Dive Brief:
- Waste Management has acquired Brainerd, MN-based waste and recycling company Blue Lakes Disposal, as reported by Recycling Today.
- Blue Lakes Disposal has seven collection vehicles which service more than 2,500 residential customers and 300 commercial customers.
- Waste Management already operates in the Brainerd area so this will allow them to make collections more efficient and expand service.
Dive Insight:
Blue Lakes Disposal was started about 30 years ago by a U.S. Navy veteran with one truck and has since grown to cover accounts in more than 20 local communities. According to the company's Facebook page, the owner sold the company to retire and Waste Management has already begun handling service.
Though it lost the the collection contract for Minneapolis to local Eureka Recycling earlier this year, Waste Management has a presence in many other municipalities throughout Minnesota. Other recent acquisitions in the region include the Milwaukee recycling assets of Pioneer Industries in Wisconsin.
Waste Management recently announced that James Fish Jr. has become the president and CEO after a 12-year stint by former CEO David Steiner. Fish has been with the company for 15 years, during which time recycling markets have experienced such major fluctuations that Steiner recently said the industry has ended up in a "recycling recession." Moving forward the company has said it plans to be more targeted in its recycling efforts based on the financial and environmental benefits of diverting certain materials, rather than weight-based goals.
