Waste Management Forges Agreement to Explore Making Sugar from Waste (with video)

Waste Management Inc. and Renmatix Inc. has formed an agreement to explore converting waste to sugar for bio-based materials.

Renmatix, based in King of Prussia, Pa., makes bio-based sugar intermediates for global chemical fuel markets. Houston-based Waste Management said in a news release that through the joint development agreement the two companies aim to expand the feedstock choices of Renmatix's Plantrose process to include urban waste material, beyond the existing rural biomass.

Renmatix will explore using multiple waste streams collected and processed by Waste Management, including source-separated recyclables, food scraps, construction and demolition (C&D) debris, and pulp and paper waste. The aim is to determine how these materials can be reduced to sugar and converted into the production of renewable chemicals and fuels.

"This collaboration is a continuation of our commitment to extract the value we see in waste and convert it into valuable resources," said William Caesar, president of Waste Management Recycling Services. "We are working with Renmatix to further scale its technology, which has quickly emerged as the lowest-cost conversion method for producing the bio-based sugar intermediates demanded by global markets."