Safety-Kleen history

In 1967 Gene Olson, a Wisconsin businessman, discovered one of Palmer's parts washers in a local service station and thought the under-marketed device represented a gold mine.

In 1968, Palmer's company was purchased by the Elgin-Based Chicago Rawhide Manufacturing Co., then led by Donald W. Brinckman.

Seeking to avoid direct disposal of waste solvents, in 1969 Allan Manteuffel, a Safety-Kleen chemical engineer, began experimenting with ways to recycle used solvents.

That same year Safety-Kleen purchased and began conversion of a former oil storage plant; by 1970 the company was processing solvents at its first recycling center.

With annual sales topping $7.4 million in 1971, the company became profitable for the first time.

Safety-Kleen's first allied product, an oil filter produced outside the company and offered exclusively by Safety-Kleen, debuted in September 1972 and was followed by a cream hand cleaner one year later.

In 1973 Safety-Kleen established its first overseas operations and began to do business in England.

In 1974 a recycling center in Clayton, New Jersey, opened.

In 1975 Safety-Kleen opened recycling centers in Denton, Texas, and Lexington, South Carolina.

In 1976 Safety-Kleen opened a new, state-of-the-art recycling plant in Elgin and two years later began recycling immersion cleaner solvent.

In 1977 Safety-Kleen introduced a wheel seal cabinet service.

In 1978 Safety-Kleen entered the Australian market and two years later established a recycling center there.

Since 1980, field service centers have been strategically located across North America to provide emergency response services and perform planned work on customer locations.

Australian operations flourished, though, and in 1981 a branch office was established in New Zealand.

In November 1984 the United States Resource Conservation and Recovery Act was expanded to include small-quantity waste generators, which included thousands of Safety-Kleen customers.

The first such venture, SOPIA, was created in 1985 through a 50/50 partnership with Primagaz Company, France's largest independent supplier of liquified gases.

In 1986, our laboratory chemical packing services, CleanPack®, was formed to provide industries, schools and universities, and communities with vital services to manage the collection, packaging and disposal of laboratory chemicals and household hazardous waste.

In 1987 Safety-Kleen also entered the oil recovery services business after the acquisition of the Canadian firm Breslube Enterprises, North America's leading re-refiner of lubricating oils.

In 1988 Safety-Kleen entered Ireland after acquiring Greaseaters of Ireland (renamed Safety-Kleen of Ireland). One year later the company established joint ventures in Korea and Taiwan that solidified Safety-Kleen's foothold in the Pacific Rim area.

In 1989, Clean Harbors purchased Chem Clear, Inc., an industrial aqueous waste treatment company.

In 1990 Safety-Kleen reached agreements to acquire entire control of Safety-Kleen operations in Belgium, France, and Italy, and started licensee operations in Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, and Taiwan.

In 1991, the company opened a large oil-recycling plant in East Chicago, Indiana.

In 1992 a Safety-Kleen internal inspection found that the company had exceeded its authorized waste storage capacity and was illegally storing three million gallons of hazardous waste fluids at its Puerto Rico facilities.

The company moved toward the close of 1993 predicting that its oil recovery services and European operations would be profitable by the end of that year.

And, although the company has since 1995 been able to go on an acquisition binge using cash from its operations, its share price has fallen throughout the decade, during Wall Street's historic stock market climb.

In November 1997, industrial services company Philip Services made a friendly $1.97 billion bid for Safety-Kleen.

In 1998, Clean Harbors formed its Industrial Services division.

Unfortunately the success of the merger was short-lived and Safety-Kleen filed for bankruptcy in 2000.

Four former Safety-Kleen executives including CEO Kenneth Winger, chief financial officer Paul R. Humphreys, controller William D. Ridings, and vice-president Thomas W. Ritter, Jr., were charged with accounting fraud in December 2002.

Florjancic commented on the company's post-bankruptcy/accounting scandal mood in a 2005 Dallas Morning News article: "The organization is walking taller, smiling more.

In 2007, Clean Harbors acquired Teris, LLC, with its 550 employees, several field locations, incineration facility in El Dorado, Arkansas, and a treatment, storage and disposal facility in Wilmington, California.

After emerging from bankruptcy, Safety-Kleen sought to go public in 2008, but had to scrap those plans because of the financial crisis.

In 2009, Clean Harbors acquired Eveready Inc., a Canadian company that provides industrial maintenance and production, lodging and seismic services.

In 2011, Clean Harbors acquired Peak Energy Services, bringing on the capabilities to service oil and gas drilling operations by providing surface rentals and specialized liquid, solid and sludge processing.

Also in 2017, Clean Harbors acquired Lonestar West, further broadening its daylighting and hydro excavation services throughout the United States and Canada.

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