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ACCOUNTING CHANGES (Policies) | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2023
Accounting Changes and Error Corrections [Abstract] |
Basis of Accounting | Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (“Parent”), a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively, “we”, “us” or “our”), is a regional, vertically integrated solid waste services company. We provide resource management expertise and services to residential, commercial, municipal, institutional and industrial customers, primarily in the areas of solid waste collection and disposal, transfer, recycling and organics services. We provide integrated solid waste services in seven states: Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and Pennsylvania, with our headquarters located in Rutland, Vermont. We manage our solid waste operations on a geographic basis through two regional operating segments, the Eastern and Western regions, each of which provides a full range of solid waste services. We manage our resource-renewal operations through the Resource Solutions operating segment, which leverages our core competencies in materials processing, industrial recycling, organics and resource management service offerings to deliver a comprehensive solution for our larger commercial, municipal, institutional and industrial customers that have more diverse waste and recycling needs. Legal, tax, information technology, human resources, certain finance and accounting and other administrative functions are included in our Corporate Entities segment. The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements, which include the accounts of the Parent and our wholly-owned subsidiaries, have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All significant intercompany accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation. Investments in entities in which we do not have a controlling financial interest are accounted for under either the equity method or the cost method of accounting, as appropriate. Our significant accounting policies are more fully discussed in Item 8. "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 ("fiscal year 2022"), which was filed with the SEC on February 17, 2023 ("2022 Form 10-K"). When necessary, certain prior period amounts in the consolidated financial statements are conformed to current period presentation. This includes the presentation of certain adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities, which have been reclassified within cash flows from operating activities.
Use of Estimates | Preparation of our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions affect the accounting for and recognition and disclosure of assets, liabilities, equity, revenues and expenses. We must make these estimates and assumptions because certain information that we use is dependent on future events, cannot be calculated with a high degree of precision given the available data, or simply cannot be readily calculated. In the opinion of management, these consolidated financial statements include all adjustments, which include normal recurring and nonrecurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. The results for the three months ended March 31, 2023 may not be indicative of the results for any other interim period or the entire fiscal year.
Subsequent Events | We have evaluated subsequent events or transactions that have occurred after the consolidated balance sheet date of March 31, 2023 through the date of filing of the consolidated financial statements with the SEC on this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Except as disclosed, no material subsequent events have occurred since March 31, 2023 through the date of this filing that would require recognition or disclosure in our consolidated financial statements.
Accounting Standards Adopted and Pending Adoption | table provides a brief description of a recent Accounting Standards Update ("ASU(s)") to the Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) that we adopted and is deemed to have a possible material impact on our consolidated financial statements based on current account balances and activity:
Standard |  | Description |  | Effect on the Financial Statements or Other Significant Matters
Accounting standards adopted effective January 1, 2023
ASU No. 2020-04: Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848), as amended through December 2022 |  | Provides temporary optional guidance to ease the potential burden in applying GAAP to contract modifications and hedging relationships that reference London Inter-Bank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") or another reference rate expected to be discontinued, subject to meeting certain criteria. |  | We currently have interest rate derivative agreements with hedging relationships that reference LIBOR, which is going to be discontinued effective July 1, 2023. This guidance provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to contracts, hedging relationships and other transactions affected by reference rate reform if certain criteria are met. Effective the three months ended March 31, 2023, we elected optional expedients under this guidance that provide temporary relief over contract modifications and hedge accounting in order to maintain hedge effectiveness upon modifying contract terms related to reference rate reform in our amended and restated credit agreement, dated as of December 22, 2021, as amended by the first amendment, dated as of February 9, 2023, and the second amendment, dated as of February 9, 2023 (the "Amended and Restated Credit Agreement") and to transition our interest rate derivative agreements from LIBOR to another reference rate prior to the planned discontinuation of LIBOR on July 1, 2023. See Note 7, Debt. This guidance will be in effect through December 31, 2024.
Accrued Final Capping, Closure and Post Closure | Accrued final capping, closure and post-closure costs include the current and non-current portion of costs associated with obligations for final capping, closure and post-closure of our landfills. We estimate our future final capping, closure and post-closure costs in order to determine the final capping, closure and post-closure expense per ton of waste placed into each landfill. The anticipated time frame for paying these costs varies based on the remaining useful life of each landfill as well as the duration of the post-closure monitoring period.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments | We use a three-tier fair value hierarchy to classify and disclose all assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis, as well as assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis, in periods subsequent to their initial measurement. These tiers include: Level 1, defined as quoted market prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; Level 2, defined as inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; and Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs that are not corroborated by market data. We use valuation techniques that maximize the use of market prices and observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. In measuring the fair value of our financial assets and liabilities, we rely on market data or assumptions that we believe market participants would use in pricing an asset or a liability. Assets and Liabilities Accounted for at Fair Value Our financial instruments include cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, restricted investment securities held in trust on deposit with various banks as collateral for our obligations relative to our landfill final capping, closure and post-closure costs, interest rate derivatives, contingent consideration related to acquisitions, trade payables and debt. The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and trade payables approximate their respective fair values due to their short-term nature. The fair value of restricted investment securities held in trust, which are valued using quoted market prices, are included as restricted assets in the Level 1 tier below. The fair value of the interest rate derivatives included in the Level 2 tier below is calculated using discounted cash flow valuation methodologies based upon one-month LIBOR or Term SOFR, as applicable, yield curves that are observable at commonly quoted intervals for the full term of the swaps. The fair value of contingent consideration - acquisition included in the Level 3 tier below is calculated using a discounted cash flow valuation methodology based upon a probability-weighted analysis of a success payment related to the potential attainment of a transfer station permit expansion. We recognize all derivatives accounted for on the balance sheet at fair value.
Segment Reporting | We report selected information about our reportable operating segments in a manner consistent with that used for internal management reporting. We classify our solid waste operations on a geographic basis through regional operating segments, our Eastern and Western regions. Revenues associated with our solid waste operations are derived mainly from solid waste collection and disposal services, including landfill, transfer station and transportation services, landfill gas-to-energy services, and processing services in the northeastern United States. Our Resource Solutions operating segment leverages our core competencies in materials processing, industrial recycling, organics and resource management service offerings to deliver a comprehensive solution for our larger commercial, municipal, institutional and industrial customers that have more diverse waste and recycling needs. Revenues associated with our Resource Solutions operations are comprised of processing services and services provided by our National Accounts business. Revenues from processing services are derived from customers in the form of processing fees, tipping fees, commodity sales, and organic material sales. Revenues from our National Accounts business are derived from brokerage services and overall resource management services providing a wide range of environmental services and resource management solutions to large and complex organizations, as well as traditional collection, disposal and recycling services provided to large account multi-site customers. Legal, tax, information technology, human resources, certain finance and accounting and other administrative functions are included in our Corporate Entities segment, which is not a reportable operating segment. Corporate Entities results reflect those costs not allocated to our reportable operating segments.

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