The SEC rules govern what is material. The test is based on relative revenue and market cap. A single agreement with a City to company the size of WM is not material. It happens to be how the Securities Law works. This I know since I teach this class at a nice well regarded Law School every couple of years. It is actually very accurate.
FYI on my way to other things I found that WM actually is recycling organics for Whole Foods in Chicago. I came across this on their site. They are doing composting for 11 Whole Foods stores in Chicago per the note from the WM site.
Composting solution turns food scraps into fertilizer
Whole Foods Market® is a leader in natural and organic food. It was only natural that they turned to us when they were looking to introduce a large-scale composting solution in Illinois.
The concept was something everyone could agree on. Implementing it, however, had never been done. Working together, we developed a program for turning food waste into useful soil enrichment material. Starting with two stores in the Chicago area, the solution replaced trash compactors with composting containers, installed smaller containers for trash, trained all personnel, created appropriate signage and provided data on a monthly basis to track progress.
Within the first year, the program expanded to eight locations. Diversion rates rose from 10% to 80% and over 2,660 tons of food scraps were composted. Year two saw three more stores added to the program, with accompanying increases in diversion rates and composting volumes.
