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GOODWILL AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]  
GOODWILL AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS GOODWILL AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS
Goodwill:
The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill were as follows:
In millions
North America International Total
Balance as of December 31, 2019$2,631.6 $350.6 $2,982.2 
Divestitures (182.8)(4.0)(186.8)
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations and other— 23.9 23.9 
Balance as of December 31, 20202,448.8 370.5 2,819.3 
Acquisition22.0 — 22.0 
Divestitures — (6.0)(6.0)
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations and other— (19.6)(19.6)
Balance as of December 31, 2021$2,470.8 $344.9 $2,815.7 
Accumulated non-cash impairment charges by segment as of December 31 were as follows:
In millions
20212020
North America $421.1 $421.1 
International 175.6 175.6 
Total$596.7 $596.7 
2021 and 2020 Impairments
The Company performed its annual goodwill impairment assessment as of October 1, 2021 and 2020 and determined no reporting units' carrying values were in excess of their estimated fair value.
2019 Impairments
The Company performed its annual goodwill impairment assessment as of October 1, 2019 and determined that the Environmental Solutions and Canada reporting units’ carrying values were in excess of their estimated fair value.
Factors that contributed to the estimated fair value of the reporting units being below their carrying values included:
•Environmental Solutions:  During 2019, we experienced higher operating costs, particularly related to hazardous waste disposal costs. In addition, we anticipated that the timeline for achieving the betterment plans for both revenue quality and cost improvements had been extended. The Company also gathered insights from the process of evaluating Environmental Solutions as part of the Company’s portfolio rationalization criteria.
•Canada: During 2019, we experienced competitive pricing pressure in both SID and RWCS, lower SOP pricing, higher regulated waste costs including Canada-based operating costs due to a reliance on third-party disposal, and U.S.-based enabling support costs. The Company expected these challenges to have a prolonged impact and the Company has adjusted them in current year long-range plan.
These challenges were factored into updates to the Company’s long-range plan and forecasted cash-flow assumptions. The Company also made certain adjustments to the risk premiums within the discount rates used to present value these forecasted cash-flows. As a result, the Company recognized $80.8 million of non-cash impairment charges related to its Environmental Solutions reporting unit and $126.6 million to fully impair the goodwill associated with its Canada reporting unit.
During the first quarter of 2019, there were business and market developments and insights gathered from the Company’s portfolio optimization considerations, which negatively impacted the estimated cash flows of the Company’s Latin America reporting unit and triggered an interim assessment as of March 31, 2019.  The Company determined that the Latin America reporting unit’s carrying value was in excess of its estimated fair value and recognized $20.9 million of non-cash goodwill impairment charges related to the Latin America reporting unit.  Following the impairment, the Latin America reporting unit goodwill was fully impaired.
The fair value of reporting units, used in both the annual and any interim goodwill impairment assessments in 2021, 2020 and 2019, are classified as Level 3 measurements within the fair value hierarchy due to significant unobservable inputs such as discount rates, projections of revenue, cost of revenue and operating expense growth rates, long-term growth rates and income tax rates. The fair value methodology is described further in Note 1 – Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.
Other Intangible Assets:
At December 31, the values of other intangible assets were as follows:
In millions
20212020
Gross Carrying AmountAccumulated AmortizationNet ValueGross Carrying AmountAccumulated AmortizationNet Value
Amortizable intangibles:
Customer relationships$1,297.6 $722.9 $574.7 $1,314.9 $630.2 $684.7 
Covenants not-to-compete3.5 3.2 0.3 3.5 3.0 0.5 
Operating permits12.1 8.5 3.6 11.5 6.5 5.0 
Tradenames3.6 1.4 2.2 3.6 1.3 2.3 
Other0.6 0.6 — 0.6 0.6 — 
Indefinite-lived intangibles:
Operating permits70.0 — 70.0 79.6 — 79.6 
Tradenames313.7 — 313.7 315.3 — 315.3 
Total$1,701.1 $736.6 $964.5 $1,729.0 $641.6 $1,087.4 
The changes in the carrying amount of intangible assets were as follows:
In millions
Total
Balance as of December 31, 2019$1,422.4 
Divestitures (209.8)
Impairments(11.1)
Amortization(124.9)
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations10.8 
Balance as of December 31, 20201,087.4 
Acquisition20.0 
Impairments(4.6)
Divestitures (10.9)
Amortization (117.9)
Changes due to foreign currency fluctuations(9.5)
Balance as of December 31, 2021$964.5 
The Company’s indefinite-lived intangible assets include operating permits and certain tradenames.  The Company has determined that certain of our operating permits and certain tradenames have indefinite lives due to our ability to renew them with minimal additional cost and therefore they are not amortized.
The impairment charges included in SG&A and COR for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively, are further described in Note 4 - Restructuring, Divestitures, and Impairments.
Finite-lived intangible assets are amortized over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method with each category having weighted average remaining useful lives as follows:
In years
Estimated Useful LivesWeighted Average Remaining Useful Lives
Customer relationships
10-25
6.8
Covenants not-to-compete
5
3.6
Operating permits
1-2
1.2
Tradenames
20-40
16.5
Landfill air rights
5-10
2.7
The useful life of intangible assets is assessed annually to determine whether events and circumstances warrant a revision to their remaining useful life and changes are reflected prospectively as the intangible asset is amortized over the revised remaining useful life.  In the fourth quarter of 2021, we performed the annual assessment of the useful life of our finite-lived intangibles. The Company updated the useful life of its customer relationship intangibles as a result of analyzing recent quantitative and qualitative observations in the market and factors impacting our business.  The change in estimate will be accounted for prospectively.  The weighted average remaining life was decreased from approximately 8.2 years to 6.8 years to reflect the new estimated useful lives.  We estimate that there will be an approximately 5-10% increase to annual amortization expense.
Our estimated intangible asset amortization expense for each of the next five years is as follows for the years ending December 31:
In millions
2022$114.3 
2023111.0 
2024109.8 
202589.6 
202628.2