Dive Brief:
- When Waste Management released its numbers for the fourth quarter of 2014, the company cited ongoing challenges stemming from its recycling segment.
- Commodity pricing for recyclables has fallen an average of 23.7% since Q3 of 2013. David Steiner, president and CEO of Waste Management, noted that just within the past few weeks, prices have decreased to an extent that will affect 2015 financials.
- Steiner said the company is exploring new contract structures to alleviate some of the risk of the low prices.
Dive Insight:
Steiner added that the company will recover its processing costs because “…that’s the only way we can make recycling viable over the long-term.”
Steiner predicted the drop years ago. In November 2013, he announced the recycling industry was not profitable and in need of a massive overhaul. At that time, he said Waste Management was losing money due to low commodity pricing.
The CEO said there could be some promising solutions on the horizon, including the introduction of new technologies, new contracts, and different sources of revenue.
