Clean Harbors Inc.’s stock price continues to climb as it edged past U.S.$220 per share this week, up by more than 140% since July 2022. The company is benefitting from increased awareness of corporate sustainability, population growth and government crackdowns on illegal waste dumping, says a US market analysis firm.

The company offers a range of services, from waste disposal to lubricant manufacture, that are central to the growing push for resource circularity and sustainability.

The company’s stock was worth U.S.$90.32 per share in July 2022. This almost doubled a year later to $164.43 and then kept going upward to $220.21 by the start of July 2024. Over the  same period, the industry to which it belongs has contracted by 4%, according to Chicago-based Zachs Equity Research.

Clean Harbors owns waste oil rerefiner Safety-Kleen and lubricant manufacturer Kleen. In May of this year, it acquired Noble Oil Recycling and in 2021 Vertex Energy’s rerefineries in Ohio and Louisiana and its used oil collections businesses. The acquisitions made it the largest rerefiner of used oil in North America.

Safety-Kleen operates six plants in North America with capacity to produce 526,000 metric tons per year of API Group II base oil.

“Clean Harbors continues to make capital investments to enhance its quality and comply with government and local regulations. The current regulatory requirements are cost-intensive and complicated for in-house disposal facilities, which, in turn, compel most companies to outsource their hazardous waste disposal needs. This is where Clean Harbors steps in with its suitable disposal firms in Canada and the United States,” wrote Zach Equity Research.