Waste Management (WM): September 2020 Report on Recyling

Waste Management issued a September 2020 document entitled “Report on Recycling” (“Report”).

The company states that following an “indepth engagement with As You Sow and Trillium Asset Management (TAM) in February 2020, Waste Management committed to publishing this Report on Recycling” to:

• Help identify gaps in plastic recycling infrastructure
• Provide assessment of Waste Management’s material recovery facilities
• Advance discussion of Waste Management’s policy and advocacy positions related to plastic recycling issues

In preparing the Report, Waste Management states that it utilized RRS Consultants to:

… conduct research and to gather data on the national regional recyclable plastic tonnage generation, as well as end markets.

Waste Management states that it “performed a detailed review of this information with our commodities marketing team and then used WM’s 2019 sales information as an overlay for the Company’s material flow.”

The report addresses a number of issues which include:

• Plastics generated and recycled in the United States (including national and regional overview)
• PET generation issue, reclamation and capacity by region
• HDPE generation, reclamation and capacity by region
• Polypropylene Generation, Reclamation and Capacity by Region
• Waste Management’s plastic flows (including HDPE flow by region)
• Waste Management material recovery facility overview
• Implications of MRF investments
• Other effects of MRF investment (referencing reduction of contamination rate, increase in volume process)
• Investments to increase the type of materials processed at MRFs
• Policy overview (referencing quantity and demand for recyclables, increasing domestic plastic recycling and company plastic export policy)
• Legislation (referencing material bans and mandates, support for public education and procurement policies, extended producer responsibility)

A copy of the report can be downloaded here.