Waste Management - GI Industries - Keeping Our Communities Clean

Waste Management, combined with its wholly owned subsidiary Recycle America (WMRA), is North America’s largest recycler, recycling enough paper last year to save more than 41 million trees.

By recycling more than 57,000 tons of steel cans, WM reduces greenhouse gasses equivalent to taking more than 21,000 cars off the road each year.

Waste Management’s landfills provide more than 17,000 acres of protected habitat for wildlife, and 15 are certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council.

By processing 21 million pounds of e-scrap, WM keeps 313,000 monitors/TVs and 175,000 CPU hard drives from being disposed in landfills.

Meet Marisa Lara

A life-long resident of Simi Valley (and a proud graduate of Royal High School), Marisa Lara has been with the company since January 2005. She is in charge of the scalehouse operations at the landfill and oversees three cashiers. Her team is responsible for managing loads coming to the site including weighing the loads and checking for hazardous waste items (such as electronics). The biggest component of her job is customer service and ensuring that the scalehouse line keeps moving.

“We have three scales at the landfill so things can get hectic, but I really enjoy working with my customers the most,” she says. “Dealing with a wide variety of people has also helped me to become more assertive and that’s something I try to teach other female employees.”

It turns out that working at WM is a family affair. Lara has two uncles and a cousin who are all drivers at G.I. Industries. And while her dad recently moved to Tucson, he is still employed by Waste Management.

In addition to her job, Lara is also busy planning for her upcoming wedding and will be going back to Moorpark College after the wedding to take some business classes. “I really enjoy working with numbers and math. That’s probably why I like my job at Waste Management so much,” she explained. “I’m constantly learning though – both at my job and through Moorpark College – and I hope that never changes.”

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