Dive Brief:

• Waste Management recently sold the largest recycling center in Des Moines, IA, to its former owner, Mid America Recycling.
• With the purchase of the center, Mid America Recycling took the firm back to its roots. The local recycling management company was bought in 2007 by Greenstar Recycling, which in 2013 sold the Des Moines facility to Waste Management.
• Mid America Recycling is led by president/co-owner Mick Barry, who is working with co-owner Brian Meng to reinvigorate the formerly shuttered recycling firm.

Dive Insight:

Competition is good for a thriving economy, and Mid America’s most recent acquisition in Des Moines could be good for the industry in general. This is the second big purchase for the reinvigorated recycling company; in April 2014, the firm bought Midland Recycling in Lincoln, Nebraska. That facility also was once owned by Mid America Recycling.