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Segment and Related Information (Tables) | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2022
Segment and Related Information |
Reportable Segments | Summarized financial information concerning our reportable segments for the three months ended March 31 is shown in the following table (in millions):
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ | ​ | Gross | ​ | Intercompany | ​ | Net | ​ | Income
​ | ​ | Operating | ​ | Operating | ​ | Operating | ​ | from
​ |  | Revenues |  | Revenues(d) |  | Revenues |  | Operations(e)
2022 |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |
Solid Waste: |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |
East Tier | ​ | $ | 2,383 | ​ | $ | (445) | ​ | $ | 1,938 | ​ | $ | 531
West Tier | ​ |  | 2,406 | ​ |  | (490) | ​ |  | 1,916 | ​ |  | 549
Solid Waste (a) | ​ |  | 4,789 | ​ |  | (935) | ​ |  | 3,854 | ​ |  | 1,080
Other (b) | ​ |  | 857 | ​ |  | (50) | ​ |  | 807 | ​ |  | 1
​ | ​ | ​ | 5,646 | ​ | ​ | (985) | ​ | ​ | 4,661 | ​ | ​ | 1,081
Corporate and Other (c) | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | (313)
Total | ​ | $ | 5,646 | ​ | $ | (985) | ​ | $ | 4,661 | ​ | $ | 768
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
2021 | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |
Solid Waste: | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |  | ​ |  |
East Tier | ​ | $ | 2,128 | ​ | $ | (394) | ​ | $ | 1,734 | ​ | $ | 453
West Tier | ​ |  | 2,178 | ​ |  | (442) | ​ |  | 1,736 | ​ |  | 475
Solid Waste (a) | ​ |  | 4,306 | ​ |  | (836) | ​ |  | 3,470 | ​ |  | 928
Other (b) | ​ |  | 665 | ​ |  | (23) | ​ |  | 642 | ​ |  | 20
​ | ​ |  | 4,971 | ​ | ​ | (859) | ​ | ​ | 4,112 | ​ | ​ | 948
Corporate and Other (c) | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | (298)
Total | ​ | $ | 4,971 | ​ | $ | (859) | ​ | $ | 4,112 | ​ | $ | 650
(a) | Income from operations provided by our Solid Waste business is generally indicative of the margins provided by our collection, landfill, transfer and recycling lines of business. From time to time, the operating results of our reportable segments are significantly affected by certain transactions or events that management believes are not indicative or representative of our results.
Income from operations in our Solid Waste business increased primarily due to (i) revenue growth in our collection and disposal businesses driven by both yield and volume and (ii) improved profitability in our recycling business from higher market prices for recycling commodities and improved costs at facilities where we have made investments in enhanced technology and equipment. These increases were partially offset by inflationary cost pressures and labor cost pressure from frontline employee wage adjustments, increased hiring driving up training costs and higher overtime due to driver shortages and volume growth.
(b) | “Other” includes (i) elements of our Strategic Business Solutions (“WMSBS”) business that are not included in the operations of our reportable segments; (ii) elements of our landfill gas-to-energy operations managed by our WM Renewable Energy business and not included in the operations of our reportable segments; (iii) elements of our third-party subcontract and administration revenues managed by our Energy and Environmental Services (“EES”) business and not included in the operations of our reportable segments; (iv) our recycling brokerage services; (v) certain other expanded service offerings and solutions and (vi) the results of non-operating entities that provide financial assurance and self-insurance support for our Solid Waste business, net of intercompany activity.
The decrease in income from operations was primarily driven by our self-insurance program.
(c) | “Corporate and Other” operating results reflect certain costs incurred for various support services that are not allocated to our reportable segments. These support services include, among other things, treasury, legal, digital, tax, insurance, centralized service center processes, other administrative functions and the maintenance of our closed landfills. Income from operations for “Corporate and Other” also includes costs associated with our long-term incentive program.
The decrease in income from operations was primarily driven by (i) increased costs as a result of strategic investments we are making in our digital platform, including investments in customer service digitalization, as well as investments in our sustainability initiatives and (ii) increased labor costs primarily due to merit increases. This decrease in income from operations was partially offset by lower integration costs related to our acquisition of Advanced Disposal.
(d) | Intercompany operating revenues reflect each segment’s total intercompany sales, including intercompany sales within a segment and between segments. Transactions within and between segments are generally made on a basis intended to reflect the market value of the service.
(e) | In the fourth quarter of 2021, we discontinued certain allocations from our Corporate and Other segment to our Solid Waste operating segments and Other segment. Reclassifications have been made to our prior period information for comparability purposes.
Summary of operating revenues mix | The mix of operating revenues from our major lines of business for the three months ended March 31 are as follows (in millions):
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ |  | 2022 |  | 2021
Commercial | ​ | $ | 1,287 | ​ | $ | 1,131
Industrial | ​ |  | 836 | ​ |  | 743
Residential | ​ |  | 805 | ​ |  | 782
Other collection | ​ |  | 153 | ​ |  | 116
Total collection | ​ |  | 3,081 | ​ |  | 2,772
Landfill | ​ |  | 1,051 | ​ |  | 915
Transfer | ​ |  | 486 | ​ |  | 465
Recycling | ​ |  | 453 | ​ |  | 342
Other (a) | ​ |  | 575 | ​ |  | 477
Intercompany (b) | ​ |  | (985) | ​ |  | (859)
Total | ​ | $ | 4,661 | ​ | $ | 4,112
(a) | The “Other” line of business includes (i) certain services provided by our WMSBS business; (ii) our landfill gas to energy operations managed by our WM Renewable Energy business; (iii) certain services within our EES business, including our construction and remediation services and our services associated with the disposal of fly ash and (iv) certain other expanded service offerings and solutions. In addition, our “Other” line of business reflects the results of non-operating entities that provide financial assurance and self-insurance support for our Solid Waste business, net of intercompany activity. Revenue attributable to collection, landfill, transfer and recycling services provided by our “Other” businesses has been reflected as a component of the relevant line of business for purposes of presentation in this table.
(b) | Intercompany revenues between lines of business are eliminated in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included within this report.

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of entity-wide revenues from external customers for each product or service or each group of similar products or services if the information is not provided as part of the reportable operating segment information. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 40 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123359005&loc=d3e9031-108599 + Details
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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the profit or loss and total assets for each reportable segment. An entity discloses certain information on each reportable segment if the amounts (a) are included in the measure of segment profit or loss reviewed by the chief operating decision maker or (b) are otherwise regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker, even if not included in that measure of segment profit or loss. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 22 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123359005&loc=d3e8736-108599 Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 25 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123359005&loc=d3e8813-108599 Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 350 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121556970&loc=d3e13816-109267 Reference 4: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 280 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 30 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123359005&loc=d3e8906-108599 + Details
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