Executive pay continued to rise in 2022 for the leaders of large, publicly traded waste and recycling companies in North America, according to recent proxy filings.
The industry’s major companies saw no notable shareholder resolutions or vote outcomes related to executive compensation this year. Meanwhile, stock prices — which drive a sizable share of executive compensation — largely performed well at major companies in 2022.
While some CEOs at major companies in other sectors saw declines in their 2022 pay — due in part to a newly-enacted Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring the disclosure of “compensation actually paid” that aims to more closely measure the value of stock awards — that was not reflected at all waste companies. In at least one case, an executive’s actual pay was higher than the official summary compensation total.
Waste Dive has included those CAP totals in its individual company analysis, but excluded them from the multiyear trend chart for historical comparison purposes.
Waste industry breakdown
The following compensation summaries are ranked in order of each company’s total annual revenue.
GFL Environmental is excluded from this chart for comparison purposes because its financial information is not reported in U.S. dollars, due to the company’s Canadian headquarters. The chart, and data analysis below, includes totals for executives at Waste Connections and Clean Harbors that no longer serve as CEO but held the role at the end of 2022. The chart also includes data for Rubicon CEO Phil Rodoni, who took over after the departure of founder Nate Morris in October 2022.
- 2022 company revenue: $19.7 billion
- Base salary: $1,338,462 (Fish donated $100,000 of his base salary “to fund a scholarship program for children of Company employees”)
- Stock awards, option awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and all other compensation: $13,482,222
- Total 2022 compensation: $14,820,684
- Total 2022 CAP: $13,037,001
Republic Services CEO Jon Vander Ark
- 2022 company revenue: $13.51 billion
- Base salary: $1,075,000
- Stock awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and all other compensation: $8,760,321
- 2022 Total compensation: $9,835,321
- Total 2022 CAP: $11,406,427
Former Waste Connections CEO Worthing Jackman:
- 2022 company revenue: $7.21 billion
- Base salary: $979,269
- Share-based awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and all other compensation: $5,990,767
- Total 2022 compensation: $6,970,036
- Total 2022 CAP: $7,196,745
GFL Environmental CEO Patrick Dovigi
Canadian dollars
- 2022 company revenue: $6.76 billion
- Base salary: $2,103,786
- Option-based awards, annual incentive plan and all other compensation: $14,718,253
- Total 2022 compensation: $16,822,039
Former Clean Harbors CEO Alan S. McKim
- 2022 company revenue: $5.17 billion
- Base salary: $1,265,000
- Stock awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and all other compensation: $4,976,356
- Total 2022 compensation: $6,241,356
- Total 2022 CAP: $6,773,049
- 2022 company revenue: $2.7 billion
- Base salary: $1,032,890
- Stock awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and all other compensation: $6,103,113
- Total 2022 compensation: $7,136,003
- Total 2022 CAP: $3,479,109
Harsco CEO F. Nicholas Grasberger III
- 2022 company revenue: $1.89 billion
- Base salary: $975,259
- Stock awards, option awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and all other compensation: $4,950,748
- Total 2022 compensation: $5,926,007
- Total 2022 CAP: -$1,399,081
Casella Waste Systems CEO John Casella
- 2022 company revenue: $1.09 billion
- Base salary: $647,149
- Stock awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and all other compensation: $3,472,922
- Total 2022 compensation: $4,120,071
- Total 2022 CAP: $2,821,002
- 2022 company revenue: $675.4 million
- Base salary: $670,000
- Bonus, stock awards and all other compensation: $4,798,104
- Total 2022 compensation: $5,468,104
Former Rubicon CEO Nate Morris
- Base salary: $810,000
- Bonus, stock awards and all other compensation: $40,146,569 (including separation agreement)
- Total 2022 compensation: $40,956,569
Multiyear trends
During the period outlined above, WM’s Fish started as CFO before moving to president in July 2016 and CEO in November 2016. Waste Connections’ Jackman started the period as executive president and CFO, later moving to president in July 2018 and CEO in July 2019. His 2016 total pay was elevated due to specific one-time factors. Vander Ark joined Republic in 2013 as an executive vice president, but his compensation was not reported in filings until he became chief operating officer in January 2018. From there, Vander Ark was promoted to president in April 2019 and CEO in June 2021. Stericycle’s Miller started the period as president and chief operating officer in September 2018 and was promoted to CEO in May 2019.
Similar to trends in the waste industry, total summary compensation for CEOs in other sectors also rose in many cases. According to recent Equilar research, which assessed pay for CEOs at the largest 100 companies by revenue, median total compensation among that group was $22.3 million — a 7.7% increase year over year. Equilar’s data also showed that compensation actually paid was notably lower in many cases, including significant declines in value for certain CEOs whose companies saw stock values decline.
Since 2017, U.S. public companies have been required to contrast CEO compensation with that of a selected “median employee.” Within the group reviewed by Equilar, the pay ratio between median employees and CEOs also grew to an average of 288:1 in 2022 — up from 254:1 during 2021.
The Economic Policy Institute, which tends to publish its data in the fall of each year, reviewed a broader range of 350 U.S. companies and estimated the average ratio was 399:1 in 2021. This was up from 351:1 in 2020.
| CEO | 2022 CEO Pay | 2022 Median Employee Pay | 2022 Ratio | 2021 Ratio | |
| WM | Jim Fish | $14.8M | $90,521 | 164:1 | 162:1 |
| Republic Services | Jon Vander Ark | $9.8M | $71,600 | 137:1 | 125:1 |
| Waste Connections | Worthing Jackman | $6.9M | $63,129 | 110:1 | 122:1 |
| Clean Harbors | Alan McKim | $6.2M | $69,520 | 90:1 | 82:1 |
| Stericycle | Cindy Miller | $7.1M | $56,162 | 127:1 | 110:1 |
| Harsco | Nicholas Grasberger | $5.9M | $63,821 | 93:1 | 93:1 |
| Casella Waste Systems | John Casella | $4.1M | $60,726 | 68:1 | 75:1 |
Rubicon went public in August 2022 and did not disclose this data. GFL is excluded from the chart because it is not required to publish this information as a Canadian company.
