ReCommunity Recycling has committed $635,000 to the Institute for Massachusetts Biofuels Research, also known as TIMBR, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in hopes of developing microbes that digest household trash and turn it into fuel. Add that to previous agreements ReCommunity has made for sponsored research with UMass and ReCommunity has made $1.26 million in commitments to the university over the past year.

But UMass isn't just doing it for the money, said Susan B. Leschine, a professor of microbiology best known for identifying the Q Microbe.

"It's such an area of societal need," Leschine said. "The goal is to make as much use out of everything as we can."

Paula A. Calabrese, ReCommunity senior vice president and chief strategy officer, said the towns and cities her company works with have a need to get rid of waste effectively and they need energy.

"We look at waste handling from a whole-community perspective," she said.

ReCommunity, which has its research headquarters in Rutland, Vt., is the largest waste handler in the country that does recycling only. It has proprietary, patented optical scanning technology that separates different recycled materials for reuse...