Bethel Landfill

About the Program
WM’s Bethel Landfill is a waste disposal facility located in Hampton, Virginia. The site supports 5.25 acres of wetland and grassland, providing safe habitat for various native plant and wildlife species. Team members actively manage the habitat for wildlife including a pollinator garden, avian nesting boxes, bat boxes and ponds across the property. Employees control invasive species using environmental best practice techniques for wetland and grassland habitats. Additionally, the site partners with employees and the community to provide conservation education opportunities to employees and visitors.

Program Impacts

• Employees planted 100% native species across 0.5 acres of land to install a pollinator garden to increase biodiversity on site and provide food, shelter and reproductive opportunities to native pollinators. Team members use techniques such as manual removal and mowing as needed to control invasive species, and the pollinator garden is monitored using visual observations.
• Since 2011, the team has installed 22 bluebird boxes and purple martin habitat to address habitat loss by providing safe shelter, nesting and foraging habitat for native avian species. The boxes are actively monitored monthly during the nesting season by team members and repairs are made as needed.
• The site actively monitors three bat boxes on site by tracking bat activity, providing safe habitat and roost for native bat populations and supporting bats struggling with white-nose syndrome. Boxes are inspected for integrity and repairs are performed as needed. After a decade of the program, the bat boxes became successful in 2022.
• Team members address turtle habitat loss by managing the grassland habitat and ponds on-site as safe habitat to increase biodiversity and native turtle populations. The four ponds on site are monitored by employees using survey techniques tracking various parameters and visual observations.