SACRAMENTO, March 1, 2006 - Waste Management has joined the California Climate Action Registry (Registry), a distinguished group of organizations demonstrating leadership by voluntarily taking action on climate change. Waste Management is the first solid waste company to participate in this rigorous program. As a member, Waste Management will work with the Registry to annually track, report and certify its California greenhouse gas emissions, the main drivers of global warming.

Waste Management's participation in the Registry is one of several of the company’s initiatives to reduce the impacts of its operations on the environment. Projects such as restoring natural ecosystems, constructing waste-to-energy plants, producing energy from recovered landfill gas, and switching more than 450 diesel trucks to clean burning natural gas have drawn recognition from organizations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Wildlife Habitat Council. Waste Management has nearly 100 renewable energy projects that produce enough electricity to power more than 800,000 homes, and the company operates one of the nation’s largest fleets of heavy-duty trucks powered exclusively by natural gas.

The Registry, created by the California legislature in 2000, helps companies and organizations throughout the United States track, publicly report and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Independent third parties certify results to ensure compliance with Registry protocols and standardization across participants and sectors. The Registry has been widely recognized as the gold standard for public reporting of greenhouse gases.

According to Kent Stoddard, Vice-President for Public Affairs for Waste Management's Western Region, the timing is right to join the Registry: "It is clear that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be one of the most significant environmental challenges of the 21st Century. The California Registry is the pre-eminent body that will enable us to quantify and track our progress in helping the state meet its aggressive reduction targets. Waste Management has made significant investments in clean technologies, and we believe we can further reduce emissions through our extensive recycling services, alternative fueled vehicles, and landfill gas to energy projects that can offset the use of fossil fuels."

"If not properly managed, landfills can be a significant source of GHG emissions – landfill gas is primarily methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Waste Management is demonstrating real leadership by stepping forward to join the Registry and to help standardize greenhouse gas measurement protocols for landfills and other waste industry operations," said Diane Wittenberg, President of the California Climate Action Registry.

Waste Management, Inc. is North America's largest recycler of municipal waste and the industry's leading provider of comprehensive waste management services. The company serves nearly 21 million residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout the U.S, and Canada. www.wm.com

The California Climate Action Registry is a non-profit public/private partnership that serves as a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry to protect, encourage, and promote early actions to reduce GHG emissions. Over 65 major companies, cities, government agencies and NGOs measure and publicly report their GHG emissions through the Registry. www.climateregistry.org

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