Waste Management joins with APR to champion post-consumer recycling

Waste Management (WM), Houston, announced that the company worked with Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Cascade Cart Solutions to integrate bulky rigid plastics collected in curbside recycling programs to begin producing the company’s curbside carts. The initiative was part of WM’s push to help increase demand for post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials to provide sustainable end markets for the recycling industry.

The new EcoCart, unveiled at WM’s 10^th Annual Sustainability Forum, is made with 10 percent post-consumer content. With the company’s cart purchasing commitment, WM joined together with the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) Recycling Demand Champion Campaign. The program is designed to foster and build the end-use marketplace through companies committing to purchasing products with residential post-consumer plastic.

“Working with suppliers to create new domestic market opportunities for recycled plastics is the basis for the APR Recycling Demand Champions Campaign,” Liz Bedard, APR’s director of rigids plastics recycling program, says. “The partnership between APR, Waste Management and Cascade is the culmination of 18 months of hard work. The utilization of residential PCR in recycling carts is the perfect example of industry stakeholders working together to develop a new application that is also an iconic symbol of recycling that consumers see every day.”

“We’re proud to join APR as a Recycling Demand Champion and thank our customers, like KW Plastics, for the valuable end market they provide for bulky rigid materials which are utilized for the Cascade EcoCart sustainable cart for trash and recycling bins,” Brent Bell, WM vice president of recycling, says.

In addition to the new Cascade EcoCart, WM highlighted 15 other companies at its new Circular Economy Showcase at the WM Sustainability Forum that utilize post-consumer recycled content to produce new products. The program also included a panel highlighting “Recycling Demand/Demand Recycling” to inspire other companies.

The 10^th Annual WM Sustainability Forum was held during Waste Management Phoenix Open (WMPO) week. WM educated attendees about how to ‘recycle right’ by recycling bottles, cans, paper and cardboard, while keeping food, liquid and plastic bags out of recycling bins. In addition to conveying the importance of recycling, which conserves natural resources, recycled items are given the opportunity to serve new purposes.

Attendees learned how their recycling efforts translate into new products. Waste Management led by example by closing the recycling loop and working with companies who take recycled material and produce new products for the tournament. At the Waste Management Phoenix Open, fans could purchase apparel and headwear from Puma, Bermuda Sands and Loudmouth, which sourced Unifi’s REPREVE recycled fibers produced from plastic bottles.

“We continue to find that consumers become very excited when they understand how recycled plastic bottles can be transformed into fiber that is used to make apparel more sustainable. Seeing the REPREVE bottle count on something like the Loudmouth pants being sold at the tournament reaffirms their commitment to recycling—they recognize that the bottles they recycle during the tournament could wind up being in the pants, shorts or tops that they buy online or at the store,” Jay Hertwig, senior vice president of global brand sales for Unifi, says. 

Embracing the irreverent spirit of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, WM unveiled its third annual version of Loudmouth Golf “WMPO Party Pants,” and for the first time, they were also available for purchase in the official tournament merchandise shop. Loudmouth sourced Unifi’s REPREVE fabric made with 30 percent recycled content from plastic bottles. WM also produced matching Loudmouth tote bags and drawstring bags for WM team members and guests attending the tournament.

Thanks to a broader collaboration between WM and the company’s branded merchandise partner, Zorch, fans sporting the gear supported a $10,000 contribution to The Foundation for Plastic Recycling. The Foundation was also selected in part to celebrate Waste Management joining APR as a Recycling Demand Champion.

“We applaud Waste Management for their remarkable commitment to recycling,” Lisa Lopinsky, executive director of the Foundation for Plastic Recycling, says. “The donation of the proceeds from the sale of the WMPO Party Pants is an investment in our mission to drive sustainability solutions for plastics packaging in order to support the Circular Economy, and we are most appreciative.”