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By the numbers: Q2 2026
Revenue: $1.74B
Up 11.9% year over year
Net income: $170.5M
Up 34.3% year over year
Adjusted EBITDA: $409M
Up 21.6% year over year
- Strong gains: Several notable projects and macroeconomic tailwinds propelled Clean Harbors’ topline financial metrics during the second quarter. A little over a year after executives said Safety-Kleen Sustainability Solutions had “turned a corner,” the business segment recorded quarterly revenue gain of 41% year over year. A variety of factors contributed to that performance, including global supply disruptions of refined products driving demand for Clean Harbors’ services. The company also saw 11% revenue growth in its environmental services segment, driven by pricing and growth in offerings like containerized waste collection and vacuum services.
- M&A announcement: In its earnings release, Clean Harbors announced a $305 million all-cash deal to acquire Louisiana-based ES&H, subject to final negotiations. The field services company is expected to contribute about $90 million of annual base revenue and about $5 million of cost synergies in its first full year. ES&H has 13 service branches across Louisiana and Texas with a reputation for on-water responses and the Coast Guard's highest oil spill response classification.
- ES&H deal impact: Co-CEO Eric Gerstenberg said during Wednesday’s earnings call that the deal was similar to Clean Harbors' acquisition of Hepaco in 2024 in that it would densify the company's emergency response presence and capabilities. ES&H also has an emergency response readiness plan development and training business, Forefront, which Clean Harbors plans to expand nationwide. "It just helps us in an area that we don't have a huge presence in," co-CEO Mike Battles said on the call. "We're going to be able to leverage that."
- Manufacturing growth: Clean Harbors also announced the closing of a major 10-year contract with an estimated total value of $600 million. The deal is driven by the unnamed customer's phased launch of multiple manufacturing sites through 2030. Gerstenberg compared the contract to a prior deal with 3M, and he said it reflects favorable trends in the sector driven in part by reshoring. "Other customers really want to have a service provider that have a national footprint with redundancy, with a real strong safety and transportation network."
- Data center offering: Clean Harbors is also spending about $50 million on specialty equipment, tankage and vehicles for data center-related services. While that industry is currently in a phase of rapid build-out, Clean Harbors is pitching services like mechanical flushing, chemical passivation and water filtration that are similar to what the company has already done for chemical plants and refineries. So far, Clean Harbors has won work on 10 sites and is bidding on a dozen more, Gerstenberg said. The company also sees an opportunity in fluid recovery, waste removal and emergency response events as data centers begin operations and enter a "maintenance phase." Clean Harbors is targeting $200 million in annual revenue by the end of 2028.
- PFAS: Gerstenberg said Clean Harbors' expectations have accelerated for PFAS-related work as the year has progressed, and the company is now projecting a 30% year-over-year increase in the business this year, compared with the previous projection of 20%. In the second quarter, Clean Harbors executed a large emergency response event that translated into a $30 million PFAS treatment and remediation event. The company has also been "pounding the pavement" acquiring work from the 700-plus military installations that have been greenlit to pursue incineration and other solutions for PFAS-contaminated materials, Gerstenberg said.
- Volumes and pricing: Incinerator utilization was up to 91% in Q2, compared to 86% in Q2 2025, including the company's newest facility in Kimball, Nebraska. That facility's tonnage is ramping up ahead of expectations, Gerstenberg said. CFO Eric Dugas noted that volumes were up across disposal facilities, with landfill volumes increasing 7% year over year. Clean Harbors' technical services business line, which is housed in its environmental services segment and includes disposal facilities, saw an 18% increase in revenue. That was driven roughly equally by project-related volumes, pricing and materials mix, Dugas said.
- Updated guidance: Clean Harbors expects continued growth in the third and fourth quarters. It raised by $110 million the midpoint of its guidance for annual adjusted earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It’s now projecting a range of $1.35 billion to $1.41 billion. Clean Harbors also raised by $30 million the midpoint of its adjusted free cash flow guidance, and now projects a range of $520 million to $580 million.
