Clean Harbors, Inc. is an American provider of

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

and industrial services, including hazardous waste disposal for companies, including Fortune 500 companies, small waste generators and federal, state, provincial and local governments. The company has expanded through organic growth and acquisitions to approximately 400 service locations in North America including over 50 hazardous waste management facilities in 38 U.S. states, seven Canadian provinces, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The company is included in the

S&P 400 The S&P MidCap 400 Index, more commonly known as the S&P 400, is a stock market index from S&P Dow Jones Indices. The index serves as a gauge for the U.S. mid-cap equities sector and is the most widely followed mid-cap index. To be included in ...

mid-cap index and the

S&P 1500 The S&P 1500, or S&P Composite 1500 Index, is a stock market index of US stocks made by Standard & Poor's. It includes all stocks in the S&P 500, S&P 400, and S&P 600. This index covers approximately 90% of the market capitalization of U.S. stock ...

composite index.

History

Clean Harbors, Inc. was founded in 1980 in Brockton, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb, by Alan S. McKim, who continues as the company's CEO and Chairman. The company had one truck and four employees who transported and disposed of hazardous wastes for local businesses. It soon began adding larger corporate accounts and grew to 18 employees and $1.5 million in revenues by the end of its second year. In year three its revenue increased to $4.2 million and 34 employees. Clean Harbors expanded to offer emergency hazardous waste cleaning services and industrial waste disposal, as well as ongoing management of hazardous material sites. Revenues continued to climb approaching $50 million in 1986.

Expansion and diversification

Clean Harbors held its initial public offering (IPO) offering of one million shares at $9 a share on the NASDAQ on November 24, 1987. Six months later Clean Harbors' stock had risen from $9 to more than $15. The company made a secondary offering at the higher share price. After the two tranches Alan McKim retained about 60 percent ownership of Clean Harbors. Going public set the stage for expansion. Clean Harbors, still solely an environmental services company, purchased

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...

(OSHA)

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.United States. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. , , ''et seq., ...

(RCRA) certified hazardous waste incinerators in Arkansas, Nebraska, Ontario, Quebec, Texas and Utah, which it continues to own and operate to this day. During this time Clean Harbors also developed its emergency response capabilities. Its first project came in 1984 when it removed oil from a tanker, which foundered off Cape Cod in a snowstorm. It participated in several cleanup projects in New England and expanded to respond to emergencies outside of the region as well as handling industrial and land-based cleanup and transportation projects. During this time the company also greatly expanded its services for the industrial and chemical industry sectors. These services focused on collecting, packing and disposing of industrial and research laboratory and production chemicals, many of which were disposed of through Clean Harbors' expanding network of RCRA-certified landfills and incinerators. In 1998, Clean Harbors Industrial Services was established as division to handle in-plant cleaning and maintenance services, including chemical cleaning, vacuuming, steam cleaning and hydroblasting of chemical processing equipment. Over the years Clean Harbors has continued to expand through organic growth and approximately 35 acquisitions. Most of the acquisitions were relatively small compared to Clean Harbors’ overall revenues. Major acquisitions, such as Eveready, Inc., Peak Energy Services, Teris LLC and most notably, Safety-Kleen Systems, their best acquisition to date, have substantially added to the company's assets and broadened its service lines to include industrial and energy services, solvent recovery/recycling, lodging and oilfield and environmental dewatering technologies. Today, Clean Harbors has a substantial presence in oil and gas oilfields and refinery operations and used oil recycling and re-refining while maintaining and growing its environmental and industrial services business lines.

Acquisitions timetable

Over the years Clean Harbors has completed the purchase of more than 35 companies or substantial divisions of companies. Early investments from Clean Harbors’ founding until 2009 were primarily in the environmental services, waste management and industrial services areas. It made its first major acquisition in the oil and gas area in 2009 and has since further expanded in that sector through organic growth and acquisitions. Significant acquisitions include: *1989 – Chem Clear Inc. (Aqueous waste treatment with facilities in Baltimore, Chicago and Cleveland) First major acquisition outside of New England. *1995 – Kimball Incinerator Facility (Waste incinerator facility from Ecova Corp.) First RCRA-certified incinerator. *2002 – Chemical Services Division of Safety-Kleen (55 service centers and 33 waste management facilities) Significantly expanded Clean Harbors' chemical and waste disposal services. *2007 – Teris LLC (Incinerator and treatment, storage and disposal facilities) Extended Clean Harbors’ reach to California. *2008 – Safety-Kleen Solvent Recycling Division and Universal Environmental (Solvent recycling facilities in Chicago and Hebron, Ohio) Gave Clean Harbors a significant position in solvent recycling. *2009 – Eveready Inc. (Industrial maintenance and production, lodging and seismic services primarily for the oil and gas industry) significantly expanded energy and industrial services and provided a major presence in Canada. *2011 – Peak Energy Services (Oil and gas surface rentals for liquid, solid and sludge processing) Added new capabilities to Clean Harbors oilfield services. *2012 –

Safety-Kleen Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. is a company that provides services such as collecting and recycling oil, providing industrial cleaning, and handling industrial waste. In addition, their products include cleaning equipment, antifreeze and coolant, wi ...

(Used oil recycling and re-refining, and parts washers) The $1.25 billion purchase added small generator market resources and significantly expanded the company. *2021 - HydroChemPSC (a leading U.S. provider of industrial cleaning, specialty maintenance and utilities services).

Finance

On May 20, 2003, Clean Harbors revised previously announced treatment of the non-cash cumulative effect of adopting SFAS No. 143 from a $34 million non-cash tax effected gain, to a reduction of the purchased value assigned to the CSD assets of $46.5 million. On March 15, 2005. Clean Harbors, Inc. announced to restate financial statements for the years 2003 and 2002, and financial information for the years 2001, 2000, and 1999, to correct errors relating to the methodology it had established for estimating self-insured workers' compensation and motor vehicle liability claims.

Industries served

Chemical/Specialty Chemical,

Pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

Biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

Refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

Petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable so ...

Utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

Retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

/Consulting, Health Care,

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

ation, Steel & Primary Metals,

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

References