Waste Management 2015 Annual Report Download - page 195

WASTE MANAGEMENT, INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
between our Areas, including the fact that our Solid Waste business is homogenous across geography with the
same services offered across the Areas, aggregation of our Areas is appropriate for purposes of presenting our
reportable segments. Accordingly, we have aggregated our 17 Areas into three tiers that we believe have similar
economic characteristics and future prospects based in large part on a review of the Areas’ income from
operations margins. The economic variations experienced by our Areas is attributable to a variety of factors,
including regulatory environment of the Area; economic environment of the Area, including level of commercial
and industrial activity; population density; service offering mix and disposal logistics, with no one factor being
singularly determinative of an Area’s current or future economic performance.
Consistent with prior years, we have analyzed the Areas’ income from operations margin for purposes of
segment reporting and have realigned our Solid Waste tiers to reflect recent changes in their relative economic
characteristics and prospects. These changes are the results of various factors including acquisitions, divestments,
business mix and the economic climate of various geographies. Reclassifications have been made to our prior
period consolidated financial information in order to conform to the current year presentation.
Tier 1 is now comprised of our operations across the Southern United States, with the exception of Southern
California and the Florida peninsula and also includes the New England states, the tri-state area of Michigan,
Indiana and Ohio and Western Canada. Tier 2 includes Southern California, Eastern Canada, Wisconsin,
Minnesota and a portion of the lower Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Tier 3 encompasses all the
remaining operations including the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, the majority of the Mid-Atlantic
region of the United States, the Florida peninsula, Illinois and Missouri.
Our Wheelabrator business, which managed waste-to-energy facilities and independent power production
plants, was a separate reportable segment until the sale of the business in 2014, as it met the quantitative
disclosure thresholds.
The operating segments not evaluated and overseen through the 17 Areas are presented herein as “Other” as
these operating segments do not meet the criteria to be aggregated with other operating segments and do not meet
the quantitative criteria to be separately reported.
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