Segment Reporting (Reconciliation of Primary Measure of Segment Profitability to Income Before Income Tax Provision) (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended				9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2020		Sep. 30, 2019		Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2019
Segment EBITDA	$ 424,727	[1]	$ 439,463	[1]	$ 1,213,569	$ 1,231,980
Depreciation	(157,590)		(157,994)		(459,641)	(461,616)
Amortization of intangibles	(32,653)		(31,934)		(96,062)	(93,821)
Impairments and other operating items	(3,805)		(12,935)		(442,582)	(32,949)
Interest expense	(40,636)		(36,780)		(119,562)	(111,313)
Interest income	903		2,056		4,396	7,186
Other income (expense), net	702		(19)		(3,046)	4,562
Income before income tax provision	191,648		201,857		97,072	544,029
Eastern [Member]
Segment EBITDA	90,991	[1]	88,101	[1]	258,333	250,106
Southern [Member]
Segment EBITDA	81,394	[1]	113,209	[1]	276,844	327,139
Western [Member]
Segment EBITDA	101,071	[1]	90,059	[1]	267,523	253,504
Central [Member]
Segment EBITDA	82,887	[1]	81,746	[1]	235,742	219,280
Canada [Member]
Segment EBITDA	72,516	[1]	66,794	[1]	185,589	193,702
Corporate [Member]
Segment EBITDA	(4,132)	[1],[2]	(446)	[1],[2]	(10,462)	(11,751)
Reportable Segments [Member]
Segment EBITDA	$ 428,859		$ 439,909		$ 1,224,031	$ 1,243,731

[1] For those items included in the determination of segment EBITDA, the accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K.

[2] Corporate consists of expenses associated with its administrative departments and certain centralized expenses including cash and equity-based incentive compensation, direct acquisition expenses and share-based compensation expenses associated with Progressive Waste share-based grants outstanding at June 1, 2016 that were continued by the Company. Amounts reflected are net of allocations to the five operating segments.