Collection

Waste Management's reputation for outstanding collection operations stems from our ability to maximize productivity through efficient routing, optimal pricing, and improved labor utilization. Most of the waste we collect is directed to our own landfills. We continually work to improve our operations by developing new commercial and industrial customers in areas surrounding our residential collection markets.

We provide steel containers, ranging in size from one to 42 cubic yards, to most of our commercial and industrial customers. The containers for commercial customers are designed for mechanically emptying the waste into a collection truck. The industrial customers' containers are usually emptied directly into a disposal site. Several factors determine the fees for commercial and industrial customers: collection frequency, type of collections equipment furnished by Waste Management, volume or weight of the waste collected, distance to the disposal facility and cost of disposal.

Residential solid waste collection services are performed for municipalities, regional authorities and single subscription customers across North America. Currently, we service approximately 19 million residential customers, representing roughly 30 percent of our total collection revenue.

In many markets, our services also include the collection of recyclable materials from residential, commercial, and industrial customers.