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Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) is a provider of integrated waste services in North America. Through its subsidiaries the Company provides collection, transfer, recycling, disposal and waste-to-energy services. WMI’s customers include commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers, other waste management companies, electric utilities and governmental entities. The Company operates in six operating groups, of which four are organized by geographic area and two are organized by function. The geographic groups include WMI’s Eastern, Midwest, Southern and Western Groups, and the two functional groups are its Wheelabrator Group and WM Recycle America (WMRA) Group. The Company also provides additional waste management services that are not managed through its six Groups. These services include in-plant services, methane gas recovery and third-party sub-contracted and administrative services. In January 2010, the Company announced that it has acquired City Wide Recycling LLC.

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Business Divisions

Waste Management's income is derived primarily through contracts with various governments and municipalities. As such, the company does not receive payment for each specific service such as garbage collection, landfill storage, and recycling; The company is paid on a contract basis for completing the services promised.

Garbage Collection

Waste Management's fleet of 24,000 collection and transfer vehicles is the largest in the industry and collects 83 million tons of solid waste annually through 379 collection operations. The company also operates 342 transfer stations in strategic locations, which are intermediate stations where trash is compacted and sent to one of WMI's many landfills.

Landfills

Waste Management runs the largest network of landfills in the industry, with 128 million tons of waste disposed annually in 283 active landfills. Landfills do not serve only as spaces for storing garbage, however. They also serve as a source of renewable energy. The methane generated from decomposition can be used for generating electricity or sold to industrial customers. WMI already has more than 100 methane projects currently operating, and expects 10 to be opened in 2007. Furthermore, some of the collected waste is also burned to created electrical or steam energy (to the tune of 650 megawatts, or the equivalent of 7.6 million barrels of oil), which is enough to power 700,000 homes annually. This trash-burning division is known as Wheelabrator Technologies. Finally, 17,000 acres of protected wildlife habitat have been created from WMI landfills, with 24 landfill sites certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council.

Recycling

In North America, WMI is also the single largest provider of recycling services, with 116 facilities in the United States and Canada. In 2006, the company recycled over 5.5 million tons of waste, including 32,000 tons of aluminum , 57,000 tons of prices cans, and 2.4 million tons of paper. The total amount of waste recycled in 2006 saves a tremendous amount of energy, enough to power 833,000 households. Waste Management was the first major solid waste company to use the single-stream recycling method for residential areas. This system boosts recycling participation because it permits the mixing of paper, plastic, metals, and glass in one container, essentially putting the burden of sorting on WMI's advancing sorting equipment instead of residential customers. In the company's 30 single-stream facilities, 2006 saw a 33% increase in volume of recyclables processed over 2005.