Recology announces further emission reductions and plans for new regulations

Brief description of the dive:

• West Coast Waste Management Company Recology announced several sustainability milestones and continued emissions reductions in its latest Sustainability Report, covering the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023.
• While Recology does not have specific Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction goals, it does intend to power its facilities with “100% renewable or emission-free electricity” and convert 75% of the landfill gas it collects into energy by 2028. Those goals were set last year after Recology met its fleet emissions reduction goal.
• The company said it has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 23% since 2018. It has also improved its material recovery rates, thanks in part to a growing network of customers complying with California’s SB 1383 organics recovery law.

Diving Insight:

Recology’s fifth Sustainability Report highlighted its local and international activities, including CEO Sala Coniglio’s participation in COP28, the last UN climate change conference. The company manages 27 collection points, 19 transfer stations and more than a dozen MRF and composting facilities in California, Oregon and Washington.

The company also noted its support for California’s recently passed SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act. Similar to the federal regulation currently being litigated, the California law would require large corporations to disclose all three scopes of emissions starting in 2026. Recology does not currently report its own scope 3 emissions, but that would have to change under the law.

The vast majority of Recology’s emissions—87%—come from landfill gas. Recology owns two active landfills that collectively generate 877,469 mmBtus of landfill gas. Of that, 61% was flared and 39% was used for energy in 2023.

While the company has worked to meet its landfill gas conversion target, the percentage of gas it converts to electricity has declined year-on-year in both countries 2022 and 2023. Recology said this trend is due to system upgrades and increased gas volumes, which should reverse once the upgrades are complete. Other waste companies, including WM, have charted similar trajectories.

Recology said it is expanding or installing new power generation facilities and improving existing gas collection systems, working with companies such as LoCI Controls. The company is also working with G2 Energy on landfill gas-to-energy systems, according to the report.

To meet the utility’s energy goal, Recology said it is “embracing cleaner electricity portfolios by installing on-site renewable energy sources and purchasing renewable energy certificates.”

The company reported collecting or processing 1.4 million tons of recyclable and compostable materials in 2023, an increase from the previous year. In November 2023, it completed a $35 million upgrade to one of its MRFs in Santa Rosa, California. It also added hundreds of new organics customers to its network, recovering 27% more materials to its composting facilities than in 2022.

Finally, Recology emphasized its ongoing efforts to drive fleet sustainability. In 2022, the company achieved its goal of powering 90% of its fleet with renewable or alternative fuels, such as natural gas. The company reported that 89% of the fleet fuel it used was renewable in 2023, and 84% of its vehicles were powered by fuels with a lower carbon footprint than diesel.

In addition to operating a fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles, Recology is also an early adopter of electric vehicles. Last year, the company said it had two zero-emission heavy-duty trucks in its fleet, as well as more than a dozen medium-duty and support electric vehicles. This year, Recology is also running a pilot with Hyzon and New Way Trucks to test its hydrogen fuel cell collection vehicle in San Francisco.