Dive Brief:

• With the approval of coal ash disposal regulations looming on the horizon, Waste Management is making moves to grab hold of the market.
• Long-awaited EPA regulations on coal ash must be issued by December 19 of this year. 
• The waste and recycling behemoth is also transitioning its business model within its municipal waste operations to include another burgeoning waste segment -- food waste.

Dive Insight:

The CEO of Waste Management, David Steiner, predicts “big growth” for the company if regulations for the coal ash market are approved. The ash waste stream is even more significant than the waste stream handled by the company at this time. 

Steiner also expressed an interest in food waste-to-biogas. Waste Management already has a seemingly successful pilot project underway -- a food waste recovery program. Through the partnership with New York City and the National Grid, a utility services company in New York, food waste is transformed into sludge that is added to digesters at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn, NY.