WM is closing its recycling facility in Elkridge, Maryland to make way for a more advanced MRF, eliminating 66 temporary worker roles.

WM says it is building a new facility that will be located across the street from the existing site and open sometime in the fourth quarter. That building will have more automated equipment and advanced technology, “which will reduce labor dependency for roles that are challenging to recruit and retain,” said a WM spokesperson in an email.

The job losses will be effective on Nov. 16, according to a WARN notice. WM says it will only impact “third party temporary workers” and that the company had notified its staffing agency that those workers’ assignments would end when the company transitions to the new facility. The current Elkridge facility, which handles material from the broader Baltimore area, has been open since 2005. 

The MRF project is part of WM’s overall plan to invest over $1 billion in new and upgraded recycling facilities across the country through 2026. 

WM said last year it planned to finalize 27 automation projects between 2023 and 2025 and expand its recycling footprint into at least eight new locations. That includes facilities in Florida, Tennessee, Michigan, New York, California, and Oregon, as well as Toronto.

This spring, it completed MRF upgrades in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

During its Q1 earnings call in April, executives said automation improvements at each of its remodeled recycling facilities is expected to provide between a 30% and 40% reduction in labor costs. CEO Jim Fish described WM’s overall staffing strategy as a “low-impact” reduction in workforce through attrition. The company estimated it would eliminate about 1,200 unfilled positions in 2024.

WM sees automation not just as a labor solution but as a major strategy to recover larger volumes of cleaner recycled material, which it aims to sell for higher values. WM aims to increase the amount of recyclables it manages from 15 million to 25 million tons per year by 2030.