Currents
June 2018
> continued from page 3
kets.
At the same time, Waste Management, like other
MRF (Municipal Recycling Facilities) operators, is
getting pinched with higher sorting costs. Those
costs have been incurred to try to meet higher quality
standards demanded by markets since China began
restricting imports and enforcing a 0.5 percent con-
tamination limit.
The challenge the company faces in removing
contamination coming in the door – some company
MRFs receive as much as 40 per-
cent trash, he said, noting that
contamination has grown as
waste diversion goals have
become more aggressive in some
jurisdictions.
“In addition to that, China tem-
porarily
suspended
import
licenses, which caused global
commodity prices to plummet last
fall and they have yet to recover,”
Fish said, according to a tran-
script provided by Seeking Alpha.
“Clearly, this is not a sustainable
recycling business model. We
must address higher operating
costs in our recycling facilities
and shrinking revenues from the
sale of recycled products.”
Waste Management is contin-
uing to educate customers and
partner with industry stakeholders
to reduce contamination. It is also
auditing incoming loads and
rejecting and charging back for
contamination when possible. In
new contracts, the company is
also seeking to shift even more of
the commodity price risk to cus-
tomers, Fish said.
Waste Management has been
able to find alternative markets for
its recovered commodities. Fish
said that a year ago, the company
was shipping about 30 percent of
its OCC to China; now, it’s about
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