Waste Management Announces Acquisition of Consumer Electronics Remarketing and Recycling Companies

HOUSTON, Aug. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- WM Recycle America, L.L.C., a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM), the largest waste services and residential recycling company in North America, today announced it has acquired Access Computer Products, Inc., a leading provider of cell phone, ink and toner cartridge, and consumer electronics reverse logistics, remarketing, and recycling services. Mordell, LLC, a re-commerce partner responsible for refurbishing and selling used computer equipment obtained through Access and other third party suppliers, was also acquired by WM Recycle America.

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The acquisition of the Loveland, CO-based Access Computer Products will further strengthen Waste Management's position as a leader in the recycling of e-waste, which is one of the fastest growing commodities in the waste stream. Consumers will gain access to Waste Management's recycling and reuse program. For additional information and pricing please visit www.mordell.net.

"Waste Management is committed to providing solutions to our customers for managing their electronic waste," said Pat DeRueda, president of WM Recycle America. "This acquisition will expand Waste Management's presence in the growing electronics recycling and re-commerce market and provide an additional high value service to our customers."

Electronics recycling is a fast-growing industry that creates high-paying, green jobs.  Twenty-six states have mandated e-waste recycling programs and consumers increasingly trade up to newer models of mobile phones, computers, and other consumer electronics. According to the 2011 Electronics Recycling Industry Survey®, the US electronics recycling industry continues to show tremendous growth and strong domestic capacity.  

The $5-billion-a-year industry, which employs more than 30,000 full-time workers in the U.S., collected and processed over 3.5 million tons of used and end-of-life electronics equipment in 2010, up from 1.8 million tons in 2009.  

"Waste Management is committed to maximizing the value of the components in electronic materials as well as other materials it manages," added DeRueda.

This acquisition complements WM's other ecycling operations and will contribute to Waste Management's sustainability goal of tripling the amount of material it recycles to 20 million tons by 2020.  

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also the largest residential recycler and a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company's customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management visit http://www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.

WM Recycle America is a subsidiary of Waste Management and is the largest residential recycler in North America. WM Recycle America's business lines include processing many types of consumer-generated recyclables and finding the best markets for the recyclable commodities produced. In its capacity of providing processing and marketing services, WM Recycle America offers a wide variety of recycling options for municipal, manufacturing, commercial and residential customers.

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are information of a non-historical nature or which relate to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In many cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date of this release. We undertake no ongoing obligation to update these statements.

SOURCE Waste Management, Inc.