Pembroke Pines, Fla. – Nov. 15, 2022 – WM has announced plans to invest $75 million to construct the new WM Recycling South Florida facility in recognition of America Recycles Day on Tuesday, November 15.

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...will demonstrate
our commitment to increasing recycling for our
municipal and business customers in South Florida."

- David Myhan

“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, 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.

• Increase overall recycling capacity
• Increase the ‘capture’ rate of the most environmentally significant materials
• 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 will result in the production of
high-quality recycling materials..."

- Michael DeClerck

“WM Recycling South Florida’s technological advances 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.

• Recycle more types of plastics to benefit the environment
• Utilize optical sorters and artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve a tenfold increase in efficiency 
• Utilize intelligent sorting where conveyors and optical sorters communicate with each other and with technicians to improve material quality
• Include a final optical sort line which sends missed recyclable material back for a second chance to be recycled and diverted from landfilling

As a highly automated facility, WM Recycling South Florida is anticipated to provide new job opportunities for individuals with the skillset to work directly with the monitors, computers and optical sorters while lessening the need for hard-to-fill manual sorting roles.

WM Recycling South Florida also has plans to 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 this investment. These investments include automating existing facilities and developing new recycling facilities.

About WM
WM (WM.com) is North America's largest comprehensive waste management environmental solutions provider. Previously known as Waste Management and based in Houston, Texas, WM is driven by commitments to put people first and achieve success with integrity. The company, through its subsidiaries, provides collection, recycling and disposal services to millions of residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. With innovative infrastructure and capabilities in recycling, organics and renewable energy, WM provides environmental solutions to and collaborates with its customers in helping them achieve their sustainability goals. WM has the largest disposal network and collection fleet in North America, is the largest recycler of post-consumer materials and is the leader in beneficial reuse of landfill gas, with a growing network of renewable natural gas plants and the most gas-to-electricity plants in North America. WM's fleet includes nearly 11,000 natural gas trucks - the largest heavy-duty natural gas truck fleet of its kind in North America - where more than half are fueled by renewable natural gas. To learn more about WM and the company's sustainability progress and solutions, visit sustainability.wm.com.

About FLA Live Arena
Home to the Florida Panthers Hockey Club and leading international concerts and events, the Broward County-owned FLA Live Arena is one of the top-ranked venues of its kind in the world, servicing Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach Counties and beyond. In 2020, FLA Live Arena became the first National Hockey League building to earn the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI)'s WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management, which serves as the global benchmark for safety and best operating procedures in public spaces. FLA Live Arena recently renewed their WELL Health-Safety Rating for 2022. For the latest information about upcoming events, visit www.FlaLiveArena.com and follow @FLALiveArena on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

About The Florida Panthers
The NHL’s Florida Panthers are in their 29th season in the league, competing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The Florida Panthers won the Presidents Trophy in 2021-22, earning the most points during the regular season. Under General Manager Bill Zito, the Panthers have grown into a tenacious, dynamic, and exciting team led by Team Captain Aleksander Barkov, stalwart defenseman Aaron Ekblad, two-time Vezina Trophy recipient Sergei Bobrovsky and a deep roster of proven and promising NHL talent. At home in Sunrise, Fla. at the FLA Live Arena, the Panthers are set to host the 2023 NHL All-Star Game.

Forward-looking Statements
WM, from time to time, provides estimates, comments on expectations relating to future periods and makes statements of opinion, view or belief about current and future events. This press release contains such forward-looking statements, including all statements regarding the amount and timing of future investments in recycling technology and facilities, and all outcomes or benefits of such investments. You should view these statements with caution. They are based on the facts and circumstances as of the date the statements are made and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different. Please see Part I, Item lA of WM's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, available on the "Investors" page of www.wm.com, for information regarding such risks and uncertainties. WM assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of future events, circumstances or developments, or otherwise.