that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . september 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message waste management inc. type public traded as nyse wm s & p 500 component industry waste management founded january 1 1971 ; 45 years ago 1971 01 01 1 chicago illinois u.s. founder wayne huizenga & dean buntrock headquarters first city tower houston texas united states area served north america key people sean holmes ceo james c. fish cfo products bagster pack rat services waste recyclables yard debris and hazardous materials collection hauling treatment and disposal dumpster rental portable toilet rental security services revenue us 14 billion 2015 2 operating income us 2.116 billion 2013 2 net income us 953 million 2013 2 total assets us 21.41 billion 2015 2 total equity us 6.591 billion 2013 2 number of employees 43 000 2015 3 subsidiaries wheelabrator technologies inc. website www.wm.com first city tower which has the headquarters of waste management a waste management trash collection truck in toronto ontario . play media video clip of waste management trash removal operation ypsilanti twp . mi a waste management rolloff container in durham north carolina . waste management inc. is an american waste management comprehensive waste and environmental services company in north america . founded in 1971 the company is headquartered in the first city tower in houston texas . 4 the company s network includes 367 collection operations 346 transfer stations 293 active landfill disposal sites 16 waste to energy plants 146 recycling plants 111 beneficial use landfill gas projects and six independent power production plants . waste management offers environmental services to nearly 27 million residential industrial municipal and commercial customers in the united states canada and puerto rico . with 26 000 collection and transfer vehicles the company has the largest trucking fleet in the waste industry . citation needed together with its competitor republic services inc the two handle more than half of all garbage collection in the united states . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 usa waste services inc 2 corporate structure and leadership 2.1 subsidiaries 3 recycling 4 renewable energy 5 international 6 corporate issues 6.1 anti trust allegations 6.2 accounting improprieties 6.3 erp software implementation failure 7 labor relations 8 environmental record 9 marketing 9.1 television 9.2 product placement 10 restatement 11 geological reclamation operations and waste systems grows 12 notes 13 external links history edit in 1893 harm huizenga a dutch immigrant began hauling garbage at 1.25 wagon in chicago . 6 in 1968 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 as the descendant firm of harm huizenga . in 1971 waste management went public and by 1972 the company had made 133 acquisitions with 82m in revenue . it had 60 000 commercial and industrial accounts and 600 000 residential customers in 19 states and the provinces of ontario and quebec . in the 1980s waste management acquired service corporation of america sca to become the largest waste hauler in the country . between the years of 1992 and 1997 the executive officers of waste management inc. began cooking the accounting books by refusing to record expenses necessary to write off the costs of unsuccessful and abandoned landfill development projects ; establishing inflated environmental reserves liabilities in connection with acquisitions so that the excess reserves could be used to avoid recording unrelated operating expenses improperly capitalizing a variety of expenses ; failing to establish sufficient reserves liabilities to pay for income taxes and other expenses ; avoiding depreciation expenses on their garbage trucks by both assigning unsupported and inflating salvage values and extending their useful lives ; assigned arbitrary salvage values to other assets that previously had no salvage value ; failed to record expenses for decreases in the value of landfills as they were filled with waste used netting to eliminate approximately 490 million in current period operating expenses and accumulated prior period accounting misstatements by offsetting them against unrelated one time gains on the sale or exchange of assets ; and used geography entries to move tens of millions of dollars between various line items on the company s income statement . 7 officers were accused of making the financials look the way we want to show them . the top officers settled with the federal government for 30.8 million in 2005 without admitting guilt . 8 in 1993 waste management inc. changes to wmx technologies inc. as a universal symbol of the other services they provided other than solid waste removal recycling and disposal . when a new ceo took charge of the company in 1997 he ordered a review of the company s accounting practices in 1997 . in 1998 waste management restated its 1992 1997 earnings by 1.7 billion making it the largest restatement in history . in 1998 in a pivotal development point waste management merged with usa waste services inc. usa waste services ceo john e drury retained the chairman and ceo position of the combined company . waste management then relocates its headquarters from chicago to houston . the merged company retained the waste management brand . john drury in late 1999 steps down as chairman due to brain surgery . rodney r. proto then takes the position as chairman and ceo . however that year also brought trouble for the newly expanded company in the form of an accounting scandal . in november 1999 turn around ce was brought in to help waste management recover . the company has since implemented new technologies safety standards and operational practices and is on a steady upward climb . 9 on july 14 2008 waste management offered a 34 per share bid to acquire arch competitor republic services inc. 10 11 on august 11 2008 the bid was raised to 37 per share . on august 15 2008 republic services inc. denied waste management s bid for a second time . on october 13 2008 waste management withdrew its bid for republic services citing financial market turmoil . 12 in january 2009 a global economic crisis forced waste management to aggressively reduce and restructure its corporate workforce . on february 7 2010 cbs debuted a new tv series called undercover boss after the super bowl . waste management coo lawrence o donnell iii participated in this first episode and got a chance to see up close the inner workings of the company he helped run . o donnell left waste management on july 1 2010 . 13 waste management also sponsored the 14 car of sterling marlin in 2006 until 2007 in the nascar sprint cup series . usa waste services inc edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message in 1987 usa waste was founded in oklahoma by don moorehead and moved the headquarters to dallas texas after buying out local haulers . after john drury ceo of bfi got in a dispute with william ruckelshaus drury left . he later became a part of usa waste services . he acquired mid american waste systems with co founder george moorehead ; that boosted usa waste . citation needed in 1994 usa waste acquired transamerican waste industries from tom j. fatjo former ceo and founder of bfi . in 1995 usa waste acquired sanifill and rodney proto then become coo of usa waste services . usa waste services inc. moved into sanifill s headquarters in houston texas . later in 1995 usa waste acquired the assets of allied waste industries inc. in canada after the laidlaw acquisition . in 1996 usa waste services acquired kosti shirvanian hauler western waste industries which put usa waste right behind number 1 hauler wmx technologies inc. and number 2 browning ferris industries inc. citation needed kosti now served on usa waste s board of directors . early in 1997 usa waste acquired both bfi s and wmx s canadian assets . in mid 1997 usa waste acquired bradley s. jacobs s hauler united waste systems . jacobs sold to usa waste and did not become a part of usa waste . in 1998 usa waste acquired city management corp. in mi . later in 1998 john drury and usa waste services inc. and hauler wmx technologies inc. merged . john drury took the ceo position . john drury retired the name usa waste and kept the name waste management inc. after the merger . drury then retired the wmx buntrock burgundy to usa waste s gold and green . the logo is also a mere image to usa waste s u logo . in april 2000 . drury died . rodney proto then took over ceo of the new waste management . he was then fired by the executives . then larry o donnell a former usa waste executive took over as chief operating officer . corporate structure and leadership edit waste management is structured into the following units midwest group jeff harris senior vice president western group duane c. woods senior vice president eastern group brett frazier senior vice president southern group james e. trevathan senior vice president current members of the board of directors of waste management are john c. jack pope david p. steiner dr. pastora san juan cafferty frank m. clark jr. pat gross thomas i. morgan w. robert reum and steven g. rothmeier . david p. steiner is also the chief executive officer of the company since 2004 succeeding a. maurice myers . subsidiaries edit waste management recycle america patrick j. derueda president recycling edit waste management currently manages the recycling of more than 8.5 million tons of materials including metal plastic glass electronics and paper at 128 facilities . citation needed one service provided by waste management single stream recycling allows recyclable materials to be comingled rather than separated by the customer and handled separately by the collection provider . the company currently operates 30 single stream recycling facilities throughout north america . because the single stream recycling process eliminates the need for customers to separate items before they are collected it usually leads to higher recycling participation rates in local communities . 14 electronics recycling or ecycling is another focus for waste management . this refers to the proper disposal of electronic items like televisions computers microwave ovens cellular phones vcrs and dvds and other such products . the u.s. environmental protection agency epa encourages consumers to reuse and recycle these valuable products to keep them out of the waste stream . 15 with this in mind waste management has partnered with several companies like lg electronics to recycle electronics for reprocessing . 16 the company operates approximately 150 e cycling centers throughout the country through its subsidiary wm recycle america . 17 it january 2010 the company announced that wm recycle america was implementing the responsible recycling r2 program for electronics recyclers which establishes accepted practices to help protect the environment and workers health and safety while e waste is handled . 18 in addition these practices allow third parties to monitor activity and create greater transparency in the e cycling sector . waste management has also invested in new methods and technologies for reusing and recycling non traditional materials such as organic waste and construction debris . in 2010 waste management announced two strategic investments to advance recycling technologies in north america in january 2010 waste management announced it would fund boston area company harvest power which specializes in turning food and yard waste into compost . 19 20 harvest power is also working to develop anaerobic digester technology that uses waste to create a biogas which can produce