Waste Management vs Dow Chemical: Who's the Best?

Background: This is a first round, Central Regional match-up between #7 seed Waste Management and #10 seed Dow Chemical in the 2011 Transformative Technologies tourney, from Biofuels Digest.

Voting: Open to all Biofuels Digest subscribers. Voting links are in the Biofuels Digest daily newsletter. To subscribe (free), visit here.

The winner gets: Most votes advances to the second-round (round of 32), and a shot at the Biofuels Sweet Sixteen.

The loser: Goes home.

Laurels: WM is the 42nd ranked company in the 2010-11 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy poll. Dow is currently #16 in the 30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals.

The match-up: The battle of two giants pivoting towards renewables – once, to add value to its waste feedstocks, the other, to add value to its proprietary technologies and provide product for its customer base. Dow has been working with Algenol on its algae-to-ethanol technology, as well as investing in OPX Bio. WM has invested in Terrabon, Harvest, Enerkem, S4 and others as it attempts to unlock  hidden value in its waste material streams.