Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. | A Waste Management Company

LISBON, Conn. June 26, 2003 - The federal government today recognized the Wheelabrator Lisbon waste-to-energy facility as among the safest industrial plants in the United States. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) awarded the Wheelabrator facility with its elite Star certification, recognizing the facility with its top award for health and safety excellence.

"This is a remarkable and well-earned achievement for the people here at Wheelabrator Lisbon and recognition for the safety efforts of Wheelabrator employees across the country," said Wheelabrator president J. Drennan Lowell. "Protecting our people and providing a safe operating environment is a critically important concern for us. We are proud of our Lisbon employees and this plant. The OSHA Star certification represents another step forward in Wheelabrator's mission to have each of its plants reach this high level of safety excellence."

To qualify, the plants met rigorous OSHA safety and health management criteria, which focus on comprehensive management systems and active employee involvement to prevent or control worksite safety and health hazards.

Today's honor places Wheelabrator Lisbon as one of only 953 VPP Star certified facilities out of the more than 6.5 million U.S. worksites eligible to earn Star status. Only 15 Star certifications have been awarded in the industrial category to which the Wheelabrator Lisbon facility belongs.

John O'Rourke, manager of the Lisbon facility, commended his employees on reaching the safety milestone. "This is the ultimate goal of every plant in every industry. We've raised the bar on staying safe and it was all voluntary," O'Rourke said. "Workers at our Lisbon Plant have gone home safely without a single lost workday accident for more than two years now." "Our employees haven't even had a reportable injury in over a year! That's a remarkable achievement."

Wheelabrator operates 16 waste-to-energy facilities and seven independent power plants across the United States. Four Wheelabrator projects previously received VPP Star certifications. They include Wheelabrator's Frackville, PA waste coal-fired independent power plant in 1996, the Concord, NH waste-to-energy plant in 2002, and the North and South Broward County, FL waste-to-energy plants in 2003.

Wheelabrator Lisbon is a 500 ton-per-day municipal-waste-to-energy facility opened in 1996 to serve the disposal needs of communities throughout eastern Connecticut. The plant converts the trash into enough clean energy to supply the electricity needs of 12,000 homes. Wheelabrator Lisbon is owned and operated by Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. (www.wheelabratortechnologies.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc.

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