Waste Management, Inc.

What does Waste Management own?
WM owns the largest network of landfills, transfer stations, collection routes, and recycling facilities in North America, plus landfill gas-to-energy plants and the Stericycle healthcare waste business acquired in 2024.

Is Waste Management publicly traded?
Yes. Waste Management, Inc. trades on the NYSE under ticker WM and is a component of the S&P 500.

Who founded Waste Management?
Wayne Huizenga and Dean Buntrock built the company in 1968 by consolidating independent waste hauling businesses in the Chicago area. In 1998 USA Waste Services acquired the company and kept the Waste Management name.

Who is the CEO of Waste Management?
Jim Fish has been CEO since November 2016. He retires on January 4, 2027, when President John Morris becomes CEO and joins the board of directors.

What is Waste Management's revenue?
Waste Management reported FY2025 revenue of $25.2 billion, up from $22.1 billion in 2024. Net income was $2.7 billion and adjusted operating EBITDA reached a record $7.58 billion.

Why did Waste Management change its name to WM?
The company rebranded to WM in 2022 to reflect a broader environmental solutions strategy covering recycling, renewable energy, and healthcare waste, rather than waste collection and disposal alone.

How many people does Waste Management employ?
Approximately 60,500 full-time employees as of December 31, 2025, including about 53,600 in the United States and 6,900 outside the country, primarily in Canada.

The company traces to the late 1960s, when Wayne Huizenga and Dean Buntrock began consolidating independent garbage hauling businesses in the Chicago area. Waste Management, Inc. was formed in 1968 and grew rapidly through acquisition, becoming the largest waste hauler in the United States through the 1970s and 1980s and expanding internationally.

The company acquired Wheelabrator Technologies in 1988, adding waste-to-energy plants. Its trajectory changed in 1998, when USA Waste Services acquired Waste Management and adopted the larger company's name, moving headquarters to Houston. The combined business soon disclosed that pre-merger Waste Management had materially overstated earnings from 1992 through 1997, producing one of the largest accounting scandals of the era and a shareholder settlement of roughly $457 million.

Under new leadership, the company rebuilt through the 2000s, divesting non-core businesses and concentrating on its North American solid waste network. David Steiner and later Jim Fish pushed technology investment, automation, and pricing discipline. The company acquired rival Advanced Disposal in October 2020 for approximately $4.6 billion.

In 2022 the company rebranded from Waste Management to WM, with new logos and a shift in positioning toward comprehensive environmental solutions. In November 2024 it completed its largest acquisition in decades, buying Stericycle for approximately $7.2 billion and forming the WM Healthcare Solutions segment.

FY2025 delivered record revenue and the company's best adjusted operating EBITDA margin on record. In October 2026 the company announced that Fish would retire on January 4, 2027 after a decade as CEO, with President John Morris succeeding him.

WM's business model sits at the center of the circular economy debate. The company is the largest recycler in North America by volume handled and a leading operator of landfill gas-to-energy plants. Its sustainability strategy pairs $1.6 billion in recycling infrastructure investment through 2026 with continued RNG development.

Landfill gas capture is a dual-edged position: landfills are a major methane source, but WM's RNG program turns captured gas into fleet fuel and pipeline-grade energy. The company also runs one of the largest natural gas truck fleets in North America.

Criticism centers on the inherent tension in the model: WM profits from landfilling volumes while marketing itself as an environmental solutions company. Environmental groups press for faster diversion from disposal to recycling and organics processing.

• Fortune 500: Waste Management consistently ranks among the largest US companies by revenue.
• Best adjusted EBITDA margin: FY2025 produced the company's best-ever adjusted operating EBITDA margin of 30.1%.

1990s accounting scandal: Pre-merger Waste Management overstated earnings by approximately $1.7 billion from 1992 through 1997, one of the largest corporate accounting scandals of its era. The company restated results, settled SEC charges, and paid roughly $457 million in a shareholder settlement after the 1998 USA Waste merger.

Stericycle integration problems: Integration of Stericycle produced ERP system disruptions, billing issues, and customer churn through 2025 before performance stabilized in 2026.

Labor and environmental scrutiny: As the industry's largest landfill operator, WM faces ongoing scrutiny over landfill emissions, community impacts, and labor relations, including periodic Teamsters organizing and contract disputes across its roughly 9,200 unionized employees.