Asset Retirement Obligations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Abstract]

Asset Retirement Obligations

The Company maintains reserves where a legal obligation exists to perform an asset retirement activity and the fair value of the liability can be reasonably estimated. These asset retirement obligations (AROs) include liabilities where the timing and (or) method of settlement may be conditional on a future event, that may or may not be within the control of the entity. At December 31, 2021, the Company had recognized AROs of $19.0 million related to landfill closures, decommissioning costs, facility leases and conditional AROs associated with manufacturing activities using what may be characterized as potentially hazardous materials.

Estimates of AROs are evaluated annually in the fourth quarter, or more frequently if material new information becomes known. Accounting for asset retirement obligations requires significant estimation and in certain cases, the Company has determined that an ARO exists, but the amount of the obligation is not reasonably estimable. The Company may determine that additional AROs are required to be recognized as new information becomes available.

In 2020, the Company finalized a settlement agreement for an indemnity claim concerning a conditional ARO with the buyer of a formerly-owned business and as a result, the Company reduced ARO reserves by $4.3 million, which is recorded in other income/expense, net, on the consolidated statements of operations (see Note 9). The Company increased ARO reserves by $4.1 million in 2020 as a result of changes in the expected timing of payments on ARO’s resulting from facility idlings as discussed in Note 19, which is recorded in restructuring charges on the consolidated statement of operations. Both of these 2020 items are presented as revisions of estimates in the table below.

Changes in asset retirement obligations for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 were as follows:


(In millions)	2021		2020
Balance at beginning of year	$	24.0	$	23.7
Accretion expense	0.8		0.9
Payments	(5.6)		(0.4)
Revisions of estimates	—		(0.2)
Divestiture	(0.2)		—
Balance at end of year	$	19.0	$	24.0