The Founding Sponsors of the Center for Sustainable Use of Resources are the Waste Management Charitable Foundation  of Waste Management Inc.  and the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University.

Waste Management, Inc. (www.wm.com) is a provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. Aside from its traditional activities in collecting, transferring and land-filling non-recycled waste, WMI processes eight million tons of recyclable materials each year. Its network of operations includes 16 waste-to-energy plants that provide the grid with more than 650 megawatts of electricity, 108 landfill gas projects, and six independent power plants.

 The Earth Engineering Center (www.columbia.edu/cu/earth) was founded in 1995 and is the engineering unit of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Its mission is to develop technologies that can help in the sustainable development of the Earth's resources: Minerals, energy, water, and the environment.  In 1997, the Center was instrumental in the transformation of Columbia's famous School of Mines, the first of its kind in the U.S., to the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering  (www.eee.columbia.edu).