Earth Day

At WM, Earth Day is truly every day, and this year we're celebrating our commitment to the environment by pledging to live sustainably today, for tomorrow — at home, at work or on the go.

When WM family and friends pledge one way — or 10 — they’ll step up to protect our planet. Big or small, every pledge is impactful. For each pledge, WM will plant a tree through our partners: National Forest Foundation and Tree Canada.

Meet our Partners

National Forest Foundation

The National Forest Foundation promotes the enhancement and public enjoyment of the 193-million-acre National Forest System. By directly engaging Americans and leveraging private and public funding, the NFF improves forest health and Americans' outdoor experiences. The NFF's programs inform millions of Americans about the importance of these treasured landscapes. Each year, the NFF restores fish and wildlife habitat, plants trees in areas affected by fires, insects, and disease, improve recreational opportunities, and enables communities to steward their National Forests and Grasslands.

Tree Canada

Tree Canada is the only Canadian national non-profit organization dedicated to planting and nurturing trees in rural and urban environments. Through its programs, research and education efforts, Tree Canada has helped restore tree cover in areas hit by natural disasters, guided communities in managing their urban forests, helped green 600 schoolyards and organized urban forest conferences. To date, with its community partners and sponsors, it has planted more than 82 million trees.

Pledge to Plant Examples

Every day, our team members show how they make changes to help the environment. It could be flipping the switch in every room, walking to work or using less water. Now their actions will translate into trees planted, a guaranteed way to help our planet.

With a goal to capture 50,000 pledges to plant 50,000 trees in 2021 — representative of our WM team, family and friends — we can already see the big impact that’ll be made through little changes.

Here are a few ways WM individuals are living sustainably:

I pledge to start a vegetable garden and begin by growing our own tomatoes and peppers. We have also begun construction on our Pollinator Garden in our side yard to attract butterflies and bees.

Why Trees?

Make a pledge, have a tree planted. It's that simple. But why?

Did You Know:

Forests are the most efficient natural system for pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Working with National Forest Foundation and Tree Canada helps to ensure that the right trees are planted in the right places to protect our tomorrows while aligning with our 2038 goal to reduce four times (4X) the GHG emissions we generate through our operations.

The average American carbon footprint is 20 tons of CO2 per year.
A single tree can sequester a half a ton of CO2 over its 100-year lifetime.
As trees grow and consume air, they remove harmful pollutants from the air. Reforestation helps re-establish forest cover and improve our ‘natural air filter’.
U.S. forests offset between 10 to 20 percent of U.S. emissions each year. Reforestation helps sustain and increase the carbon sequestration potential of our forests, mitigating the effects of global climate change.
Planting trees supports wildlife recovery, improves water quality, mitigates climate change and so much more.
National Forests are the largest single source of fresh water in the US, supplying millions of Americans with water. Reforestation helps halt soil erosion and ensure that forests can filter and supply the water we all depend on.

*Reference: National Forest Foundation