Waste Management Restructuring

Waste Management Inc. announced a restructuring plan that will change its market operations, as well as reduce its employment by around 2,000, about 3.5 percent of the company’s total employment.

Plans call for the company to shift its operations to enable the company to manage its business on a market-by-market basis, generate greater efficiency and operate at a lower cost by removing redundancies.

The company indicated that it expected the new structure to yield a number of benefits, among them clearer accountability and responsibility for business performance and profitability in specific markets; simplification of structure; cost savings through consolidation of duplicate administrative and other support functions; improved utilization of operating assets; and better customer responsiveness.

Under the new framework, Waste Management  is moving from four field layers to three and reducing from four to two the number of field layers that have administrative and functional support staff. The new structure refocuses more than 1,200 sites, 900 geographically-based districts and numerous divisions which reported to 23 regions, into about 1,200 operating units, including waste collection depots, transfer stations, landfills and recycling facilities, that report into 85 newly established Market Areas.

New to the organizational structure are the 85 Market Areas. These Market Areas will develop the business plans for local market activity and coordinate the use of collection, transfer, disposal and recycling assets and operations within the newly defined Market Area.

Under the new structure, the Market Areas will have accountability for implementing strategy, improving performance and ensuring profitability in their markets. The 1,200 operating districts will become cost centers that are focused solely on delivering the Company's services and achieving operational excellence.