The ELW was founded on January 1, 1997 as a municipal company, replacing the various departments of the Office for City Cleaning and Waste Management, which had previously been responsible for keeping Wiesbaden's streets clean, disposing of waste and cleaning sewage. In 1997, the ELW was also given responsibility for maintaining the sewer system.

Until a legal amendment in 2005, most of the waste was stored at the Wiesbaden landfill site. Since then, the waste has been reloaded at the landfill site and transported to the surrounding waste incineration plants. Comprehensive waste separation has been in place since 2003.

Around 16,000 tons of organic waste are recycled annually in the biogas power plant in Flörsheim-Wicker. The waste paper, around 23,000 tons a year, is sorted by ELW and returned to the economic cycle via paper mills. In addition, around 5,800 tons of used glass and 7,000 tons of lightweight packaging are recycled each year. In addition, around 290,000 kg of hazardous waste is disposed of by a specialist company in Biebesheim near Darmstadt. There are also three recycling centers in Nordenstadt, Dotzheim and Bierstadt. Hazardous waste can be handed in at the entrance to the municipal landfill site and is collected twice a year by a hazardous waste mobile at 50 stops in the city.

Wiesbaden's city cleaning is regulated by its own statutes (street cleaning statutes). To ensure that wastewater is cleaned, ELW maintains 802 km of sewers and operates two wastewater treatment plants.