Our Services – Recycling
Recycling
As the largest recycler of municipal solid waste in North America, Waste Management processes more than 5.5 million tons of recyclable materials each year through its 109 material recovery facilities. Through the resources of WM Recycle America, a majority-owned subsidiary of WM, we provide cost-efficient, environmentally sound recycling programs for municipalities, businesses and households across the U.S. and Canada.
Residential Recycling
Waste Management collects and processes more municipal recyclables than any other company in North America. We do it through working partnerships with local communities and municipalities. From collection to processing to marketing, Waste Management and its wholly owned subsidiary WM Recycle America are the partners your community can count on for economically and environmentally sustainable recycling programs. While some communities rely on WM Recycle America to handle marketing in support of municipal collection and processing, or processing and marketing in support of municipal collection, we can handle any or all portions of the recycling process.
In addition to understanding the importance of a program that is economically feasible, we also understand the benefit of programs that are easily workable for your residents. That's why we've integrated the latest sorting technologies in many of our facilities, enabling us to provide single-stream recycling programs to communities and increasing the volume of recyclables collected as much thirty percent.
Recycling Programs
Sony Electronics Recycling
Teaming up with Sony, we’ve built a recycling program that makes it easy to dispose of electronics in an environmentally safe way. Bring your unwanted Sony products to any participating Waste Management eCycling drop-off center and recycle it for free. http://www.sony.com/recycle
Fluorescent Lamp Recycling and Universal Waste Management
Fluorescent lamps contain mercury, which is a regulated waste at the federal and state levels. When lamps are broken during handling and storage, they release mercury and may put your employees, and your company, at risk. The WM LampTracker recycling program is a safe and cost-effective way to manage this easy-to-overlook environmental and health risk. Our exclusive, patent-pending VaporLok packaging reduces the risk of mercury exposure for employees and carriers during collection, storage, and shipment, therefore reducing your liability. For more information on all our universal waste solutions, visit www.WMLamptracker.com.
Needle/Medical Waste Disposal
Through our partnership with Sharps Compliance, Inc., Waste Management offers a variety of sizes of mail-back sharps containers that provide community residents with a safe and economical way of disposing of small quantities of used medical waste such as used hypodermic needles, lancets, and test strips.
Each system includes a specially designed sharps container and a postage-prepaid shipping container ensuring your medical waste will be delivered safely by the U.S. Postal Service to a certified medical waste resource recovery facility.
Business Recycling
Waste Management is not just North America's largest recycler; we are leading the way in economically and environmentally sustainable recycling solutions. Through our wholly owned subsidiary, WM Recycle America, Waste Management is pioneering and putting into action the latest in innovative sorting technologies - making recycling programs easy and cost effective for commercial accounts.
Whether your office building could benefit from commercial single-stream recycling, eCycling, or your distribution center or retail location could benefit from our regional and national bale routes, Waste Management and WM Recycle America bring real solutions to the table.
eCyclingsm
As the nation's only coast-to-coast electronics recycler, WM Recycle America delivers recycling solutions that are as convenient and cost-effective as they are environmentally responsible. With four ISO 9001- and ISO 14001-certified regional processing centers and several support locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, we make it easy for you to access our comprehensive services. eCyclingsm services can be customized to every need, including:
- End-of-life equipment processing
- Product refurbishment and reuse
- Certified data destruction
We have developed an easy way to use our unique services. Go to www.wmescraptracker.com for more info.
Commercial and Industrial Recycling
Reduce your facility's waste disposal costs by recycling your non-hazardous wastes. Waste Management and its wholly owned WM Recycle America subsidiary can help you earn credits toward your waste disposal bill by finding new markets for your unused or scrap paper products, metal, glass, plastic and other industrial refuse. We also specialize in recycling your industrial scrap plastics.
Bale Routes
WM Recycle America offers regional and national bale routes, which allow smaller volume fiber recyclers to cost-effectively recycle bales of old newspaper (ONP), old corrugated containers (OCC) and various mixed grades of fiber. By "jumping on" a bale truck's collection route, various retail customers and distribution centers that may not have been able to recycle cost-effectively in the past may now find this option a workable solution for managing their total waste stream.
Fiber
WM Recycle America handled nearly 7 million tons of fiber in 2006, including more than 50 grades of office paper, printer’s waste, cardboard, newspaper, de-inking high grade and pulp substitutes. By recycling more than 2.5 million tons of newspaper a year, about 41 million trees were saved. And by recycling more than 1.5 million tons of cardboard, we recycle more than 6 billion boxes each year. As the nation’s largest provider of recycling services, WM Recycle America has relationships with industrial, commercial, retail and public-sector fiber generators throughout North America.
Non-Fiber
Material such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans are easily recovered through WM Recycle America’s commercial programs. Industrial materials such as rubber, sheet, profile, and injected plastics are handled with the same ease as residential bales of plastic or aluminum. We are experienced in working with materials recovered from mixed waste processing facilities, as well as other waste generators. Our customers include rubber and plastic producers, sheet and profile extruders, and injection molders.
Construction and Demolition (C & D) Recycling
Reduce the waste disposal costs of your construction, remodeling or demolition project by recycling your construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Waste Management and its WM Recycle America wholly owned subsidiary can help you earn credits toward your waste disposal bill by recycling your unused or scrap paper products, metal, glass and other waste.
Recycling and Commodities Marketing
Waste Management Recycle America ((WM Recycle America), Waste Management's dedicated group for recycling, is focused on our role as an industry leader offering communities and businesses more effective and affordable recycling options as well as providing manufacturers and end users with the secure, consistent stream of high-quality raw materials they need to maintain operational efficiency.
Operating plants that process everything from paper to plastics to electronics to sensitive materials and providing marketing responsibility for locations across North America - (WM Recycle America) is an ideal long-term partner for both generators of recycled materials as well as mills and end users. Our geographic span as well as the variety and number of businesses we work with provide logistics and marketing advantages that translate into real value.
Single Stream
WM Recycle America is focused on making it easier for people to recycle - whether home or at work. In 2001, Waste Management became the first major solid waste company to focus on residential single-stream recycling, which allows customers to mix recyclable paper, plastic and glass in one bin. Residential single-stream programs have greatly increased the recycling rates, recovering as much as three times the amount of recyclable materials. In fact, we opened our first single-stream plant in the late 1990’s.
Single-stream recycling is made possible through the use of various mechanized screens and optical sorting technologies. With single-stream recycling well under way in residential applications, Waste Management is advancing the same easy recycling programs for other commercial applications.
Waste Management is proud to provide specialized services that strengthen our communities, protect our land and improve our quality of life.
- WM Lamptracker provides specialized recycling services to recycle mercury from fluorescent light bulbs and the dental industry.
- WM eScraptracker provides specialized services to recycle and manage electronic wastes. Providing the means to recycle electronics and products containing mercury makes a world of difference for people and for the environment.
Our Approach to Marketing Recyclables
WM Recycle America’s approach to marketing recyclables consists of the following:
- Centralized and coordinated marketing, sales, transportation, and accounting activities
- Maximizing revenues through a combination of long-term and spot-market contracts
- Maintaining little or no finished-goods inventory in the facilities from which we market materials
- Continually upgrading our knowledge of the consumer's needs and requirements
- Dealing only with consumers who can offer stable marketing opportunities
- Producing end-market products of consistently high quality
- Taking advantage of local marketing opportunities
Recyclable Items Specifications Sheets
Commingled recyclables and mixed paper specifications are subject to change. Please consult with your account manager or account representative.
ISRI - Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
You will need Adobe Reader to view this document. 
