NATURAL RESOURCES continued

We are often the primary or direct link to WSC for our vendor partners and provide feedback and guidance on how our companies utilize their products and services and collaborate to provide considerations for them on any potential development needs that may exist or present themselves.”

Lucas Loftin, BSA Team Lead

WTS deploys crews with bucket trucks, chip trucks and chippers as well as specialized equipment including all-terrain tree trimmers, brush-cutter tractors and more for high-impact mechanical line clearance.

Fuel Usage

Geotab together with WEX (a fuel card that helps companies save costs with automatic fuel expense tracking, employee spending controls, purchase alerts, and exclusive discounts) allows for the tracking of fuel efficiency. Some fuel is provided via bulk fueling or client fueled which is not included in annual reporting at this time. Bulk fuel, when available, is an efficient way to prepare the fleet without spending excess labor time and resources to travel to the nearest fueling station.

Of the 5,980 vehicles equipped with Geotab technology utilized by WTS, the fleet traveled 543,757,284 miles in 2022. Unproductive idle time is currently being tracked along with miles per gallon efficiency.

Electric Transition

WTS and WSC companies are exploring and making the transition to battery operated chainsaws where appropriate in the fleet. This transition would decrease the amount of fuel, oil and labor for the chainsaw fleet upkeep.

Waste

WTS generates vegetative waste through maintenance and new infrastructure development efforts in support of our clients. Whenever appropriate, this organic waste product is often left onsite in order to naturally break down and provide benefits such as nutrients and habitat to the local ecosystem. The waste may be chipped and added to the local landscape. In urban settings, wood may be left onsite at the request of the homeowner or removed and stored at a WTS property. We may further process wood waste into mulch and provide free of charge to local communities. A significant effort is made to provide a second life to vegetative waste products to eliminate it being disposed of in a landfill setting.

As WTS provides services across North America, each job site and geography provides a variety of alternative uses of wood waste generated. An evaluation effort is underway to estimate the amount of vegetation coproduct generated by division and the end-use category respectively.

WTS looks for opportunities to donate woodchips and firewood where possible to maximize diversion from landfills.

STORY OF SOXX ™

The environmental impacts of sedimentation and stormwater runoff can lead to polluted runoff into local streams, lakes and wetlands compromising water quality and causing flooding, erosion and habitat destruction. At WTS, we know how important it is for perimeter control to stop sediment from leaving job sites as well as to be in compliance with local, state and federal regulations.

When a tree is trimmed, the trimmings can go one of three routes:

- Mulch

- Compost

- Landfill

At WTS, we take the mulched wood chips and fill them into sediment control Filtrexx® SiltSoxx™. Filtrexx SiltSoxx is a three-dimensional tubular device made of FilterMedia™ encased in Filtrexx Mesh™. It is specifically designed to support stormwater management, sediment control and pollutant removal for sustainable best management practices. It is most often used in areas where diverting, cleaning and filtering stormwater runoff is critical. SiltSoxx is designed to prevent erosion, and each one installed at a job site gives trees a second life, keeps our water clean and protects the environment.

12,052 which is the same as cubic yards of wood chips diverted from a landfill which is the same as

2,636 559 278 tons of CO2e avoided cars off the road for a year homes’ average yearly energy use