Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH)
Hazardous waste disposal and industrial services. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 18, 2026. Ranked 54 of the 85 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
18%
End of 2028
27%
Employees, annual report
22,591
Leading staffing pattern
Remediation and Other Waste Management Services
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now18%
- End of 202724%
- End of 202827%
- End of 203028%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 68%
- Becomes checking a model's work 23%
- Handed over with lighter checks 8%
An environmental services company whose filing states its full-time and total active counts and union counts but nothing by segment, so the four patterns follow segment revenue and the work each segment describes.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 18% now, 24% at the end of 2027, 27% at the end of 2028, 28% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 28% desk work, 12% people work and 61% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 68% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 23% becomes checking a model's work and 8% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
22,591 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). No count by country is stated; 91% of 2025 revenue was in the United States and 9% in Canada, and the union counts are 1,616 in the U.S. and 642 in Canada.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, the total of all active employees, inclusive of the temporary and part-time workforce, was 22,591.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Remediation and Other Waste Management Services | 45% | By (c): Industrial Services and Other (22% of 2025 revenue), Field and Emergency Response (16%) and the Safety-Kleen Environmental Services branches (22%) are work at customers' sites and on routes, remediation and other waste management services; the filing counts no employees by segment. |
| Waste Treatment and Disposal | 35% | By (c): the Technical Services segment (31% of 2025 revenue) runs the incinerators, landfills, wastewater treatment and other hazardous waste facilities the filing describes, with the transportation to them. |
| Waste Collection | 10% | By (c): the Safety-Kleen branch network collects used oil and parts-washer solvent on routes, a collection share read by description from its 22% of revenue. |
| Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing | 10% | By (c): the Safety-Kleen Oil segment (10% of 2025 revenue) re-refines used oil into lubricants, petroleum products manufacturing. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 22,155 active full-time employees, of which 1,616 in the United States and 642 in Canada were represented by labor unions (about 10%); 22,591 active employees in all including temporary and part-time; voluntary turnover fell 150 basis points in 2025 to its lowest level in five years.
What the filing says about AI
8 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing describes AI in its own operations: AI and robotic process automation deployed to increase productivity, AI initiatives aimed at billing and transportation routing efficiencies and at customer-facing waste profiling, and its Waste Information Network software incorporating AI to optimize route efficiency.
- “Foster Innovation through Technology - Technology has always been fundamental to our operations, influencing our strategy by increasing throughput and automation at our facilities, and deploying artificial intelligence and robotic process automation to increase productivity.”
- “Our artificial intelligence initiatives are aimed at both internal efficiencies (e.g. billing and transportation routing efficiencies) and customer-facing enhancements such as waste profiling.”
- “Resources We have invested significantly in the development of proprietary technologies and also to establish and maintain an extensive knowledge of leading technologies, including the incorporation of artificial intelligence platforms and robotic process automation.”
- “For example, our internally developed proprietary software system, Waste Information Network, not only allows us and our customers to track waste throughout our network, but technology also aids in safer packaging of materials and waste and incorporates artificial intelligence to optimize route efficiency and handle waste efficiently and safely.”
- “The inability to create and implement a governance framework and risk mitigation strategies in relation to emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, could create potential risks to the Company.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20232median 1
- Fiscal 20245median 4
- Fiscal 20258median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 22,155 | 2026-02-18 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 22,796 | 2025-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 21,021 | 2024-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 19,775 | 2023-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 18,300 | 2022-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 13,500 | 2021-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 14,400 | 2020-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 14,200 | 2019-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 12,700 | 2018-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 12,400 | 2017-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 12,900 | 2016-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 13,000 | 2015-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 13,000 | 2014-03-03 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 13,180 | 2013-03-06 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 8,320 | 2012-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 6,840 | 2011-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 6,399 | 2010-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 4,804 | 2009-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 4,769 | 2008-03-11 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 4,574 | 2007-03-16 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 3,900 | 2006-03-17 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 3,792 | 2005-03-31 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 4,007 | 2004-03-15 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 1,479 | 2003-04-10 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 4,400 | 2002-03-19 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-12-31 | 1,459 | 2001-04-13 | 10-K405 |
| 1999-12-31 | 1,225 | 2000-03-29 | 10-K |
| 1998-12-31 | 1,228 | 1999-03-31 | 10-K |
| 1997-12-31 | 1,129 | 1998-03-30 | 10-K |
| 1996-12-31 | 1,213 | 1997-03-27 | 10-K |
| 1995-12-31 | 1,438 | 1996-03-28 | 10-K |
| 1994-12-31 | 1,473 | 1995-02-23 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The headcount is the filing's total of all active employees including temporary and part-time workers (22,591); the full-time count is 22,155.
- Pattern shares rest on segment revenue and description (c); the filing counts no employees by segment.
- The U.S. share is not stated.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000822818-26-000009, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Clean Harbors, Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Clean Harbors, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 18% now and 27% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Clean Harbors, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Clean Harbors, Inc. employ?
- 22,591 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Clean Harbors, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 4 industry staffing patterns, the largest Remediation and Other Waste Management Services; by those patterns the work is about 28% desk work, 12% people work and 61% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Clean Harbors, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 8 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 2, 5 and 8 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.