Waste Management (WM) – An Ethical Green Stock

In celebration of earth day and a desire for many investors to find more ethical alternatives, let’s take a look at a “green stock” called Waste Management (WM). Now, you might think that taking out the garbage and collecting it in increasing landfills is anything but green or ethically responsible. But when you look at how Waste Management is operating, you might just be impressed at the lengths they’ve gone to ensure all of us see a little more green!

Cleaner Natural Gas

Energy conservation is a significant focus of many companies… and many, like WM, are switching their fleets to natural gas without subsidies. In fact, they don’t need subsidies because the cost savings is compelling. With natural gas for a vehicle at approximately $2 per gallon compared with an average $4 for the rest of us at the pumps, switching just makes “cents” and lots of it! So, Waste Management has committed to having 80% to 90% of their new truck purchases will be powered by natural gas. In fact, the only thing holding them back from having 100% of their fleet natural gas dependent is the lack of fuelling stations nation-wide.

But that too is an issue they are addressing… and not just for themselves. WM is in the process of building a natural gas refuelling infrastructure to service their fleet. Oh, and others are also welcome to use their infrastructure too for their fleets. In fact, WM has several public refuelling stations for those who own and operate natural gas vehicles. This kind of forward thinking expands their business model. With 28 fuelling stations and development toward nearly 50 by the end of 2012, WM is expanding to serve their fleet, other’s fleet vehicles, and those rare individuals who have made the switch to natural gas powered vehicles.

Of course, there are those that are looking to electric powered cars as the “green” alternative. But when you consider that most of the electricity used to recharge those batteries is powered by coal power plants, one might argue that these electric alternatives are even increasing the carbon footprint… making natural gas a more friendly alternative.

Here’s one more interesting note about this company… Did you know that they have 17 waste-to-energy facilities and 5 independent production plants that convert solid waste into natural gas to be used in their own fleet vehicles? Think about that for a moment… the same company that is being paid to take out the trash now converts that trash (the methane gas) into natural gas to be used to reduce their own costs and environmental impact.

So, if you are searching for an “ethical,” green investment, don’t look past the trash on the side of the road. For it seems in this case that one man’s trash is another man’s fuel. As you celebrate earth day and the beautiful planet we inhabit, consider taking a closer a look at this “green stock” known as Waste Management (WM).