ACQUISITIONS AND DIVESTITURES - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended					3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012 Entity	Mar. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2012 United States	Mar. 31, 2012 Brazil	Dec. 31, 2010 Brazil	Mar. 31, 2012 International countries	Mar. 31, 2012 Customer relationships Year	Mar. 31, 2012 Regulated waste management services United States Entity	Mar. 31, 2012 Regulated waste management services Romania Entity	Mar. 31, 2012 Regulated waste management services Spain Entity	Mar. 31, 2012 Compliance Business United States Entity	Mar. 31, 2012 Returns Management Business Japan Entity
Significant Acquisitions and Disposals [Line Items]
Number of acquisitions completed	11							2	1	3	4	1
Business acquisition, ownership percentage acquired				100.00%	70.00%			100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Goodwill	$ (1,738,000)		$ 11,100,000			$ (12,800,000)
Tax deductible goodwill amount	10,500,000
Intangibles assets	35,860,000
Intangibles assets, amortizable							9,800,000
Finite lived intangible assets useful life, Minimum							15
Finite lived intangible assets useful life, Maximum							40
Indefinite lived intangible assets, permits	23,400,000
Acquisition expenses	$ 1,500,000	$ 5,900,000