WM Marked America Recycles Day with Announcement of $75 Million Commitment to Build New WM Recycling South Florida facility

WM (formerly Waste Management) recently announced plans to invest $75 million to construct the new WM Recycling South Florida facility. The state-of-the-art, 127,000-square-foot recycling facility will be built on a 12-acre parcel adjacent to WM’s existing Reuter Recycling Facility in Pembroke Pines. The site is just north of the Miami-Dade/Broward County line and is already zoned for a recycling processing facility.

“WM Recycling South Florida is planned to be the largest and most technologically advanced recycling facility in the Southeastern United States and will demonstrate our commitment to increasing recycling for our municipal and business customers in South Florida,” said WM Florida Area Vice President David Myhan.

At the America Recycles Day event on November 15, the Florida Panthers Hockey Team also named WM as an Official Sustainability Partner as part of a new sustainability collaboration with WM.

“We are excited to partner with WM to educate and inspire our fans and guests to not only make eco-friendly decisions when visiting Panthers’ facilities, but to continue supporting the environment at home and in their local communities,” said Panthers Executive Vice President of People & Facilities Rob Stevenson.

WM’s investments in new recycling facilities and advanced technology, including WM Recycling South Florida, are intended to:

• Increase overall recycling capacity
• Increase the ‘capture’ rate of the most environmentally significant materials including more types of plastics
• Expand the list of acceptable recyclable material that WM manages for its customers
• Improve the quality, value and marketability of the finished recycled bales benefiting the economics of recycling for its commercial customers and municipal communities
• Allow WM to manage inbound contamination or “non-recyclables” more efficiently while improving the quality of the final marketable product

“WM Recycling South Florida’s technological advances including robotics and artificial intelligence capabilities will result in the production of high-quality recycling materials to ensure the long-term viability of sustainable recycling programs throughout South Florida,” said WM Director of Recycling Michael DeClerck.

WM Recycling South Florida will also include a world-class, 1,200-square-foot education room called the WM Sustainability Education Station, that can be used by school and civic groups, as well as municipal and customer communities.

Recycling benefits the environment by saving precious natural resources including energy and water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to help address climate change. Recycling also benefits the supply chain as recycled paper and cardboard become new paper and new boxes for e-commerce. Recycled plastic becomes new containers, a park bench, or even clothing and running shoes. Recycled aluminum cans are back on store shelves in 60 days.

Demand for recycled material is expected to grow in anticipation of Minimum Content legislation and commitments from national consumer brands to use recycled content in the manufacturing of new packaging. WM expects to invest $800 million in recycling infrastructure through 2025, including the investment to build WM Recycling South Florida.

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Contacts:

WM
Dawn McCormick
954-226-9894
dmccormick@wm.com

Florida Panthers
Chrissy Parente
(954) 224-5257
parentec@floridapanthers.com

Photo IDs:

Artist’s rendering of the $75 million WM Recycling South Florida. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2023 with an anticipated opening in early 2025.

Panthers Executive Vice President Rob Stevenson and WM Florida Area Vice President David Myhan exchange gifts to mark the WM/Florida Panthers’ new sustainability partnership.