While working in China for the Kentucky state government earlier in his career, Morris was shocked by the incredible amount of waste that he saw being produced, and by the lack of an environmentally responsible ways to deal it. Upon his return to the US, he reconnected with Spiegel, whose family had been in the waste and recycling business for more than a century, and questioned if there was a better, more sustainable way to deal with the global waste problem. Together they got to work, Morris maxed out his personal credit cards, and even sold items on eBay to fund initial expenses. They came-up with the name Rubicon, a reference to the idiom “Crossing the Rubicon,” which means to pass a point of no return and refers to Julius Caesar’s army crossing the Rubicon River in 49 BC. With this humble start, but grand ambition, Rubicon was born.

Today, Rubicon Global has become the worldwide leader in providing cloud-based waste and recycling solutions for customers in business, government and the nonprofit sectors. With over 1,000,000 service locations worldwide, the company has always remained focused on developing cutting-edge technology products that bring transparency to the waste and recycling industry,

encourage customers to make data-driven decisions that lead to more efficient and effective operations, and drive more sustainable outcomes. For Rubicon, it’s all about using tech to drive savings, find efficiency, and promote sustainability.

With its headquarters in Atlanta, core teams in New York City and San Francisco, and an extensive, network of over 5,000 independent haulers, Rubicon can manage all waste and recycling services. Programs include cardboard (OCC), plastic, paper, metal, glass, electronics recycling (e-cycling), construction and demolition (C&D), organics recycling (food waste, wood waste, etc.) and single stream recycling solutions (SSR). In addition, our subject matter experts manage commodity markets, zero waste programs and other sustainability offerings across our portfolio. And most recently, Rubicon has developed a cutting-edge smart city solution - RUBICONSmartCity - that helps municipal governments improve their waste and recycling operations while transforming their fleets into roaming data centers that can help improve quality of life and deliver better government services through data analytics.