Clean Harbors

Clean Harbors Inc. is a successful environmental services company. The introduction of environmental legislation in the late 1970s brought with it annual growth in the environmental remediation industry that approached 20 per cent as industrial companies attempted to comply with the new regulations. During the latter half of the 1980s, the company experienced growth of 100 per cent per year. In the 1990s, however, waste reduction and recycling left many large waste producers, such as chemical companies, with excess treatment and disposal capacity. Clean Harbor experienced severe financial loss, despite efforts to control costs. Other hazardous waste remediation firms experienced similar declines. The president and chief executive officer is reluctant to let go of the company that he built from scratch, but some believe that selling is the only option.