Businessweek

Waste Management, Inc. provides waste management services in North America, including collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers. The company also develops, operates, and owns waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company owns or operates 269 landfill sites. The company’s subsidiary, Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc., also uses waste to create energy by operating 22 waste combustion plants that produce clean, renewable energy. The company is a primary recycler in North America, handling materials that include paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, metal, and electronics. It provides sound recycling programs for municipalities, businesses, and households across the U.S. and Canada. In addition to traditional waste operations, the company is expanding to increase the service offerings it provides for its customers. Operations The company’s operations of its local subsidiaries are primarily organized under its Eastern, Midwest, Southern, Western, and Wheelabrator operating groups. Its Wheelabrator business manages waste-to-energy facilities and independent power production plants (IPPs). The company also provides additional services that are not managed through its Solid Waste or Wheelabrator businesses. The company’s services include collection, landfill (solid and hazardous waste landfills), transfer, operation of waste-to-energy facilities and IPPs, recycling and resource recovery, and other services. Collection Collection involves picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility (MRF), or disposal site. The company provides collection services under one of two types of arrangements, including for commercial and industrial collection services, and various residential collection services. For commercial and industrial collection services, the company has a three-year service agreement. The company provides steel containers to various customers to store their solid waste between pick-up dates. For various residential collection services, the company has a contract with, or a franchise granted by, a municipality, homeowners’ association, or some other regional authority that gives it the right to service all or a portion of the homes in an area. These contracts or franchises are for periods of three to six years. The company also provides services under individual monthly subscriptions directly to households. Landfill Landfills are the primary depositories for solid waste in North America. As of December 31, 2012, the company owned or operated 264 solid waste landfills, which represents the major network of landfills in North America. The operation and closure activities of a solid waste landfill include excavation, construction of liners, spreading and compacting of waste, covering of waste with earth or other acceptable material, and constructing final capping of the landfill. The company also operates five secure hazardous waste landfills in the United States. Its hazardous waste landfills are sited, constructed, and operated in a manner designed to provide long-term containment of waste. Transfer As of December 31, 2012, the company owned or operated 297 transfer stations in North America. It deposits waste at these stations, as do other waste haulers. As of December 31, 2012, its medical waste services business also had 13 smaller transfer operations (separate from its 10 processing facilities, and some of which are located at other existing company facilities) that are permitted to consolidate regulated medical waste collections for disposal. Wheelabrator As of December 31, 2012, the company owned or operated 17 waste-to-energy facilities and 5 IPPs, which are located in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, and Florida, California, and Washington. Its waste-to-energy facilities were capable of processing approximately 22,300 tons of solid waste each day. In 2012, the company’s waste-to-energy facilities received and processed 8 million tons of solid waste, or appr