WM provides environmental services to nearly 21 million residential, industrial, municipal and commercial customers in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Combined with its largest competitor Republic Services, Inc., the two handle more than half of all garbage collection in the United States.

[5] In 1968, Harm's grandson Wayne Huizenga, Dean Buntrock, and Larry Beck founded Waste Management, Inc. and began aggressively purchasing many of the smaller garbage collection services across the country.

On October 13, 2008, Waste Management withdrew its bid for Republic Services, citing financial market turmoil.

[12] In February 2022, Waste Management CEO Jim Fish announced that the company would officially shorten its trade name to "WM" as part of a rebranding to emphasize its growing focus on sustainability and environmental services, including compressed natural gas and landfill gas utilization.

Stericycle is a medical waste and paper shredding company based in Illinois, with the deal anticipated to close in Q4 2024.

In 1995, the case, In re Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc. Shareholders Litigation, came before the Court of Chancery of Delaware on an appeal regarding the Board's motion for summary judgment.

Waste Management's shareholders lost more than $6 billion in the market value of their investments when the stock price plummeted by more than 33%.

Waste Management sued SAP for the US$100 million to recover the funds it had spent on the failed ERP implementation.

The suit concluded in 2010 under confidential terms and a one time payment from SAP to Waste Management disclosed to the SEC.

The lockout lasted a little less than a month and put 900 members of the Teamsters, ILWU, and Machinists Union on picket lines and raised concerns over sanitary impact on the affected communities.

As a member of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), Waste Management made a commitment during the pilot phase to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by four percent below the average of its 1998–2001 baseline by 2006.

Waste Management has said that the plant, announced in April 2008, and built and operated by The Linde Group with state funding, is the world's largest facility to convert landfill gas into vehicle fuel.

The settlement was announced on May 2, 2011 by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Attorney General Martha Coakley's office.

[45] On August 3, 1999, the company would have to restate first-quarter results downward, partly because of changes in the value of landfills and other assets in connection with its acquisition last year of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc.[46]