Clean Harbors, Inc., headquartered in Norwell, Massachusetts, is a provider of waste management and industrial services for commercial customers, specializing in the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, but also offering services for non-hazardous waste. The company has 870 operating locations in 630 properties in the U.S. and Canada including a network of over 100 waste disposal facilities such as incinerators, landfills (seven hazardous waste landfills and two non-hazardous waste landfills), treatment, storage and disposal facilities. It also owns Safety-Kleen, the largest re-refiner and recycler of used oil in North America. In 2024, the company received 91% of its revenues in the United States and 9% of its revenues in Canada. In 2024, the company's revenues primarily came from the following industries: chemical industry (15%), manufacturing (14%), refineries (13%), automotive industry (8%), utilities (6%), base and blended oils (5%), oil and gas industry (5%), transportation (4%), government (4%) and retail (3%).
The company is ranked 586th on the Fortune 500.
History Clean Harbors was founded in 1980 in Brockton, Massachusetts, by Alan McKim as a four-person tank cleaning business.
In November 1987, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.
In 1984, the company removed 130,000 gallons of fuel oil from the tanker Eldia, which became the largest ship to have been beached off Cape Cod.
Acquisitions # Date Company Price Description of Assets Ref(s). 1 Chem Clear Aqueous waste treatment with facilities in Baltimore, Chicago and Cleveland; first major acquisition outside of New England. 2 Kimball, Nebraska Incinerator Facility Waste incinerator facility acquired from Amoco; first RCRA-certified incinerator. 3 Chemical Services Division of Safety-Kleen $46.3 million 55 service centers and 33 waste management facilities; expanded chemical and waste disposal services. 4 Teris $52.7 million Incinerator and treatment, storage and disposal facilities; extended reach to California. 5 Recycling facilities in Chicago and Hebron, Ohio from Safety-Kleen $12.5 million in cash and the assumption of $3 million in liabilities 6 Eveready C$464 million Services for the oil and gas industry; expanded into Canada. 7 Peak Energy Services C$$202 million Oil and gas surface rentals for liquid, solid and sludge processing. 8 Safety-Kleen US$1.25 billion Used oil recycling and re-refining, and parts washers. 9 Thermo Fluids $85 million Recycles used oil, solvents and oil filters. 10 Emerald Services Oil and wastewater recycling services. 11 Lonestar West C$44 million Daylighting and hydro excavation services. 12 HydroChemPSC $1.25 billion Provider of industrial cleaning, specialty maintenance and utilities services; acquired from Littlejohn & Co. 13 Thompson Industries $110 million Industrial service operations in the Southeastern United States. 14 Hepaco $400 million Environmental and emergency response capabilities. 15 Noble Oil Services Industrial waste and wastewater services. 16 Terra Nova Solutions $225 million Used oil collection and vacuum gas oil re-refining. 17 EnviroServe $470 million End-to-end waste management and waste storage capabilities.
See also List of cleaning companies List of S&P 400 companies
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