Beginning with its first patent for a rubber dustpan in 1933,
Rubbermaid creates and manufactures innovative the things that organize our lives. As the trendsetter in the housewares industry for innovation and product design, Rubbermaid categories span home storage and garage organization, food storage and laundry, bath and cleaning, closet organization and refuse removal. Its Research and Development team initiates new product trends, creating ways to organize life. The marketing department at Rubbermaid is an industry model for merchandising, packaging and advertising, driving a 98.9% brand awareness with consumers. Rubbermaid manufacturing employs world class operations principles and practices as well as customer service standards. Only one of a hundred companies named a "Brand of the Century" by BrandMarketing magazine, this distinction is a testament to the impact that the Rubbermaid has made on American life in the past century.

Employing over 6,000 associates throughout North America, Rubbermaid manufactures and distributes a wide range of products designed to organize life, delight consumers, and ease household chores. Product lines include Home Organization (home storage, drawers, laundry & utility, wastebaskets), Kitchen & Bath (food storage, kitchen organization, bath), Cleaning (smallwares and stickgoods), Closet Organization (complete systems both free standing and mounted), and Hardware/Seasonal (refuse, outdoor & garage storage, insulated, hardware & tools, lawn & garden, mailboxes). Rubbermaid products can be found in mass retailers, hardware & home center stores, warehouse clubs, supermarkets, drug stores, department stores, specialty stores, and distributors. A Newell Rubbermaid company, Rubbermaid Home Products is headquartered in Wooster, Ohio, with facilities in ten locations. Sites in Wooster and Mogadore, Ohio; Mississauga and Calgary, Canada; Centerville, Iowa; Cleburne and Greenville Texas; Goodyear Arizona; Winfield, Kansas; and Tultitlan, Mexico serve the entire North America continent.

In 1999, Rubbermaid joined the Newell family of companies to create a new entity: Newell Rubbermaid Inc., a global marketer of consumer products with 2000 sales of nearly $7 billion and a powerful brand family including Sharpie®, Paper Mate®, Parker®, Waterman®, Rubbermaid®, Calphalon®, Little Tikes®, Graco®/Century®, and Levolor®. The Corporation is headquartered in Freeport, Illinois and has 48,800 employees worldwide.