Waste Management and Recyclebank Mark First Year of Collaboration

HOUSTON AND NEW YORK CITY, MARCH 20, 2013 /3BL Media/ - Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM), the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America, and Recyclebank®, the company that rewards people for taking everyday green actions, today announced the impact of the first year of their collaboration.

Waste Management has brought Recyclebank to more than 75 communities, including Fort Worth, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; and Osceola County, near Orlando, Fla. Combined, these communities have recycled 179 million pounds of materials, and participants in these communities have earned $4 million in Recyclebank rewards value.

Waste Management made a strategic investment in October 2011 in Recyclebank’s parent company, Recycle Rewards. The Waste Management and Recyclebank collaboration kicked off in early 2012 with Recyclebank debuting in communities serviced by Waste Management across the United States. The combination of Waste Management’s curbside collection infrastructure — the largest in the nation — with Recyclebank’s vast online education and behavior change platform, accelerated sustainability and growth goals for both companies, allowing them to motivate and mobilize people, communities and schools to recycle. Waste Management looks forward to increasing the number of its current 22 million residential customers who have access to the Recyclebank rewards-for-recycling program in the years to come.

“Waste Management’s investment in Recyclebank has been part of a companywide transformation, shifting our focus from waste collection and disposal to identifying ways we can realize value from the material we collect,” said David Aardsma, chief sales and marketing officer at Waste Management. “We’ve found that residents in these communities are motivated by Recyclebank to take bigger steps toward reducing their waste and increasing recycling. As a result, we are helping to improve their communities and through reward redemption, drive business back into the local economy. It’s a win-win for our companies, our customers and the environment.”

Sustainable Results

Recyclebank is easily incorporated into Waste Management’s new and existing recycling programs. Examples include:

• When Little Rock, Ark. implemented Recyclebank in April 2012, it simultaneously converted to single-stream recycling and debuted larger carts with Waste Management. The actions coincided with a 63 percent lift in the amount recycled through the end of the year.
• In September 2012, Osceola County, Fla. and Waste Management kicked off the community’s first ever curbside recycling program along with incentives and educational engagement from Recyclebank. By the end of the year, Osceola County had recycled more than 9 million pounds of material — a strong start to the program.

In each case, the combination of Waste Management and Recyclebank enhanced what the community could accomplish on its path toward sustainability. In turn, both enterprises are growing their pipeline of communities served via the collaboration. Going forward, Waste Management intends to launch Recyclebank in more than 20 additional communities in the coming months and has up to 3 million additional households in the pipeline.

“We take a community-by-community approach to shift people toward a more sustainable lifestyle. Collaborating with Waste Management has allowed Recyclebank to further drive behavior change on a massive scale,” said Jonathan Hsu, CEO of Recyclebank. “We are a purpose-driven company and Waste Management shares our commitment to providing value and sustainable solutions to the communities and members we serve. I am thrilled by the traction we’ve seen during this first year and look forward to seeing what another year brings.”

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 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 www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.

ABOUT Recyclebank

Recyclebank helps create a more sustainable future by rewarding people for taking everyday green actions with discounts and deals from more than 4,000 local businesses and national brands. Through its online platform and partnerships with municipalities, haulers, small businesses and corporate brands, Recyclebank empowers individuals to make a collective impact on the environment by increasing household recycling and taking other environmentally-friendly actions. A Certified B Corporation, Recyclebank has been recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Program and for Outstanding Excellence in Public/Private Partnerships from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Recyclebank is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit www.Recyclebank.com.

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