Waste Management, Inc. (WM) Business Profile

What it does

Waste Management, Inc. collects and manages waste for households, businesses, governments and healthcare customers. Its local operations pick up waste and recyclables, move them through transfer stations, and take them to landfills or processing facilities. The parent is a holding company; its subsidiaries conduct the operations.

The company also sorts and sells recyclable materials, including paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal. At landfills, it captures gas produced as waste decomposes and converts it into electricity or renewable natural gas. Some of that gas fuels its natural gas vehicle fleet.

Through Stericycle, its Healthcare Solutions business collects and treats regulated waste, including medical and pharmaceutical waste. It also destroys confidential information and sells the resulting shredded paper for recycling. These services include recurring collections as well as work performed when customers need it.

Waste Management was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Houston. James C. Fish Jr. is chief executive officer; the company has announced that John Morris will succeed him when Fish retires in early January 2027. Waste Management’s solid waste and recycling services operate across the United States and Canada, while Healthcare Solutions also serves customers in Western Europe.

How it makes money

Waste Management reports five segments: East and West collection and disposal, Recycling Processing and Sales, Renewable Energy, and Healthcare Solutions. Collection and disposal revenue comes mainly from fees for picking up, transferring and disposing of waste.

Commercial and industrial collection agreements typically run for three years. Prices reflect factors such as pickup frequency, the equipment supplied, waste volume, distance to disposal and labor and fuel costs. Residential services are often provided under municipal or other local contracts or franchises, typically for three to ten years, although households can also subscribe directly. Municipalities or residents pay the fees.

Landfills and transfer stations charge fees based in part on the type and weight or volume of waste. Waste Management also sends waste collected by its own trucks to facilities it owns or operates. This practice, called internalization, lets it retain fees that would otherwise go to other disposal providers.

Recycling revenue includes processing fees and sales of recovered materials. Under its fee-for-service model, the company may charge a processing fee when commodity prices do not cover costs or pay customers a rebate when prices exceed processing costs. Its renewable energy business sells landfill gas, electricity and environmental credits. Healthcare Solutions charges contracted rates for scheduled or as-needed waste and information destruction services, with fees that can depend on the material and volume handled.

In the third quarter of 2026, revenue grew 6.3% year over year. Healthcare Solutions revenue rose year over year for the first time since the acquisition.

Customers and how it sells

Waste Management serves residential, commercial and industrial customers, municipalities and healthcare organizations. Its local subsidiaries provide collection and disposal services, while a strategic accounts program coordinates service, reporting and billing for customers with locations across the United States and Canada. During 2025, its largest customer represented less than 5% of annual revenues.

Residential customers can receive service through contracts with municipalities, homeowners’ associations or other authorities, or through subscriptions directly with the company. Businesses generally arrange collection through service agreements. Other waste haulers also use Waste Management’s landfills and transfer stations.

The East collection and disposal tier covers the eastern United States, the Great Lakes region and substantially all of Canada. The West tier covers the western, southern and central United States, the upper Midwest and British Columbia. Recycling materials are processed and sold to manufacturers, generally within North America, while the company also markets recycling commodities globally.

Healthcare Solutions provides regulated waste services in the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Its secure information destruction services reach customers in those countries and several other Western European countries.

Suppliers and costs

Waste Management’s operating costs include labor, fuel, trucks and equipment, as well as the construction, operation and eventual closure of disposal facilities. It also incurs costs to comply with environmental, transportation, health and safety requirements. The company buys some equipment and other materials from outside the United States, including equipment used in its recycling and renewable energy investments.

Recyclable material comes from the company’s collection operations and third parties. Processing arrangements can involve a charge to the material supplier or a rebate, depending on commodity prices and contract terms. Waste Management has been moving customers toward arrangements designed to cover processing costs before sharing commodity-sale proceeds.

The company uses its own transfer stations and landfills to handle some of the waste its trucks collect, reducing fees paid to third parties. It also invests in automation at recycling facilities and in residential collection to improve productivity and reduce labor dependency.

Waste Management expects increased landfill operating costs to persist. In California, new legislation will require enhanced monitoring and other measures.

Competitive position

Waste Management competes with national waste companies, regional and local providers, and counties and municipalities that operate their own collection and disposal services. It also faces specialists in particular waste streams, alternative disposal operators, renewable energy developers and waste brokers. Competition is based on price, service quality and the breadth of services offered. Waste Management names no individual competitors.

As of December 31, 2025, the company owned or operated 253 solid waste landfills and four hazardous waste landfills. It also operated 342 transfer stations, where waste is consolidated and transported to disposal sites. Other haulers can use these facilities as well as the company’s own collection operations.

Our reading: The landfill network is a substantial competitive advantage because disposal access is necessary for haulers and developing landfills requires significant capital and permits. Permitting restrictions also make it harder for Waste Management itself to add capacity.

Our reading: Connecting collection routes with transfer stations and landfills is another meaningful advantage: it lets the company retain disposal fees and move consolidated loads, although it still competes locally on price and service.

Our reading: The range of recycling, energy and healthcare services gives customers more ways to work with Waste Management, but the evidence does not establish how difficult those offerings are for competitors to replicate.

Growth opportunities

Waste Management is investing in recycling facilities and automation to increase processing capacity, improve labor productivity and respond to changing demand for recovered materials. It is also expanding renewable energy projects that turn landfill gas into electricity or pipeline-quality renewable natural gas. The company opened eight new recycling facilities equipped with advanced technology in the United States and Canada during 2025.

In the third quarter of 2026, Waste Management brought a renewable natural gas facility online in New York, its 18th completed since 2022. The company expects another plant to come online in the fourth quarter and the last one in early 2027. Startup activity and pipeline issues contributed to a renewable natural gas production shortfall in the third quarter.

Healthcare Solutions adds medical waste, compliance and secure information destruction services. Waste Management is applying routing technology, robotics and pricing tools to that business. The company says trends in medical waste and secure document volumes are improving, although it has not specified when they will turn positive.

Acquisitions remain another part of the strategy. Waste Management completed $239 million of deals in the first nine months of 2026 and expected to close another $140 million in the fourth quarter. It also signed a $250 million transaction expected to close early in 2027.

Structural risks

• Environmental requirements affect how facilities are built, operated and closed. Landfill closure and remediation spending could exceed estimates, while emerging PFAS requirements have increased operating costs and could add testing, remediation and litigation expenses.
• Permits for landfills and other facilities can take years to obtain and face community opposition or land scarcity. Failure to secure permits or expand capacity could require alternative disposal arrangements and increase costs.
• Recycling and renewable energy results depend on commodity prices, demand and regulatory programs. Investments in those businesses can also face equipment, technology, permitting and financing delays.
• Healthcare Solutions faces customer losses, billing or service issues, regulatory changes and integration costs. Waste Management may not realize the revenue growth or cost synergies anticipated from Stericycle.
• Labor shortages, higher wages or work stoppages can raise costs and disrupt service. Waste Management also faces competition for drivers, technicians and technology employees.
• Waste handling and transportation involve accidents, equipment failures, fires and potential exposure to hazardous or infectious materials. Incidents can lead to injuries, facility shutdowns, environmental liabilities and higher costs.

Bottom line

Our reading

Waste Management combines recurring collection contracts with disposal infrastructure that can serve both its own routes and other haulers. Our reading: That network supports the business, while recycling, renewable energy and healthcare give it additional ways to earn revenue. The trade-off is exposure to landfill regulation and long-term closure obligations, commodity prices and the execution of capital projects and the Stericycle integration.