Waste Management rose to prominence as a simple trash hauler, but the Houston-based company has broadened its portfolio considerably in recent years under David Steiner. The CEO is less interested in dumping garbage than in plumbing it for items that can be recycled, burned for energy or decomposed to create methane gas. “Waste Management is transforming into a materials company,” Steiner says.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t any value in the trash business. Commodity prices tanked during the past year, hurting Waste Management’s recycling business, at least for the time being. The legacy garbage business, however, which still accounts for 83 percent of the company’s revenue, remains recession-resistant. “We’re like a utility,” explains Steiner, a lawyer by training who has quickly risen through the ranks at Waste Management since joining in November 2000 as deputy general counsel. “Even in a bad economy, this is one of the bills...