WMI Begins Pulp and Paper Group

Waste Management created anew group focused on pulp and paper trading. The new group, the company hopes,will reduce WMI’s exposure to volatile commodity prices.

According to Maurice Myers,chairman, president and CEO of Waste Management, the company will begin theprocess by focusing on managing the company's four million tons of papercollected each year.

The company expectstransactions through the trading group will not occur until the third quarterof the year when WMI has completed the implementation of standard tradingcontrol systems and organizational capabilities.

``The new trading group willdifferentiate us from our competitors in that we will be providing ourmunicipal, national account and mill customers with an opportunity to directlymanage their commodity price exposure,'' said Steve Ragiel, vice president ofrecycling for Waste Management.

Over the past three years,the company has taken steps to reduce the overall commodity price risk ofrecycling by placing 75 percent of its commodities under long-term physicaldelivery contracts with floor prices. The creation of the trading group allowsthe company to continue to reduce its overall commodity price exposure whilestrengthening its leadership role in the industry. (Steve Ragiel will bespeaking at the Paper Recycling Conference in Chicago June 24-26.).