Date: July 16, 2008
Source: News Room
Waste Management Launches Online Service for Compact Fluorescent Bulb Recycling From Home
ThinkGreenFromHome.com provides streamlined consumer recycling solutions for household electronic waste
Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WMI), North America's leading provider of comprehensive waste management services, today launched ThinkGreenFromHome.com, a streamlined online service for the recycling of universal household waste including compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), batteries, and eventually other household electronics. ThinkGreenFromHome.com offers consumers convenient mail-in solutions to safely store and recycle heavy metal containing household devices, as well as resources to encourage household sustainability.
CFL recycling represents the core service ThinkGreenFromHome.com offers consumers. CFLs provide energy savings and help reduce a household's environmental profile. However, since the devices contain mercury, proper handling and disposal of the bulbs is an important consideration. CFL use is growing rapidly - it is expected that some 4 billion CFLs will be in household use by 2012 - but safe, convenient methods for recycling CFLs and other household universal waste have previously been lacking.
To safely store and recycle used CFLs and batteries, customers can order online and receive prepaid-postage kits delivered to their door. Think Green® From Home CFL recycling kits incorporate Mercury VaporLok TM technology, which is designed to reduce the risk of airborne exposure and environmental contamination from lamps broken during storage and shipping. The kits are suitable for both the storage and transport of discarded bulbs or batteries and are approved for shipping by the United States Postal Service. Consumers can ship the boxes directly from their home or at any one of the over 34,000 postal offices across the country.
"Waste Management helps consumers responsibly handle the growing household universal waste stream," said Rick Cochrane, senior business director of Waste Management's LampTracker® program. "With the 2012 deadline for the use of CFLs, customers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to properly dispose of household universal waste and the Think Green® From Home program makes recycling this waste as safe and convenient as possible."
WM LampTracker®, a division of Waste Management, also provides total-care solutions for the storage, handling, transport and recycling of fluorescent lamps for small, medium and large-scale businesses across North America. ThinkGreenFromHome.com uses the WM LampTracker® service record in the commercial sector to provide the most streamlined avenue for consumers to recycle their universal household waste with confidence.
ThinkGreenFromHome.com is part of Waste Management's sustainability initiative that was announced last October at the World Business Forum committing the company to investing in new technologies to enhance its waste business as well as nearly tripling the amount of recyclables it manages by 2020.
For more information on CFL, battery and electronic waste recycling, or to order recycling kits, visit www.thinkgreenfromhome.com.
About Waste Management
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. More information about how Waste Management Think Green® can be found at www.thinkgreen.com.
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