10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart article 1 message Madison Hopkins To: ldisbrow@wm.com Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 1:21 PM Hi Lisa, Thank you for your help on this. To follow up on our phone call, I’m hoping to talk to you about Waste Management’s contract with the City of Chicago to operate part of its Blue Cart Residential Recycling program. I’ve listed some general questions below. Please let me know when you are available to get on a phone call and talk them over. Thanks again, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 Questions: 1. When hauling city recycling through the Blue Cart program, how does Waste Management handle contamination problems? 2. What transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills does WM use for Blue Cart materials? 3. How does Waste Management coordinate the work done on the Blue Cart contract with the work done on its other City contracts? For example, Waste Management also has a contract to furnish transfer stations and landfills for the City’s waste. Does the company also use these landfills for the recycling materials it picks up through the Blue Cart program? Does Waste Management accept the Blue Cart materials picked up by the City to its transfer stations and landfills? 4. Would Waste Management like to see any changes to its current contract with City? https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1607078279874393108&simpl=msg-f%3A1607078279874393108 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins  Blue Cart Article  Disbrow, Lisa  To: "mhopkins@bettergov.org"  Fri, Aug 10, 2018 at 2:04 PM Hi Madison,   Thank you for emailing your questions on the blue cart program.  Below is our responses.  If you have any additional questions, please contact me.   1. When hauling city recycling through the Blue Cart program, how does Waste Management handle contamination problems?   Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. was awarded through the City’s 2011 competitive bid process the collection of recyclables in Areas #1,3, & 6.  As part of the recycling collection, carts may be tagged at the point of collection for contamination.  The City is notified as part of this tagging process and the cart is then collected as trash by the City.     As only a small portion of the carts are inspected and tagged at the collection point, each vehicle’s recycling load is graded for high contamination prior to transferring to the recycling facilities for processing.   Since the fire at our CID recycling facility, our transfer stations are shipping recycling loads to our Grayslake, IL facility, Germantown, WI facility or third­party processors.  Recycling loads with high contamination are graded as trash.     2. What transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills does WM use for Blue Cart materials?   Transfer Stations: Laramie, Hooker, CID Recycling Facilities: Waste Management’s facilities located in Grayslake, IL and Germantown, WI as well as third­ party recycling facilities Landfill: Liberty   3. How does Waste Management coordinate the work done on the Blue Cart contract with the work done on its other City contracts? For example, Waste Management also has a contract to furnish transfer stations and landfills for the City’s waste.    Each contract with the City of Chicago is evaluated separately.  We coordinate with varying Street & Sanitation officials for the separate contracts.   Does the company also use these landfills for the recycling materials it picks up through the Blue Cart program? Does Waste Management accept the Blue Cart materials picked up by the City to its transfer stations and landfills? https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608439944623520895&simpl=msg-f%3A1608439944623520895 1/2 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article   Residue generated from the contaminated recycling is directed to our Liberty landfill.   As the industry standard, collection vehicles deliver trash and recycling materials to transfer stations.   Each separately collected material is dropped­off in a designated area of the transfer station floor to keep these streams separated.   Loaded separately by material type, recycling and trash are loaded onto transfer trailers for delivery to either the recycling facilities or landfill.       4. Would Waste Management like to see any changes to its current contract with City?    Since China’s enforcement of stricter contamination standards, resulting in significant and dramatic changes in the recycling markets, Waste Management believes any future recycling agreements need to be reflective of the new recycling market dynamics.   Like other municipal recycling contracts, we would like to see additional contractual language on recycling education and enforcement mechanisms with the goal to keep recycling clean in future recycling programs.     Lisa Disbrow Spokesperson Waste Management of Illinois, Inc.     Lisa Disbrow Director Government & Public Affairs ldisbrow@wm.com   Waste Management Cell 317 508 5113    Waste is a resource. Waste Management captures value from waste streams by recycling and generating clean, renewable energy. Surprised? Learn how at www.wm.com.   Recycling is a good thing. Please recycle any printed emails. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608439944623520895&simpl=msg-f%3A1608439944623520895 2/2 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Fri, Aug 10, 2018 at 3:03 PM Hi Lisa, Thank you for getting this back to me. I have listed some follow ups and a few new questions below. If you would rather just get on a phone call to talk these over, please call me at 312-873-1114. Thanks again! Best, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 1. You mentioned in your response to #1 that only a small portion of the carts are inspected and tagged at the collection point. Does that mean that Waste Management haulers only inspect a sample of Blue Carts before collecting the materials? Or do you mean that every cart is inspected by only a small portion are determined to be contaminated? 2. Also on that topic - what did you mean by “each vehicle’s recycling load is graded for high contamination prior to transferring to the recycling facilities for processing?” Does this step happen before or after the materials have been brought to the transfer station? How is it graded? In general, if you could just provide more detail about the specifics of how Waste Management screens for contamination, that would be very helpful. 3. Is Waste Management’s CID Transfer Facility at the same location as its recycling facility that recently had the fire? If so, does WM still use the CID Transfer Facility for the blue cart materials? How much of the facility was ruined in the fire? 4. I received the daily load reports that WM submitted to the City during May 2018, and it lists the Prairie and Wheeling transfer facilities as locations WM brought blue cart material to, but you didn’t mention those in your response to question #2. Would WM have listed those locations for some other reason in its reports? Or does it sometimes use these transfer stations for blue cart materials? 5. Does Waste Management have to submit any reports to the City showing where it ultimately recycled or disposed of all its blue cart materials? If so, how frequently and what information is included? Does it have to report how much money the company made through the sale of the blue cart materials? 6. Can you estimate how much revenue Waste Management has brought in from the sale of the blue cart materials? From both the materials WM collects in the zones it services, and the materials it buys from the City through its revenue generating contract. 7. What third party recycling facilities does Waste Management use for blue cart materials? [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608443693912709004&simpl=msg-f%3A1608443693912709004 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Disbrow, Lisa To: Madison Hopkins Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 8:17 AM Hi Madison, Sorry I missed your call on Friday afternoon but thank you for sending these additional questions. I’m in meeting today through Wednesday but will respond by mid-week with this additional information. In my quick review of your questions, you are asking for clarification on reports we submitted to the City in May 2018. Would you send me a copy of the report that you are referencing to allow me to verify this information correctly? Thanks Lisa From: Madison Hopkins [mailto:mhopkins@bettergov.org] Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 3:04 PM To: Disbrow, Lisa Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Blue Cart Article [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608689910514655434&simpl=msg-f%3A1608689910514655434 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 8:45 AM Hi Lisa, That all sounds good, thank you for getting back to me. Attached is the report I received from the City, which it referred to as “Daily Load Reports." I don’t know if this is the format Waste Management would have submitted it to them, or if this is a compilation of some other type of records. Let me know if you have any questions in the meantime. Thanks again, Madison On Aug 13, 2018, at 8:17 AM, Disbrow, Lisa wrote: Hi Madison, Sorry I missed your call on Friday afternoon but thank you for sending these additional questions. I’m in meeting today through Wednesday but will respond by mid-week with this additional information. In my quick review of your questions, you are asking for clarification on reports we submitted to the City in May 2018. Would you send me a copy of the report that you are referencing to allow me to verify this information correctly? Thanks Lisa From: Madison Hopkins [mailto:mhopkins@bettergov.org] Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 3:04 PM To: Disbrow, Lisa Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Blue Cart Article Hi Lisa, Thank you for getting this back to me. I have listed some follow ups and a few new questions below. If you would rather just get on a phone call to talk these over, please call me at 312-8731114. Thanks again! Best, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182&simpl=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182 1/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article 1. You mentioned in your response to #1 that only a small portion of the carts are inspected and tagged at the collection point. Does that mean that Waste Management haulers only inspect a sample of Blue Carts before collecting the materials? Or do you mean that every cart is inspected by only a small portion are determined to be contaminated? 2. Also on that topic - what did you mean by “each vehicle’s recycling load is graded for high contamination prior to transferring to the recycling facilities for processing?” Does this step happen before or after the materials have been brought to the transfer station? How is it graded? In general, if you could just provide more detail about the specifics of how Waste Management screens for contamination, that would be very helpful. 3. Is Waste Management’s CID Transfer Facility at the same location as its recycling facility that recently had the fire? If so, does WM still use the CID Transfer Facility for the blue cart materials? How much of the facility was ruined in the fire? 4. I received the daily load reports that WM submitted to the City during May 2018, and it lists the Prairie and Wheeling transfer facilities as locations WM brought blue cart material to, but you didn’t mention those in your response to question #2. Would WM have listed those locations for some other reason in its reports? Or does it sometimes use these transfer stations for blue cart materials? 5. Does Waste Management have to submit any reports to the City showing where it ultimately recycled or disposed of all its blue cart materials? If so, how frequently and what information is included? Does it have to report how much money the company made through the sale of the blue cart materials? 6. Can you estimate how much revenue Waste Management has brought in from the sale of the blue cart materials? From both the materials WM collects in the zones it services, and the materials it buys from the City through its revenue generating contract. 7. What third party recycling facilities does Waste Management use for blue cart materials? On Aug 10, 2018, at 2:04 PM, Disbrow, Lisa wrote: Hi Madison, Thank you for emailing your questions on the blue cart program. Below is our responses. If you have any additional questions, please contact me. 1. When hauling city recycling through the Blue Cart program, how does Waste Management handle contamination problems? Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. was awarded through the City’s 2011 competitive bid process the collection of recyclables in Areas #1,3, & 6. As part of the recycling collection, carts may be tagged at the point of collection for contamination. The City is notified as part of this tagging process and the cart is then collected as trash by the City. As only a small portion of the carts are inspected and tagged at the collection point, each vehicle’s recycling load is graded for high contamination prior to transferring to the recycling facilities for processing. Since the fire at our CID recycling facility, our transfer stations are shipping recycling loads to our Grayslake, IL facility, Germantown, WI facility or thirdparty processors. Recycling loads with high contamination are graded as trash. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182&simpl=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182 2/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article 2. What transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills does WM use for Blue Cart materials? Transfer Stations: Laramie, Hooker, CID Recycling Facilities: Waste Management’s facilities located in Grayslake, IL and Germantown, WI as well as third- party recycling facilities Landfill: Liberty 3. How does Waste Management coordinate the work done on the Blue Cart contract with the work done on its other City contracts? For example, Waste Management also has a contract to furnish transfer stations and landfills for the City’s waste. Each contract with the City of Chicago is evaluated separately. We coordinate with varying Street & Sanitation officials for the separate contracts. Does the company also use these landfills for the recycling materials it picks up through the Blue Cart program? Does Waste Management accept the Blue Cart materials picked up by the City to its transfer stations and landfills? Residue generated from the contaminated recycling is directed to our Liberty landfill. As the industry standard, collection vehicles deliver trash and recycling materials to transfer stations. Each separately collected material is dropped-off in a designated area of the transfer station floor to keep these streams separated. Loaded separately by material type, recycling and trash are loaded onto transfer trailers for delivery to either the recycling facilities or landfill. 4. Would Waste Management like to see any changes to its current contract with City? Since China’s enforcement of stricter contamination standards, resulting in significant and dramatic changes in the recycling markets, Waste Management believes any future recycling agreements need to be reflective of the new recycling market dynamics. Like other municipal recycling contracts, we would like to see additional contractual language on recycling education and enforcement mechanisms with the goal to keep recycling clean in future recycling programs. Lisa Disbrow Spokesperson Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. Lisa Disbrow Director Government & Public Affairs ldisbrow@wm.com Waste Management Cell 317 508 5113 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182&simpl=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182 3/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Waste is a resource. Waste Management captures value from waste streams by recycling and generating clean, renewable energy. Surprised? Learn how at www.wm.com. Recycling is a good thing. Please recycle any printed emails. WM May 2018.csv 62K https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182&simpl=msg-f%3A1608691678988579182 4/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 8:50 AM Hi Lisa, I just wanted to check in on this. Do you think you’ll be able to respond to my follow-up questions this week? Thank you, Madison [Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1609054378893985961&simpl=msg-f%3A1609054378893985961 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Disbrow, Lisa To: Madison Hopkins Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 9:03 AM Hi Madison, Yes, my plan is to have this information to you today (hopefully by early afternoon). Lisa From: Madison Hopkins [mailto:mhopkins@bettergov.org] Sent: Friday, August 17, 2018 8:51 AM [Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1609055254032597480&simpl=msg-f%3A1609055254032597480 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 9:10 AM Great, thank you again! [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1609055608178329316&simpl=msg-f%3A1609055608178329316 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Disbrow, Lisa To: Madison Hopkins Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 4:26 PM Hi Madison, My apologies but my day went side-ways before I finished writing our responses. I will send the information you requested on Monday. Thank you for your understanding. Lisa From: Madison Hopkins [mailto:mhopkins@bettergov.org] Sent: Friday, August 17, 2018 9:10 AM To: Disbrow, Lisa Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Re: Blue Cart Article [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1609083073628016190&simpl=msg-f%3A1609083073628016190 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Sun, Aug 19, 2018 at 3:37 PM Hi Lisa, No problem, have a great rest of your weekend. Best, Madison [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1609261184012128225&simpl=msg-f%3A1609261184012128225 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article - Waste Management Response Madison Hopkins Blue Cart Article - Waste Management Response 2 messages Disbrow, Lisa To: Madison Hopkins Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 2:26 PM Hi Madison, Thank you for emailing the additional questions. See our responses (in red) below. Lisa 1. You mentioned in your response to #1 that only a small portion of the carts are inspected and tagged at the collection point. Does that mean that Waste Management haulers only inspect a sample of Blue Carts before collecting the materials? Or do you mean that every cart is inspected by only a small portion are determined to be contaminated? As almost 265,000 carts are serviced each week, only a portion of the carts are tagged at the curb in each area on a weekly basis. 2. Also on that topic - what did you mean by “each vehicle’s recycling load is graded for high contamination prior to transferring to the recycling facilities for processing?” Does this step happen before or after the materials have been brought to the transfer station? How is it graded? In general, if you could just provide more detail about the specifics of how Waste Management screens for contamination, that would be very helpful. The recycling loads are graded after delivery to the transfer station for high amounts of trash in the load rather than recyclable materials. The loads are visually inspected for high contamination (plastic bags, organics (food & liquids), wood, clothing, and other non-recyclables). 3. Is Waste Management’s CID Transfer Facility at the same location as its recycling facility that recently had the fire? If so, does WM still use the CID Transfer Facility for the blue cart materials? How much of the facility was ruined in the fire? Yes. We are still utilizing the CID transfer station area and a separate designated area for recycling materials. The fire originated in the transfer station which impacted our single stream processing lines. We are sorting and processing commercial recycling at CID but the residential recycling processing lines are not operational at this time. Due to the fire, the residential recycling stream has been re-directed to our other recycling facilities or to third-party facilities when their capacities allow. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1609347312836671456&simpl=msg-f%3A1609347312836671456&… 1/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article - Waste Management Response 4. I received the daily load reports that WM submitted to the City during May 2018, and it lists the Prairie and Wheeling transfer facilities as locations WM brought blue cart material to, but you didn’t mention those in your response to question #2. Would WM have listed those locations for some other reason in its reports? Or does it sometimes use these transfer stations for blue cart materials? Yes, depending on the volume and trucking activity as well as the capacity at the other three transfer stations, we also utilize these two facilities as needed. Residue from our Grayslake, IL recycling facility is disposed at Countryside (located in Lake County, IL). 5. Does Waste Management have to submit any reports to the City showing where it ultimately recycled or disposed of all its blue cart materials? If so, how frequently and what information is included? Does it have to report how much money the company made through the sale of the blue cart materials? We provide daily load reports of the blue cart materials to the City (which you mention in question #4) and have provided the names of the facilities we utilize to process the blue cart materials. As part of this report, we provide the City with a breakdown by material the volume of tons delivered to the transfer stations. 6. Can you estimate how much revenue Waste Management has brought in from the sale of the blue cart materials? From both the materials WM collects in the zones it services, and the materials it buys from the City through its revenue generating contract. I’m not sure I understand this question. We do not release revenue information on recycling sales. However, recycling commodity markets are down due to the global oversupply of recyclables. 7. What third party recycling facilities does Waste Management use for blue cart materials? The blue cart materials are being processed at WM’s facilities. Incidental amounts of blue cart materials may be diverted to third party companies when capacity exists as recycling facilities are at full capacity. On Aug 10, 2018, at 2:04 PM, Disbrow, Lisa wrote: Hi Madison, Thank you for emailing your questions on the blue cart program. Below is our responses. If you have any additional questions, please contact me. 1. When hauling city recycling through the Blue Cart program, how does Waste Management handle contamination problems? https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1609347312836671456&simpl=msg-f%3A1609347312836671456&… 2/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Blue Cart Article - Waste Management Response Madison Hopkins  Blue Cart Article ­ Waste Management Response  Madison Hopkins  To: "Disbrow, Lisa"  Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 4:14 PM Hi Lisa,   Thank you for getting this over to me.   I’l let you know if I have any other questions.    Best,   Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114     [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1609354126517395898&simpl=msg-f%3A1609354126517395898 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview Madison Hopkins Interview Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 2:41 PM Hi Lisa, Thank you again for speaking with me today. To follow up, I’m hoping to speak with someone from Waste Management who is familiar with contamination tagging in Chicago’s Blue Cart program. Specifically, I want to discuss the factors that contribute to Waste Management tagging contaminated carts at a rate significantly higher than those of the other city contractor and the city crews, why these numbers have increased so much during the past few years, and how the company responds to certain resident complaints about contamination tagging. Ideally, I would like to speak with someone who can explain any policy decisions Waste Management has made regarding contamination in Chicago. My deadline is next week so please let me know as soon as possible when we can set this up. Thank you, Madison Hopkins https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-a%3Ar6776809216583905013&simpl=msg-a%3Ar6776809216583905013 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview Madison Hopkins Interview 7 messages Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 2:41 PM Hi Lisa, Thank you again for speaking with me today. To follow up, I’m hoping to speak with someone from Waste Management who is familiar with contamination tagging in Chicago’s Blue Cart program. Specifically, I want to discuss the factors that contribute to Waste Management tagging contaminated carts at a rate significantly higher than those of the other city contractor and the city crews, why these numbers have increased so much during the past few years, and how the company responds to certain resident complaints about contamination tagging. Ideally, I would like to speak with someone who can explain any policy decisions Waste Management has made regarding contamination in Chicago. My deadline is next week so please let me know as soon as possible when we can set this up. Thank you, Madison Hopkins Disbrow, Lisa To: Madison Hopkins Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 4:35 PM Hi Madison, I apologize for missing your call yesterday. I will follow up with you tomorrow. Lisa From: Madison Hopkins Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2018 2:42 PM To: Disbrow, Lisa Subject: [EXTERNAL] Interview [Quoted text hidden] Recycling is a good thing. Please recycle any printed emails. Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Wed, Sep 19, 2018 at 6:38 AM Hi Lisa, Sounds good, I look forward to speaking with you. Thank you, Madison https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar7912032200021684803&simpl=msg-a%3Ar677680921658390501… 1/3 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview [Quoted text hidden] Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 10:06 AM Hi Lisa, I just wanted to check in with you. Do you think we will be able to touch base today? Thanks, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 [Quoted text hidden] Lisa Disbrow To: Madison Hopkins Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 3:47 PM Yes. Hoping to circle back to you before end of day, however, it may be after 5. I will email you. Lisa From: Madison Hopkins Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2018 10:07 AM To: Lisa Disbrow Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Interview [Quoted text hidden] Lisa Disbrow To: Madison Hopkins Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 5:04 PM Hi Madison, Can we connect tomorrow morning? Lisa Sent from my iPhone [Quoted text hidden] Madison Hopkins To: Lisa Disbrow Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 5:05 PM Hi Lisa, Do you mean you would like to set up an interview for tomorrow morning? Thanks, Madison Hopkins Investigator https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar7912032200021684803&simpl=msg-a%3Ar677680921658390501… 2/3 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview Better Government Association 312-873-1114 [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-a%3Ar7912032200021684803&simpl=msg-a%3Ar677680921658390501… 3/3 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Lisa Disbrow To: Madison Hopkins Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 8:32 AM Hi Madison – In your email last week, you were asking about the tagging of the carts and the higher percentage by Waste Management. The service providers are allowed to tag for contamination per the City’s contract and have been doing so since the inception of the contract. In regards to the higher number of tagged carts, Waste Management services almost 265,000 service stops in the City as we service three of the six service areas for blue cart recycling (Areas 1, 3 and 6). We have identified six percent of our service stops as contaminated recycling carts this year. Although tagging carts reduces our collection efficiency, it’s important to provide this feedback to the resident. Nationally, recycling contamination rates have been increasing steadily over the last decade and then in 2013, China imposed Green Fence which started inspecting all loads of recyclables for contamination. At that time, moisture was identified as a contaminate. In 2014, Waste Management launched our Recycle Often, Recycle Right™ program about why and how to recycle to increase recycling while addressing the confusion about what is recyclable and what is not. The Recycle Often, Recycle Right™ program focuses on educating residents on the right items to recycle. We shared the behavioral science principles behind this program with City of Chicago leaders in 2014. We know that tagging carts is an effective way to help educate residents as it is placed at the point of the behavior or in this case, educating residents on only placing the “right” items in the recycling cart. In 2015, Streets and Sanitation and their service providers held meetings with ward supervisors and residents to educate residents on recycling. We are committed to the City’s educational program, which includes tagging the carts, as we know it works. Our program, Recycle Often, Recycle Right™ has been utilized by Waste Management in multiple municipalities to help educate residents and reduce recycling contamination. We would be happy to answer any other questions via email. Lisa Disbrow Spokesperson Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. Recycling is a good thing. Please recycle any printed emails. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612224111490698002&simpl=msg-f%3A1612224111490698002 1/2 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Madison Hopkins To: Lisa Disbrow Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 11:09 AM HI Lisa, I’m following up to a voicemail I just left you. I want to confirm that you are denying my request to conduct an interview in person or over the phone with someone from Waste Management who has a hand in company decision-making regarding contamination tagging. Is that correct? If so, we will say in the story that company officials refused to be interviewed. My editors and I believe that questions answered through a spokesperson are less valuable for our reporting and need responses to any written questions to be attributed to a management-level employee that is involved in this specific issue, giving his or her name name and job title. Please let me know as soon as possible if I have understood your previous email correctly, in that you all will only respond to written questions regarding this story. If so, I will send you the questions today. Thank you, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612233989497787001&simpl=msg-f%3A1612233989497787001 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Lisa Disbrow To: Madison Hopkins Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 11:59 AM Hi Madison, I apologize you feel this way about my responses to your questions. We have responded multiply times to emailed question for the last few weeks and believe we have been responsive to your interview requests. I am happy to respond any email questions and if you need a subject matter expert to respond to your questions in email, we are happy to accommodate that as well. Lisa From: Madison Hopkins Sent: Friday, September 21, 2018 11:09 AM To: Lisa Disbrow Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Interview - questions [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612237179963771081&simpl=msg-f%3A1612237179963771081 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Madison Hopkins To: Lisa Disbrow Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 12:03 PM Hi Lisa, As I mentioned, my editor’s name is David Kidwell. His cell phone number is (312) 912-3938. I will send over questions later today. Thank you for your time, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612237388217200342&simpl=msg-f%3A1612237388217200342 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Madison Hopkins To: Lisa Disbrow Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 1:36 PM Hi Lisa, Below I have listed my questions for a subject matter expert within Waste Management. My deadline is Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. Please do not hesitate to call me or my editor with any questions. Thank you again for your work on this. Best, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 1. According to city records, Waste Management declares Blue Carts contaminated at a rate significantly higher than city or SIMS/Lakeshore crews. This rate is adjusted to account for the number of Blue Carts in each zone. Why is this? What is the protocol the company gives to its drivers regarding how to determine if a bin is contaminated or not? 2. Since 2014, the first full year after the completed Blue Cart expansion, the number of carts that Waste Management tags as contaminated in each of its zones have greatly increased while the number of total carts has remained relatively stable. One zone’s contamination reports increased ten-fold. Was there a policy change within the company to direct its drivers to be more aggressive with labeling contaminated carts? If so, what is this policy change and why did it happen? If not, what is the reason for the large increase? 3. The same dataset shows numerous records of residents complaining that their carts were inaccurately labeled as contaminated when they believe they only contained recyclable materials. How does Waste Management respond to these complaints? What has Waste Management done to review its employees’ contamination labeling practices to ensure the practice is being done appropriately? 4. After a cart is labeled contaminated, the city sanitation crews pick up the materials with the regular garbage services and deliver them to transfer stations that have contracts with the city to accept the waste. The city pays tipping fees to these companies, one of which is Waste Management. Since Waste Management has the ability to declare a recycling bin contaminated and potentially get paid by the city again to landfill those materials, the BGA has calculated that Waste Management could have made up to $1.5 million since 2013 just landfilling the Blue Carts it declared contaminated. That is in addition to the roughly $1.5 million it was paid through the Blue Cart contracts to service those same bins that it labeled contaminated. How much revenue specifically does Waste Management receive in landfill fees from carts it has already labeled as contaminated? How much revenue does Waste Management receive from carts it labels as contaminated that Waste Management then accepts at its landfills for a fee? What policies does Waste Management have in place to ensure that these dual financial incentives do not adversely affect either the taxpayers or the environment? Why shouldn’t taxpayers conclude that Waste Management is far more apt to label carts as contaminated precisely because of the company’s financial incentive to do so? 5. Other residents in Waste Management zones have complained that they have gone weeks or even months without any Blue Cart pick ups. How does Waste Management respond to these complaints? How does Waste Management determine the routes its drivers take? 6. What are Waste Management’s plans for the Blue Cart program going forward? Does it intend to bid on the contract again? https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612243266918677309&simpl=msg-f%3A1612243266918677309 1/2 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612243266918677309&simpl=msg-f%3A1612243266918677309 2/2 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Disbrow, Lisa To: Madison Hopkins Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 4:45 PM Madison, Below are our response to your final round of questions. You may attribute these answers from Carl Niemann, director of public sector solutions for Waste Management of Illinois. 1. According to city records, Waste Management declares Blue Carts contaminated at a rate significantly higher than city or SIMS/Lakeshore crews. This rate is adjusted to account for the number of Blue Carts in each zone. Why is this? What is the protocol the company gives to its drivers regarding how to determine if a bin is contaminated or not? As mentioned in our earlier comments, we believe in providing feedback through the tagging program to reduce the gross contamination at the curb. Our drivers are identifying carts with gross contamination. Contamination includes bagged recyclables which the City previously targeted as part of their “go bagless” campaign. 2. Since 2014, the first full year after the completed Blue Cart expansion, the number of carts that Waste Management tags as contaminated in each of its zones have greatly increased while the number of total carts has remained relatively stable. One zone’s contamination reports increased ten-fold. Was there a policy change within the company to direct its drivers to be more aggressive with labeling contaminated carts? If so, what is this policy change and why did it happen? If not, what is the reason for the large increase? Our contractual agreement with the City of Chicago requires Waste Management to implement a tagging program for rejecting grossly contaminated carts. Waste Management complied with this requirement and the City approved Waste Management’s tagging process. The service providers can tag for gross contamination per the City’s contract and have been doing so since the inception of the contract. City leaders met with their service providers and encouraged tagging carts to address the gross contamination in the carts. 3. The same dataset shows numerous records of residents complaining that their carts were inaccurately labeled as contaminated when they believe they only contained recyclable materials. How does Waste Management respond to these complaints? What has Waste Management done to review its employees’ contamination labeling practices to ensure the practice is being done appropriately? Service providers are provided limited information from the City’s 311 system. We are only notified of missed pick-ups and requests for additional carts. However, we have performed audits of the carts and provided this information to the City. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678&simpl=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678 1/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions 4. After a cart is labeled contaminated, the city sanitation crews pick up the materials with the regular garbage services and deliver them to transfer stations that have contracts with the city to accept the waste. The city pays tipping fees to these companies, one of which is Waste Management. Since Waste Management has the ability to declare a recycling bin contaminated and potentially get paid by the city again to landfill those materials, the BGA has calculated that Waste Management could have made up to $1.5 million since 2013 just landfilling the Blue Carts it declared contaminated. That is in addition to the roughly $1.5 million it was paid through the Blue Cart contracts to service those same bins that it labeled contaminated. How much revenue specifically does Waste Management receive in landfill fees from carts it has already labeled as contaminated? How much revenue does Waste Management receive from carts it labels as contaminated that Waste Management then accepts at its landfills for a fee? What policies does Waste Management have in place to ensure that these dual financial incentives do not adversely affect either the taxpayers or the environment? Why shouldn’t taxpayers conclude that Waste Management is far more apt to label carts as contaminated precisely because of the company’s financial incentive to do so? The City’s Streets and Sanitation collects the carts tagged as grossly contaminated and determine where the material is delivered. We have no knowledge or control where the City trash trucks deliver the material from the tagged carts. The City utilizes not only Waste Management but other service providers for trash disposal. 5. Other residents in Waste Management zones have complained that they have gone weeks or even months without any Blue Cart pick-ups. How does Waste Management respond to these complaints? How does Waste Management determine the routes its drivers take? The City grants the service providers with limited 311 access for missed pick-ups and requests for carts. We have not received any information of complaints of this nature outlined in your question. 6. What are Waste Management’s plans for the Blue Cart program going forward? Does it intend to bid on the contract again? We are under contract to provide blue cart collection service until the contract expires. The City of Chicago has not issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the blue cart collection at this time. We will review the RFP first before making a decision. From: Madison Hopkins Sent: Friday, September 21, 2018 1:36 PM To: Lisa Disbrow Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Interview - questions Hi Lisa, https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678&simpl=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678 2/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Below I have listed my questions for a subject matter expert within Waste Management. My deadline is Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. Please do not hesitate to call me or my editor with any questions. Thank you again for your work on this. Best, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 1. According to city records, Waste Management declares Blue Carts contaminated at a rate significantly higher than city or SIMS/Lakeshore crews. This rate is adjusted to account for the number of Blue Carts in each zone. Why is this? What is the protocol the company gives to its drivers regarding how to determine if a bin is contaminated or not? 2. Since 2014, the first full year after the completed Blue Cart expansion, the number of carts that Waste Management tags as contaminated in each of its zones have greatly increased while the number of total carts has remained relatively stable. One zone’s contamination reports increased ten-fold. Was there a policy change within the company to direct its drivers to be more aggressive with labeling contaminated carts? If so, what is this policy change and why did it happen? If not, what is the reason for the large increase? 3. The same dataset shows numerous records of residents complaining that their carts were inaccurately labeled as contaminated when they believe they only contained recyclable materials. How does Waste Management respond to these complaints? What has Waste Management done to review its employees’ contamination labeling practices to ensure the practice is being done appropriately? 4. After a cart is labeled contaminated, the city sanitation crews pick up the materials with the regular garbage services and deliver them to transfer stations that have contracts with the city to accept the waste. The city pays tipping fees to these companies, one of which is Waste Management. Since Waste Management has the ability to declare a recycling bin contaminated and potentially get paid by the city again to landfill those materials, the BGA has calculated that Waste Management could have made up to $1.5 million since 2013 just landfilling the Blue Carts it declared contaminated. That is in addition to the roughly $1.5 million it was paid through the Blue Cart contracts to service those same bins that it labeled contaminated. How much revenue specifically does Waste Management receive in landfill fees from carts it has already labeled as contaminated? How much revenue does Waste Management receive from carts it labels as contaminated that Waste Management then accepts at its landfills for a fee? What policies does Waste Management have in place to ensure that these dual financial incentives do not adversely affect either the taxpayers or the environment? Why shouldn’t taxpayers conclude that Waste Management is far more apt to label carts as contaminated precisely because of the company’s financial incentive to do so? 5. Other residents in Waste Management zones have complained that they have gone weeks or even months without any Blue Cart pick ups. How does Waste Management respond to these complaints? How does Waste Management determine the routes its drivers take? https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678&simpl=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678 3/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions 6. What are Waste Management’s plans for the Blue Cart program going forward? Does it intend to bid on the contract again? Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 On Sep 21, 2018, at 12:03 PM, Madison Hopkins wrote: Hi Lisa, As I mentioned, my editor’s name is David Kidwell. His cell phone number is (312) 912-3938. [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678&simpl=msg-f%3A1612617629308606678 4/4 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 5:19 PM Hi Lisa, Thank you for this response. I will review it with my editor and be in touch. Best, Madison [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612619694259509503&simpl=msg-f%3A1612619694259509503 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 2:37 PM Hi Lisa, Thank you again for the responses. We will likely publish them online along with our questions and your refusal to make a decision maker available to us for an interview. Just so we are clear, Mr. Niemann's responses do not adequately address several key components of our reporting. Among them: Why does Waste Management declare bins contaminated at a rate so much higher than the city and SIMS/LRS? Why has the number of contaminated carts tagged by Waste Management significantly increased in recent years? How can Waste Management ensure there is no financial incentive for the company to label recycling carts as contaminated? In addition, I would like to follow up on one more point. Our reporting has found a correlation between the dropping market price of recycled materials and spikes in the number of contamination stickers distributed by your company. Please explain why it is that your drivers find more contaminants in recycling bins at times when the price of recycled materials are at their lowest? I would also like to reiterated my earlier request for Waste Management to provide the revenue amounts it has received from Blue Cart materials. Sincerely, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1612700115497801649&simpl=msg-f%3A1612700115497801649 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Disbrow, Lisa To: Madison Hopkins Mon, Oct 1, 2018 at 10:33 AM Madison, We are okay with the publishing of all your questions and our answers. In regards to your request for an interview, we started this interview via email in July and then in September you asked for a sit-down interview within a set time period that we could not meet. I believe we have been more than accommodating with you. As the largest recycler of traditional recyclables in North America, we are heavily invested in recycling infrastructure and we want to see recycling continue to grow. We want recycling to be sustainable over the longterm which means that we have to address the gross contamination in the recycling stream in the City of Chicago’s blue cart program. Collecting trash in blue carts jeopardizes the entire recycling stream in our facilities by introducing additional contamination to be mixed with other recyclables at the facility. Contamination in the recycling stream is a big deal and we have been talking about this issue with our customer since the beginning of this contract. Independent researchers confirm that one of the most effective ways to drive change in recycling contamination, is to educate residents by tagging carts. In regards to the tagging policy, the service providers can tag for gross contamination per the City’s contract and we have been doing so since the inception of the contract. The City leaders have encouraged tagging carts to address the gross contamination and have approved our tagging program. As we are not familiar with the other service providers tagging policies, we are unable to offer an opinion on the different tagging percentages. The recycling commodity prices have been up and down over the years. We can’t control the global recycling market conditions, but we can reduce the contamination by educating customers on what’s recyclable and what’s not. Recycling contamination is not limited to the City of Chicago nor the Chicagoland area, it is a national issue for the recycling industry as these materials have to meet the specifications of a global market. Waste Management has taken the position to address contamination by proactively reaching out to our customers by working with them as partners to make recycling viable and sustainable through numerous efforts, including but not limited to tagging and educational outreach. The global markets are continuing to push for quality recyclables (i.e. less than .5% contamination in each bale or less than ten pounds in a 2000 pound bale imposed by China this year) which drives our efforts to reduce contamination in the carts. Have you talked with Resource Management or Lakeshore? They may be able to provide you with additional information on quality of the City’s recyclables and their residue rates from this community’s recycling. Lisa Disbrow Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613137716360694278&simpl=msg-f%3A1613137716360694278 1/2 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions From: Madison Hopkins Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2018 2:38 PM To: Disbrow, Lisa [Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613137716360694278&simpl=msg-f%3A1613137716360694278 2/2 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Mon, Oct 1, 2018 at 5:32 PM Hi Lisa, Just to clarify - if the issue with our request for a sit-down interview was just the time frame we gave, I’m happy to talk about finding a time that would work better. When would someone be available for an in-person interview? Thank you, Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114 [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613164080259174225&simpl=msg-f%3A1613164080259174225 1/1 10/4/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins Interview - questions Madison Hopkins To: "Disbrow, Lisa" Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 8:28 AM Hi Lisa, My editor and I would like to get on a phone call with you to go over the facts in our story and ask you a few remaining questions. Could we schedule that for sometime tomorrow? I don’t anticipate it taking longer than 30 minutes. Thank you, Madison Hopkins [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613401676918584545&simpl=msg-f%3A1613401676918584545 1/1 10/9/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins  Interview ­ questions  Madison Hopkins  To: "Disbrow, Lisa"  Mon, Oct 8, 2018 at 9:06 AM Hi Lisa,   Can my editor and I speak with you on the phone today? If so, what time?   We are planning on publishing Wednesday and would like to go over everything in it with you.    The story will focus heavily on Waste Management’s contamination practices, getting into many of the items we have been asking you about for the past few weeks.      Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312-873-1114     [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613766437494101850&simpl=msg-f%3A1613766437494101850 1/1 10/9/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins  Interview ­ questions  Disbrow, Lisa  To: Madison Hopkins  Mon, Oct 8, 2018 at 1:26 PM Hi Madison, On stories like this, we have found it to be much more accurate and fair to both sides to correspond via email.  Please send along any specific contentions, allegations you plan to make in the story that we haven’t already covered or you are not sure about. We’ll do our best to respond. Lisa   From: Madison Hopkins    Sent: Monday, October 08, 2018 9:07 AM [Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613782795351283918&simpl=msg-f%3A1613782795351283918 1/1 10/9/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - Interview - questions Madison Hopkins  Interview ­ questions  Madison Hopkins  To: "Disbrow, Lisa"  Mon, Oct 8, 2018 at 3:02 PM Hi Lisa,   Thank you for getting back to me.    I want to be clear that this story is about Waste Management’s profit motive to tag recycling carts as contaminated and landfill some of those same materials.    Waste Management is the only contractor for the blue cart program that also owns for­profit landfills and has a contract with the city to accept its garbage. This conflict has been brought up numerous times at Chicago City Council meetings, and city officials acknowledge that they have not investigated Waste Management’s tagging practices. Public records show the number of blue carts that Waste Management tags as contaminated have greatly increased during the past few years, while Lakeshore and city crews both decreased the number of carts they tagged. As of the beginning of this year, Waste Management tagged blue carts as contaminated more than 20 times more frequently then the other collection crews in the city.    Out of fairness to Waste Management, I want to make sure that you understand that we will state in the story that you all have not addressed the following points: ­Waste Management has a financial incentive to label bins contaminated. ­There has been a massive increase in the number of carts Waste Management labels contaminated during the past few years. ­Hundreds of Chicago residents have complained that Waste Management either inaccurately labeled their blue cart as contaminated when they shouldn’t have been, or said the company failed to service their blue carts for weeks or months on end.    We also will get into Waste Management’s controversial history in the story, including information about the failed blue bag program, federal allegations of financial fraud in the early 2000s, and the company’s alleged mob connections in the past.    If Waste Management would like to comment on any of these points, please respond by tomorrow at noon.    Thank you,   Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312­873­1114 [Quoted text hidden] https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613788851704731989&simpl=msg-f%3A1613788851704731989 1/1 10/9/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - RE: questions Madison Hopkins  RE: questions  Disbrow, Lisa  To: Madison Hopkins  Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 12:00 PM Madison ­    Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. is the only contractor with the City of Chicago that owns the recycling facility and collects the recyclables.   The overall premise of your story that we are purposely trying to divert materials to landfills is not true.  Recycling contamination is an undeniable trend across the country.  It is no different here in Chicago.   We are focused on not accepting trash or gross recycling contamination at our recycling facilities.  To ensure clarity, I have responded to your last round of questions.     Out of fairness to Waste Management, I want to make sure that you understand that we will state in the story that you all have not addressed the following points: ­Waste Management has a financial incentive to label bins contaminated. Our drivers label recycling bins as contaminated in order to prevent gross contamination (including bagged materials) from damaging our recycling processing equipment and degrading the quality of recyclables shipped from our recycling facilities.  As I stated previously, we have no knowledge or control where the City trash trucks deliver the waste material from the tagged carts.  It is my understanding that you have the entire breakdown of the City’s trash volumes delivered to all the transfer stations utilized by the City. The City’s trash delivered to WM’s transfer stations come from multiple service areas, including areas not serviced by WM for the blue cart program.   The City’s volumes delivered to our transfer stations do not correlate to the same areas we have tagged for recycling contamination.  ­There has been a massive increase in the number of carts Waste Management labels contaminated during the past few years. We have identified six percent of our service stops with contaminated carts out of 265,000 service stops this year.   Considering that the residue received in the City’s recycling stream shows levels exceeding 45% contamination rates, the six percent tagging rate actually appears low.  We have been transparent with the Department of Streets & Sanitation regarding the quality of materials collected as well as our tagging efforts.    ­Hundreds of Chicago residents have complained that Waste Management either inaccurately labeled their blue cart as contaminated when they shouldn’t have been, or said the company failed to service their blue carts for weeks or months on end.  I’m not sure where you are receiving this information.  We only receive information from calls recorded into the 311 system and take immediate action to immediately address any requests or complaints received from the City.     From: Madison Hopkins    Sent: Monday, October 08, 2018 3:03 PM  To: Disbrow, Lisa   Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Re: Interview ­ questions   Hi Lisa,   Thank you for getting back to me.    I want to be clear that this story is about Waste Management’s profit motive to tag recycling carts as contaminated and landfill some of those same materials.    Waste Management is the only contractor for the blue cart program that also owns for­profit landfills and has a contract with the city to accept its garbage. This conflict has been brought up numerous times at Chicago City Council meetings, and city officials acknowledge that they have not investigated Waste Management’s tagging practices. Public records show the number of blue carts that Waste Management tags as contaminated have greatly increased during the past few years, while Lakeshore and city crews both decreased the number of carts they tagged. As of the beginning of this year, Waste Management tagged blue carts as contaminated more than 20 times more frequently than the other collection crews in the city.    https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613867977384232195&simpl=msg-f%3A1613867977384232195 1/13 10/9/2018 Bettergov.org Mail - RE: questions Out of fairness to Waste Management, I want to make sure that you understand that we will state in the story that you all have not addressed the following points: ­Waste Management has a financial incentive to label bins contaminated. ­There has been a massive increase in the number of carts Waste Management labels contaminated during the past few years. ­Hundreds of Chicago residents have complained that Waste Management either inaccurately labeled their blue cart as contaminated when they shouldn’t have been, or said the company failed to service their blue carts for weeks or months on end.    We also will get into Waste Management’s controversial history in the story, including information about the failed blue bag program, federal allegations of financial fraud in the early 2000s, and the company’s alleged mob connections in the past.    If Waste Management would like to comment on any of these points, please respond by tomorrow at noon.    Thank you,   Madison Hopkins Investigator Better Government Association 312­873­1114   On Oct 8, 2018, at 1:26 PM, Disbrow, Lisa  wrote:   Hi Madison,  On stories like this, we have found it to be much more accurate and fair to both sides to correspond via email.  Please send along any specific contentions, allegations you plan to make in the story that we haven’t already covered or you are not sure about. We’ll do our best to respond. Lisa   From: Madison Hopkins    Sent: Monday, October 08, 2018 9:07 AM  To: Disbrow, Lisa   Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Interview ­ questions   Hi Lisa,   Can my editor and I speak with you on the phone today? If so, what time?   We are planning on publishing Wednesday and would like to go over everything in it with you.    The story will focus heavily on Waste Management’s contamination practices, getting into many of the items we have been asking you about for the past few weeks.      Madison Hopkins Investigator https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=500f63b650&view=pt&search=all&permmsgid=msg-f%3A1613867977384232195&simpl=msg-f%3A1613867977384232195 2/13