Doing the Doing

“The real lesson was that, throughout my whole career, I have made a business out of taking other people’s trash and making it into something of value.”

“Honestly, I let the accountants tell me if we were making money or not, though I did watch the cash like a hawk, because that was the lifeblood of the company. Without cash, it didn’t matter if you were profitable or not. Cash is always King!”

“It was during this time that the first financial expert joined us as a full-time employee from our auditing firm, Gerald T. Riley. His name was Steve Moynihan, and he was the perfect fit for our growing company. The banks just loved Steve, a brilliant accountant and first-rate guy. He was young (under 30 years old), a full-fledged CPA, and, moreover, a funny bastard with a great sense of humor whom I enjoyed working with immensely. We won so many wars together that he became my right-hand man for another 28 years. We often referred to Steve as the “VP of Other,” as he was capable of handling anything that needed leadership, project management, or oversight. He truly understood the art of the deal – how to finance it, what we should pay for it, and how the banks would structure the financing – and was truly a foundational member of the company.”

“expenses. I observed that big companies and investors were buying companies willy-nilly and then selling off the seemingly unprofitable parts of their acquisitions. But, where they saw failing parts or pieces of businesses they did not want, I saw assets that could be rehabilitated with relatively little investment and attention; I saw businesses that could be transformed into profitable assets.  There were some hostile takeovers, and there were some subsidiary businesses that were all too often destroyed, leaving behind broken plants, broken careers, and unserved customers. So, I asked myself what if we could acquire some of these subsidiary companies, apply our greater expertise and know-how, and then turn them around? Before too long, that’s exactly what we were doing. I loved to find companies that were lodged inside the bubble of big corporations. These corporations often had no clue what was going on in these smaller subsidiaries that somehow ended up on and appeared to weigh down their balance sheets.”

“This is when I experienced a transforming light bulb moment. If we were going to clean up the waste, why not transport the product to its endpoint as well. It soon became apparent to me that there was a real niche opportunity to haul hazardous waste in a fleet specifically designed for the tricky business of transporting government-regulated waste that only approved companies could do. Spurred on by the exciting potential of this idea, we went about creating such a specialized fleet. In the beginning, we leased dozens of 45-foot van trailers, adapting and configuring them to the peculiar needs of moving hazardous waste. We then hired drivers with their own cabs (owner-operators) to pull our trailers. We began looking at our company as not just an emergency response company but as a part of this new environmental hazardous waste industry. It wasn’t long before we transformed into a specialized trucking company.”

“No matter how strong the company’s financials and assets, if we didn’t think we’d be able to easily work with the acquired employees or if they didn’t have the same sense of urgency and responsive mentality that we did, then the chances of integrating that company into ours were most likely not good.”

“Even though we were always tight for cash, we gave out fresh turkeys for the holiday that first year. My father-in-law owned a supermarket called Rico’s Market, and we were able to get turkeys for cost, so the tradition of giving out turkeys was born. That tradition has lasted every year we have been in business. I smile to think our cost to buy turkeys in 2022 will be close to our total revenues in 1980!”

“The Eldia shipwreck also catapulted our growth in terms of revenue. It was like getting a full shot of adrenaline in the arm for the whole company. I’ll admit that the emergency events business is a choppy one from a revenue standpoint – it’s very unpredictable – so it takes great perseverance. But with our company tackling large-scale events, notwithstanding this choppiness, history will show that the sustained brand awareness created a broader reputation that drove our revenue across all our lines of business.”

“What we needed were individuals or companies called venture capitalists, or, as they were often referred to, “angel investors.” We were incredibly lucky and ended up raising $5 million of equity from the combined investments of Summit Partners and Berkshire Partners, both firms based in Boston and both relatively new companies.”

“We had a specific strategy in mind to accomplish this. We set out to buy up everything in the area, making us the only company in New England with the equipment needed for an immediate clean-up. The following morning, we showed up all set to go with our truckloads of equipment and hoses. The Coast Guard, who did the hiring, had no choice but to give us the job because nobody else could replicate what we had already onsite and we could access it immediately.  Buying all those hoses had been a huge risk, but a risk worth taking.”

“when I refer to our good fortune or good luck, I’m referring to starting an oil spill and waste clean-up company the same year that these new laws and regulations came into effect. It’s not like we planned it that way or did some clever market study. Heck, we didn’t even understand the full ramifications of RCRA.”

““You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream.”   -C.S. Lewis”

“This book is the story of an amazing company called Clean Harbors. I started this company more than 40 years ago along with three employees, $15,000 and a truck, nothing more, nothing less. At age 24, I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that our company would have grown to the size it is today, and focused on the important mission of keeping the environment clean. I’m proud to say that over the past four decades, we may have done more to clean up the environment in America than any other company or organization. Also, in 2022, Clean Harbors generated $5 billion in revenue and employed more than 20,000 employees.”

““As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest form of appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”   -John Fitzgerald Kennedy”

““doing the doing””

““A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”   -Larry Bird”

“S even years after I was born, biologist Rachel Carson writes a path-breaking bestseller that launches the modern environmental movement. It is an “ominous little parable” called “Fable for Tomorrow.”  In it, an idyllic American hamlet suffers mysterious maladies. First, plants turn brown and wither, pets and livestock die, fish disappear from streams and birds no longer adorn the woodlands and meadows with their songs. Next, baffling illnesses ravage the town, killing children and elders while survivors desperately search for answers. Was this the work of some kind of evil spell or secret weapon? No, Rachel explained, “No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.” Their own “wonder chemicals” had turned against them. By the time “Silent Spring” hit the bookstores in 1962, the chemical industry had already produced and stashed,  about 100 trillion pounds of hazardous wastes, enough to create a highway to the moon 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Of course, none of this is on my radar yet. I am still just a young boy loving nothing more than watching the sea spraying off the bow of my grandfather’s boat.”

“The big one – the fight of all fights – took place between us when I was 17 years old. It started with the usual screaming at my mom and ended up with us tangled together, me fiercely clenching his collar and telling him never to touch her again. It was the first time I grabbed my father, and having had more than enough, things would never be the same again. After that night, I essentially had no use for my father, and for the longest time, held tremendous anger against him. Even today, I deal with the traumatic side effects of what he did. My father was probably proud of my later successes in life, but I would never know because, as father and son, our relationship was forever damaged.”

“Desperate to earn enough to support my young family, I jumped right in at Jet-Line and went about the task of understanding the oil clean-up business, literally from the bottom up. I learned about cleaning oil tanks, I experienced the emergency response business, and I got lessons on how to turn dirty oil into recycled oil that could be resold for a profit. With me being a welder and mechanic, one of my early jobs involved constructing an oil storage facility called a tank farm. A tank farm is where dirty oil and wastewater are taken to be filtered, separated, and recycled after an oil spill.”

“In the oil clean-up business, you make money in two ways: first, by performing the clean-up, and second, by reselling the recycled”

““The key to success is being in the right place at the right time, recognizing that you are there, and taking action.”   -Ray Kroc”

“Our first job was for Texaco Oil Company, where we cleaned a fuel oil tank for $600 just to get in the door. We cleared $600,000 in revenue our first year, and we were feeling pretty good about our future.”

“If we look back at the Industrial Revolution, protecting the environment was an afterthought, at best. Companies could literally dump their waste anywhere anytime and get away with it with total impunity. They didn’t have to act responsibly, they didn’t have to protect the environment, and they didn’t have to manage or control toxic waste if they did not want to. It was full-on laissez-faire – let things just take their course - at its worst.”

“We had a  fleet of vacuum trucks purposed to clean oil spills, but they also could haul hazardous waste. So, we decided right then and there to create a transportation division that could haul hazardous waste from sites in New England to all over the United States, reacting as quickly as possible to the mega-opportunities offered by the regulatory push to manage waste and protect the environment. The immediate problem was that in order to carry and move hazardous waste, we needed to have hazardous waste transportation permits, which we did not have.”

“With no financial degree and having never done anything like it before, I didn’t even know that I could get a line of credit against my accounts receivables; A/R financing was not something I had done or experienced before. But I learned fast, and as it turned out, A/R financing saved us on many occasions because we were expanding literally on the strength of our accounts receivables. In 1981, we doubled our revenues to $1.2 million.”

“That’s when, in 1984, a call came from our largest customer. Waste Management, whose primary business was solid waste, was now expanding a new division called Chemical Waste Management and offered to buy Clean Harbors for approximately $1 million.”

“Every problem is a gift. Without problems we would not grow.   -Anthony Robbins”

“But I also came to love the world of sales, business development and deals. Putting deals together and finding distressed companies or properties that we could purchase at a reasonable price and turn into treasure – well, this was fast becoming my forte and the corporate mainstay of Clean Harbors.”

“Emergency Response is really the marketing arm of our company, and the revenue and profits from the events are just the frosting on the cake.”