Waste Management, headquartered in Houston, reports revenues of $3.85 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. In the same quarter of the prior year, revenues were $3.84 billion. Net income for the quarter was $447 million compared with net income of $531 million for the fourth quarter of 2018. On an adjusted basis, earnings per diluted share were $1.19 for the fourth quarter of 2019, compared with $1.13 for the fourth quarter of 2018.

The company says revenue growth in Q4 was driven by strong organic growth in its collection and disposal business, which contributed $88 million of incremental revenue. Throughout 2019, strong revenue growth from the collection and disposal business was partially offset by recycling commodity price headwinds, the company said during a call with investors. The sharp decline in market prices for recycled commodities led to a $104 million year-over-year decline in revenue from the company’s recycling line of business in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a $244 million decline for the full year.

Adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $1.12 billion for the fourth quarter of 2019 and $4.38 billion for the year. On a year-over-year basis, adjusted operating EBITDA grew $28 million in Q4 and $167 million for the year.

The company says operating EBITDA in its recycling line of business declined $12 million when comparing Q4 of 2019 with the same period in 2018, noting a 35 percent decline in market prices for recycled commodities during 2019. For the company’s collection and disposal business, adjusted operating EBITDA grew $120 million, or 9.9%, in the fourth quarter and $402 million or 8.5 percent for the year.

For the full year 2019, the company reports revenues of $15.46 billion compared with $14.91 billion for 2018.

“In 2019, we continued our focus on optimizing our traditional solid waste business, developing our people and investing in technology to better serve our customers,” says Jim Fish, president and CEO of Waste Management. “Our strong results demonstrate that we are investing in the right areas. Our collection and disposal business operating EBITDA grew by 8.5 percent in 2019 and operating EBITDA margin expanded by 70 basis points. This strong operating EBITDA growth translated into an 8.5 percent increase in net cash provided by operations in 2019.”

“We also are pleased to have been recognized for the fourth consecutive year on CDP’s ‘A-List’ for leading effort toward a low-carbon future. We have had a longstanding commitment to environmental transparency and are proud of the progress we have achieved on reducing emissions and mitigating climate risk,” Fish says.

The complete fourth-quarter report is available here.

Fish adds, “Our hardworking team members made 2019 a successful year, and 2020 is set to be an outstanding year as we drive organic growth in the solid waste business and anticipate closing on the acquisition of Advanced Disposal. We will continue to focus on the long-term growth of our business through investments in our team members, technology, and asset network. We are confident that we are positioned for success in 2020 and beyond.”

Austria-based Lindner Recyclingtech, a shredding and waste processing specialist, plans to showcase its smart system solutions during IFAT 2020, which takes place May 4-8 in Munich. During the event, Lindner will showcase its latest generation of the Atlas primary shredder as well as smart system solutions that turn waste recovery facilities into smart factories, the company reports in a news release. 

“We have always been one of the industry’s pioneers, which is why the mechanical components of our facilities are already very sophisticated today,” says Stefan Scheiflinger-Ehrenwerth, head of product management at Lindner. “Digitalization and smart technology is now the next evolutionary step. The industry 4.0 concept has triggered an industrial revolution that will also change the waste industry significantly over the coming years. Our customers will work with valuable raw materials, and they must be processed into new, top-quality products with maximum efficiency—whether the ideal fuel for resource-saving energy generation or the raw material for high-quality products made from recyclables.

He continues, “If we look at the requirements and legal regulations that will be imposed on the raw materials industry in the future, the only way we will be able to work profitably is to increase the product quality of fuels and recyclates as efficiently as possible. On the one hand, this will require digital transformation, and on the other we will have to optimize mechanical parts. For example, primary shredding is essential. When it comes to robot sorting, tracer detection or online quality assurance systems, then not only is the optimum particle size important but consistently dosed feeding is crucial. That’s why it’s so important for the individual machines to communicate with each other. Combine that with the power of smart data and it’s easy to make the most of waste.” 

Linder will be in Hall B6 at booth 251/350 during IFAT 2020.

In recent years, concerns around material quality have grown among material recovery facility (MRF) operators, particularly as the industry has faced weaker market conditions. 

“We know contamination has become a huge issue for material recovery facilities (MRFs),” says Scott Mouw, senior director of strategy and research at The Recycling Partnership. “We know MRFs are wrestling with bringing in cleaner material. One of the key ways to figure out that issue is to look at what’s coming in on the trucks with inbound material.”

Last year, The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, worked on developing its "2020 State of Curbside Recycling" report, which was released Feb. 13. One of the figures that the nonprofit tracked in its report was how many communities are knowledgeable about their inbound contamination rates. According to the "2020 State of Curbside Recycling" study, only about one-third of communities know this figure. Of that one-third of communities, Mouw says the average inbound contamination rate is 17 percent.

“This data tells us that MRFs and communities need to do a much better job talking about inbound contamination and analyzing that data,” Mouw says. “If you don’t know what that [number] is and don’t know the nature of the inbound contamination, you can’t do anything about it. But if more and more communities and MRFs work together, hopefully, we can get to a point where more than 75 percent of communities know their inbound contamination rates, and those communities will be in a better position to improve on material quality.”

Inbound contamination was just one of the issues researched in The Recycling Partnership’s "2020 State of Curbside Recycling" report. Mouw says the report findings are based on data and information from its 2019 State of Curbside survey sent out in July 2019, information from 49 Municipal Measurement Program reports, research from the nonprofit’s West Coast Contamination Initiative, data from 28 grant programs it worked on as of November 2019 and more than 300 media stories.

Mouw says the nonprofit released a similar study in 2016 that looked at why curbside collection programs were strong in some communities and not in others. He says the "2020 State of Curbside Recycling" report updates some of the information from the 2016 report.

Mouw adds that conditions for municipal recycling have “really changed" since 2016.

“We are very aware that the collection side of curbside is important but that it’s not the only part that matters, especially now that we have headwinds with end markets,” he says. “We felt like we needed a more comprehensive view of curbside recycling as a system in the United States. [The 2020 report] is meant to be comprehensive on curbside systems, what challenges it’s facing, how we overcome the challenges and plotting a path forward to improve curbside systems.”

Takeaways from the report

The in-depth report offers insights on a variety of aspects of municipal recycling, including the basic dimensions of the U.S. curbside recycling system, curbside recycling program performances, the impact changing material values have on curbside programs, how community programs are reacting to challenges and ways to improve curbside recycling programs.

One figure The Recycling Partnership looked at in the study was verifying the number of communities that have truly eliminated their curbside recycling programs. In recent years, Mouw says the nonprofit has been monitoring news stories about closing curbside recycling programs. For this report, The Recycling Partnership reviewed these stories it found and verified with each community whether the curbside recycling program had closed. In total, Mouw says about 50 cities officially have eliminated curbside recycling programs since 2018. The report notes that more than 480,000 residents were affected by these changes.

“One of the reasons we did that work was there were some media reports that said, ‘hundreds of programs have been eliminated,’” he says. “We just felt that that wasn’t true. So, we decided to collect some data on this.”

That full list of cities that ended curbside recycling since 2018 can be found in Appendix B of the "2020 State of Curbside Recycling" report.

According to The Recycling Partnership, some other takeaways from the report include:

• more than 20 million tons of curbside recyclables are disposed of annually;
• only half of Americans have automatic access to curbside recycling, and some who do have access do not participate in the programs; and 
• many communities are paying more to send materials to MRFs than to landfills, and most programs lack operating funds.

To address these issues, the report offers best practices for MRFs on improving curbside recycling programs in the communities they work with as well as a case study on the city of Sarasota’s curbside recycling program.

“The report shows data and information on tried-and-true techniques to improve contamination,” Mouw says. “One thing we would love to happen from this report is more MRFs becoming involved in their communities, not just assessing contamination but also acting on that information and doing things like cart tagging to make sure carts are tagged when there is contamination.” 

Click here for the full report.

The Aluminum Association, Arlington, Virginia, has announced that Tom Dobbins will become its new president and CEO as of March 16. He previously spent 13 years as the head of the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), which represents composites manufacturers and their suppliers.

“I’m thrilled to be taking on this new role during an incredibly important time for the U.S. aluminum industry,” Dobbins says. “The Aluminum Association has a proud legacy as one of the leading voices for the materials manufacturing sector in Washington and beyond. I look forward to taking on a leadership role as the team continues to execute on the recently developed Aluminum Agenda – from policy advocacy to supporting market growth to industry-leading research and data on sustainability and other issues.”

At the ACMA, Dobbins has prioritized market growth and development for the composites industry, leading effective government affairs, communications, events and education programs, The Aluminum Association says. During his tenure, the ACMA revamped its annual trade show, more than doubling its size; worked with Congress to include provisions on composites in the last eight major infrastructure bills signed into law; spearheaded a program to bring composites manufacturers to private events with automotive and aviation original equipment manufacturers; and worked with the Department of Energy to launch an advanced manufacturing institute for composites.

“Tom is a well-known and dynamic leader in materials manufacturing and a Washington veteran,” says Marco Palmieri, senior vice president and president of Novelis North America and chair of the Aluminum Association. “Tom’s extensive experience in public policy advocacy and association management make him a perfect fit to help move the aluminum industry forward during this critical time.”

Dobbins is a recent member of the board of directors of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Council of Manufacturing Associations (CMA). He also is a past chair of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Public Policy Committee and Lobby Task Force. Prior to his time at the ACMA, Dobbins was the director of partnership outreach for the Internal Revenue Service, where he developed an award-winning comprehensive outreach and education program for small businesses, The Aluminum Association says. He was also the director of government affairs at the American Council of Engineering Companies and spent several years working on Capitol Hill.