SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES LANDFILL ASSETS (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended																																		5 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 Expansions ft3 Landfill_Sites service_locations	Dec. 31, 2011 ft3	Dec. 31, 2010 ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Landfill assets	Dec. 31, 2011 Landfill assets	Dec. 31, 2010 Landfill assets	Dec. 31, 2012 non-commercial landfills [Member] Landfill_Sites	Dec. 31, 2012 Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Closure and Post-closure Liabilities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Closure and Post-closure Liabilities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Altair [Member] Texas ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Altair [Member] Texas Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Altair [Member] Texas Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Buttonwillow [Member] California ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Buttonwillow [Member] California Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Buttonwillow [Member] California Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Deer Park [Member] Texas ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Deer Park [Member] Texas Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Deer Park [Member] Texas Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Deer Trail [Member] Colorado ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Deer Trail [Member] Colorado Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Deer Trail [Member] Colorado Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Grassy Mountain [Member] Utah ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Grassy Mountain [Member] Utah Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Grassy Mountain [Member] Utah Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Kimball [Member] Nebraska ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Kimball [Member] Nebraska Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Kimball [Member] Nebraska Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Lambton [Member] Ontario ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Lambton [Member] Ontario Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Lambton [Member] Ontario Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Lone Mountain [Member] Oklahoma ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Lone Mountain [Member] Oklahoma Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Lone Mountain [Member] Oklahoma Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Ryley [Member] Alberta ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Ryley [Member] Alberta Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Ryley [Member] Alberta Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Sawyer [Member] North Dakota ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Sawyer [Member] North Dakota Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Sawyer [Member] North Dakota Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Westmorland [Member] California ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Westmorland [Member] California Permitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Westmorland [Member] California Unpermitted [Member] ft3	Dec. 31, 2012 Unsecured Senior Notes 2020 Senior secured notes
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
NonLandfillClosureAndPostClosureTermInYears										10 years		30 years
Amortization				$ 17,300,000	$ 10,400,000	$ 8,700,000
Application Approvals	5 years
Number of Expansions	1
Number of Service Locations	1
Percentage of Airspace Remaining	20.96%
Landfill Sites	11						2
Remaining Lives (Years)														13			29			9			42			24			12			64			16			4			11			64
Remaining Highly Probable Airspace	266,787,000							210,879,000	55,908,000					7,632,000	7,632,000	0	72,585,000	72,585,000	0	3,339,000	3,339,000	0	19,107,000	19,107,000	0	19,170,000	19,170,000	0	2,781,000	2,781,000	0	56,556,000	648,000	55,908,000	29,907,000	29,907,000	0	6,822,000	6,822,000	0	24,300,000	24,300,000	0	24,588,000	24,588,000	0
Permitted, But Not Highly Probable Airspace	0
Remaining capacity, beginning of period	248,013,000	257,013,000	231,885,000
Addition of highly probable airspace	32,382,000	918,000	35,145,000
Consumed	(13,608,000)	(9,918,000)	(10,017,000)
Remaining capacity, end of period	266,787,000	248,013,000	257,013,000
Landfill Final Closure and Post-Closure Liabilities	26,700,000	25,800,000
Regulatory Post-Closure Period for Landfill	30 years
Asset Retirment Obligations	1.02%	1.01%
Credit Adjusted Risk Free Rate	8.56%	8.79%
Estimated useful life, minimum (in years)	7 years 9 months 18 days										10 years		30 years
Non-landfill Closure and Post-Closure Liabilities	27,600,000	9,100,000
Long-term Debt, Gross																																															$ 800,000,000
Asset Retirement Obligations Discount Rate																																															6.66%