Waste Management, which stars in tonight’s AMC cable TV debut of “The Pitch,” is target of a guerrilla marketing effort launched by a Madison, Wis.-based sustainable waste policy consultant, who charges the nation’s leading private sector trash collector is seeking to overturn composting measures.

wmThe company is aware of the effort and considers it “misguided.” A spokesperson said WM lobbied as a member of a broad coalition to amend, not kill, compost measures in Florida and Georgia. It pushed for a “holistic approach” to the laws, fearing that the rules on the books would divert half of the compost to illegal dump sites.

Peter Anderson, president of Recycle Worlds Consulting, dismisses WM’s claim as the country’s leader in transforming waste into higher value products such as recycling and renewable energy as “greenwashing.”

Anderson said his video and the www.rethinkgreenwashing.org site is tied as a “hook” to the publicity generated by the AMC reality show, featuring two ad agencies competing for the WM business.

The Houston-based firm, according to chief marketing officer Dave Aardsma, “participated in the show because it gives us the ability to teach people more about our brand than a traditional advertising campaign.”

WM considers The Pitch a “great way to explain how we help our customers extract the most value from all the materials that we handle,” according to its March 29 release.

WM also worked with The Pitch producers on “Undercover Boss” and “Project Runway.”