Waste Management is a complex industry, one which has had to adopt many environmental regulations since the 1970s. At one point, the United States did not differentiate between discarded materials, allowing all varieties of waste to be transported to local dumps. Environmental concerns specifically air and water contamination concerns prompted significant industry regulation by the EPA. The most significant differentiation was between municipal solid waste and hazardous waste. Distinct management requirements exist for different types of waste.

Due to the various waste disposal methods, specialized waste management firms profited from engaging in these niche trades. Revenues are largely driven by periodic contracts with municipalities, commercial clients, and other types of clients. Collectively, all segments of waste management and remediation services billed approximately $40 Billion during 2008.

Recently many municipalities have opted to privatize their waste management efforts. Businesses engaged in municipal refuse administration gather the waste from curbside locations or collect already filled dumpsters and transport the material to landfills. Technological advances, such as computerized routing equipment and improved sorting machines used by recyclers have positively affected this industry.

A lingering concern over available landfill space has arisen from public unwillingness to permit new landfills. In turn, many municipalities, as well as the federal government, encourage recycling efforts. The role of long-haul transfer stations is expected to increase into the future, as trash will likely be exported to remote locations.

Acquisition activity is expected to continue in the waste management business, however the scope of future mergers is likely to diminish as companies focus on integrating acquired businesses, generating internal growth and reducing various costs.

The landfill and private waste management industry in the United States is comprised of over 10,000 companies with a combined $50 billion in annual revenue. The industry is highly fragmented aside from the largest three companies which account for over half of the industry revenue. Those three companies are Waste Management, Allied Waste Industries and Republic Services.

The major services in the industry are collection, waste treatment and disposal, remediation and recycling. Waste collection accounts for well over half of the industry operations. Smaller companies within the industry will generally specialize in only one of the operations while larger companies are vertically integrated and able to cover all functions.

While most companies in the industry deal only with non-hazardous and solid waste, some will handle liquid and hazardous, low-level radioactive material as well.

Trash and other waste is usually collected from commercial sites using small steel containers that are dumped into collection trucks. Back-end loaded trucks are generally used for waste collection from residential sites.