation obligations and recovery assets in both 2020 and 2021.

The costs increased in 2020, as compared with 2019, due to (i) higher consulting, advisory and legal fees associated with our acquisition and integration of Advanced Disposal; (ii) strategic investments in our digital platform; (iii) incremental costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and (iv) higher long-term incentive compensation costs. These increased expenses were offset, in part, by (i) lower annual incentive compensation costs and (ii) lower litigation reserves.

(d)	Intercompany operating revenues reflect each segment’s total intercompany sales, including intercompany sales within a segment and between segments. Transactions within and between segments are generally made on a basis intended to reflect the market value of the service.

(e)

For those items included in the determination of income from operations, the accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in Note 2. In the fourth quarter of 2021, we discontinued certain allocations from our Corporate and Other segment to our Solid Waste operating segments and Other segment. Reclassifications have been made to our prior period information for comparability purposes.

(f)	Includes non-cash items. Capital expenditures are reported in our reportable segments at the time they are recorded within the segments’ property and equipment balances and, therefore, may include amounts that have been accrued but not yet paid.

(g)	The reconciliation of total assets reported above to total assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31 is as follows (in millions):


	2021		2020		2019
Total assets, as reported above	$	29,392	$	29,649	$	28,010
Elimination of intercompany investments and advances		(295)		(304)		(267)
Total assets, per Consolidated Balance Sheet	$	29,097	$	29,345	$	27,743

(h) Goodwill is included within each segment’s total assets. For segment reporting purposes, our material recovery facilities are included as a component of their respective Tiers and our recycling brokerage services are included as part of our “Other” operations. The following table presents changes in goodwill during the reported periods by segment (in millions):


	Solid Waste
	East Tier		West Tier		Other		Total
Balance, December 31, 2019	$	3,616	$	2,846	$	70	$	6,532
Acquired goodwill		1,479		991		—		2,470
Divested goodwill		(3)		(12)		—		(15)
Foreign currency translation and other		9		(2)		—		7
Balance, December 31, 2020	$	5,101	$	3,823	$	70	$	8,994
Acquired goodwill (a)		27		15		34		76
Divested goodwill		(11)		(7)		(29)		(47)
Foreign currency translation and other		3		2		—		5
Balance, December 31, 2021	$	5,120	$	3,833	$	75	$	9,028

(a)

Includes $26 million of post-closing acquisition adjustments related to our acquisition of Advanced Disposal.

The mix of operating revenues from our major lines of business for the year ended December 31 are as follows (in millions):


	2021		2020		2019
Commercial	$	4,760	$	4,102	$	4,229
Residential		3,172		2,716		2,613
Industrial		3,210		2,770		2,916
Other collection		533		465		482
Total collection		11,675		10,053		10,240
Landfill		4,153		3,667		3,846
Transfer		2,072		1,855		1,820
Recycling		1,681		1,127		1,040
Other (a)		2,112		1,776		1,758
Intercompany (b)		(3,762)		(3,260)		(3,249)
Total	$	17,931	$	15,218	$	15,455

(a)

The “Other” line of business includes (i) certain services provided by our WMSBS business; (ii) our landfill gas-to-energy operations managed by our WM Renewable Energy business; (iii) certain services within our EES business, including our construction and remediation services and our services associated with the disposal of fly ash and (iv) certain other expanded service offerings and solutions. In addition, our “Other” line of business reflects the results of non-operating entities that provide financial assurance and self-insurance support for our Solid Waste business, net of intercompany activity. Revenue attributable to collection, landfill, transfer and recycling services provided by our “Other” businesses has been reflected as a component of the relevant line of business for purposes of presentation in this table.

(b)	Intercompany revenues between lines of business are eliminated in the Consolidated Financial Statements included within this report.

Fluctuations in our operating results may be caused by many factors, including period-to-period changes in the relative contribution of revenue by each line of business, changes in commodity prices and general economic conditions. Our revenues and income from operations typically reflect seasonal patterns. Our operating revenues tend to be somewhat higher in summer months, primarily due to the higher construction and demolition waste volumes. The volumes of industrial and residential waste in certain regions where we operate also tend to increase during the summer months. Our second and third quarter revenues and results of operations typically reflect these seasonal trends.

Our 2020 operating results were negatively impacted by COVID-19, as volume declines began in March 2020 in our landfill, industrial and commercial collection businesses due to steps taken by national and local governments to slow the spread of the virus, including travel bans, prohibitions on group events and gatherings, shutdowns of certain businesses, curfews, shelter-in-place orders and recommendations to practice social distancing. Throughout 2021, our volumes recovered from the sharp decline experienced in 2020, with minimal impact from the resurgence in transmission of COVID-19 associated with recent virus variants, as communities and businesses remained open. However, the potential for future resurgence in transmission of COVID-19 and related business closures, due to virus variants or other pandemic conditions, could adversely impact our volumes and costs in the future.

Service disruptions caused by severe storms, extended periods of inclement weather or climate events can significantly affect the operating results of the geographic areas affected. On the other hand, certain destructive weather and climate conditions, such as wildfires in the Western U.S. and hurricanes that most often impact our operations in the Southern and Eastern U.S. during the second half of the year, can increase our revenues in the geographic areas affected as a result of the waste volumes generated by these events. While weather-related and other event driven special projects can boost

revenues through additional work for a limited time, due to significant start-up costs and other factors, such revenue can generate earnings at comparatively lower margins.

Net operating revenues relating to operations in the U.S. and Canada for the year ended December 31 are as follows (in millions):


	2021		2020		2019
U.S.	$	17,136	$	14,505	$	14,701
Canada		795		713		754
Total	$	17,931	$	15,218	$	15,455

Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization, relating to operations in the U.S. and Canada for the year ended December 31 are as follows (in millions):


	2021		2020		2019
U.S.	$	13,428	$	13,168	$	11,941
Canada		991		980		952
Total	$	14,419	$	14,148	$	12,893