Waste Management 2006 Annual Report Download - page 40

The number of landfills we own or operate segregated by their estimated operating lives (in years), based on
remaining permitted and expansion airspace and projected annual disposal volume as of December 31, 2006, was as
follows:
0 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 40 41+ Total
Owned/operated through lease .............. 23 24 46 79 75 247
Operating contracts ...................... 14 4 9 5 4 36
Total landfills .......................... 37 28 55 84 79 283
The volume of waste, as measured in tons, that we received in 2006 and 2005 at all of our landfills is shown
below (in thousands):
#of
Sites
Total
Tons
Tons
per Day
#of
Sites
Total
Tons
Tons
per Day
2006 2005
Solid waste landfills ................. 277(a) 125,528 461 277 125,885 461
Hazardous waste landfills ............. 6 1,287 5 6 1,368 5
283 126,815 466 283 127,253 466
Solid waste landfills closed or divested
during related year ................. 4 1,287 4 482
128,102(b) 127,735(b)
(a) We closed four landfills in 2006 and added four permitted landfills due to acquisitions. Our landfill count as of
December 31, 2006 includes three landfills that were classified as held for sale for financial reporting purposes.
One of these landfills was sold in January 2007.
(b) These amounts include 2.0 million tons at December 31, 2006 and 2.6 million tons at December 31, 2005 that
were received at our landfills but were used for beneficial purposes and were generally redirected from the
permitted airspace to other areas of the landfill. Waste types that are frequently identified for beneficial use
include green waste for composting and clean dirt for on-site construction projects.
When a landfill we own or operate (i) reaches its permitted waste capacity; (ii) is permanently capped and
(iii) receives certification of closure from the applicable regulatory agency, management of the site, including for
any remediation activities, is generally transferred to our closed sites management group. In addition to the 283
active landfills we managed at December 31, 2006, we also managed 187 closed landfills.
Transfer. At December 31, 2006, we owned or operated 342 transfer stations in North America. We deposit
waste at these stations, as do other third-party waste haulers. The solid waste is then consolidated and compacted to
reduce the volume and increase the density of the waste and transported by transfer trucks or by rail to disposal sites.
Access to transfer stations is often critical to third-party haulers who do not operate their own disposal facilities
in close proximity to their collection operations. Fees charged to third parties at transfer stations are usually based
on the type and volume or weight of the waste transferred, the distance to the disposal site and general market
factors.
The utilization of our transfer stations by our own collection operations improves internalization by allowing
us to retain fees that we would otherwise pay to third parties for the disposal of the waste we collect. It allows us to
manage costs associated with waste disposal because (i) transfer trucks, railcars or rail containers have larger
capacities than collection trucks, allowing us to deliver more waste to the disposal facility in each trip; (ii) waste is
accumulated and compacted at transfer stations that are strategically located to increase the efficiency of our
collection operations; and (iii) we can retain the volume by managing the transfer of the waste to one of our disposal
sites.
The transfer stations that we operate but do not own are generally operated through lease agreements under
which we lease property from third parties. There are some instances where transfer stations are operated under
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