GUARANTOR AND NON-GUARANTOR SUBSIDIARIES FINANCIAL INFORMATION Income Statement (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended																12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012		Sep. 30, 2012		Jun. 30, 2012		Mar. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011		Sep. 30, 2011		Jun. 30, 2011		Mar. 31, 2011		Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Consolidating statement of income
Revenues	$ 558,962		$ 533,806		$ 523,118		$ 572,022		$ 545,886		$ 556,053		$ 447,235		$ 434,962		$ 2,187,908	$ 1,984,136	$ 1,731,244
Cost of revenues (exclusive of items shown separately below)	399,743	[1]	372,940	[1]	367,623	[1]	400,315	[1]	373,142	[2]	386,518	[2]	307,754	[2]	312,577	[2]	1,540,621	1,379,991	1,210,740
Selling, general and administrative expenses																	273,520	254,137	205,812
Accretion of environmental liabilities																	9,917	9,680	10,307
Depreciation and amortization																	161,646	122,663	92,473
Income from operations	36,231		56,739		47,533		61,701		59,247		66,792		51,884		39,742		202,204	217,665	211,912
Other income	(337)		(91)		(75)		(299)		471		164		2,868		2,899		(802)	6,402	2,795
Loss on early extinguishment of debt																	(26,385)	0	(2,294)
Interest (expense) income																	(47,287)	(39,389)	(27,936)
Equity in earnings of subsidiaries																	0	0	0
Intercompany dividend income (expense)																	0	0	0
Intercompany interest income (expense)																	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations before provision for income taxes																	127,730	184,678	184,477
(Benefit) provision for income taxes																	(1,944)	57,426	56,756
Income from continuing operations																	129,674	127,252	127,721
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax																	0	0	2,794
Net income	61,874		12,359		23,426		32,015		38,233		37,133		29,156		22,730		129,674	127,252	130,515
Other comprehensive income																	18,279	(19,406)	23,930
Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent																	147,953	107,846	154,445
Clean Harbors, Inc.
Consolidating statement of income
Revenues																	0	0	0
Cost of revenues (exclusive of items shown separately below)																	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses																	66	100	100
Accretion of environmental liabilities																	0	0	0
Depreciation and amortization																	0	0	0
Income from operations																	(66)	(100)	(100)
Other income																	0	0	0
Loss on early extinguishment of debt																	(26,385)	0	(2,294)
Interest (expense) income																	(46,221)	(38,755)	(28,037)
Equity in earnings of subsidiaries																	187,432	174,029	186,377
Intercompany dividend income (expense)																	10,010	10,186	0
Intercompany interest income (expense)																	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations before provision for income taxes																	124,770	145,360	155,946
(Benefit) provision for income taxes																	(4,904)	18,108	25,431
Income from continuing operations																			130,515
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax																			0
Net income																	129,674	127,252	130,515
Other comprehensive income																	18,279	(19,406)	23,930
Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent																	147,953	107,846	154,445
U.S. Guarantor Subsidiaries
Consolidating statement of income
Revenues																	1,243,453	1,141,935	1,136,249
Cost of revenues (exclusive of items shown separately below)																	857,813	786,771	777,607
Selling, general and administrative expenses																	173,190	165,882	141,746
Accretion of environmental liabilities																	8,592	8,442	9,181
Depreciation and amortization																	80,154	58,328	49,005
Income from operations																	123,704	122,512	158,710
Other income																	(154)	3,864	489
Loss on early extinguishment of debt																	0	0	0
Interest (expense) income																	0	18	226
Equity in earnings of subsidiaries																	65,452	84,789	49,869
Intercompany dividend income (expense)																	0	0	0
Intercompany interest income (expense)																	41,636	37,870	32,910
Income from continuing operations before provision for income taxes																	230,638	249,053	242,204
(Benefit) provision for income taxes																	(8,852)	29,341	37,754
Income from continuing operations																			204,450
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax																			0
Net income																	239,490	219,712	204,450
Other comprehensive income																	18,279	(19,406)	23,930
Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent																	257,769	200,306	228,380
Foreign Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries
Consolidating statement of income
Revenues																	965,740	870,043	612,059
Cost of revenues (exclusive of items shown separately below)																	704,093	621,062	450,197
Selling, general and administrative expenses																	100,264	88,155	63,966
Accretion of environmental liabilities																	1,325	1,238	1,126
Depreciation and amortization																	81,492	64,335	43,468
Income from operations																	78,566	95,253	53,302
Other income																	(648)	2,538	2,306
Loss on early extinguishment of debt																	0	0	0
Interest (expense) income																	(1,066)	(652)	(125)
Equity in earnings of subsidiaries																	0	0	0
Intercompany dividend income (expense)																	13,805	13,832	13,282
Intercompany interest income (expense)																	(41,636)	(37,870)	(32,910)
Income from continuing operations before provision for income taxes																	49,021	73,101	35,855
(Benefit) provision for income taxes																	11,812	9,977	(6,429)
Income from continuing operations																			42,284
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax																			2,794
Net income																	37,209	63,124	45,078
Other comprehensive income																	7,986	(8,381)	6,244
Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent																	45,195	54,743	51,322
Consolidating Adjustments
Consolidating statement of income
Revenues																	(21,285)	(27,842)	(17,064)
Cost of revenues (exclusive of items shown separately below)																	(21,285)	(27,842)	(17,064)
Selling, general and administrative expenses																	0	0	0
Accretion of environmental liabilities																	0	0	0
Depreciation and amortization																	0	0	0
Income from operations																	0	0	0
Other income																	0	0	0
Loss on early extinguishment of debt																	0	0	0
Interest (expense) income																	0	0	0
Equity in earnings of subsidiaries																	(252,884)	(258,818)	(236,246)
Intercompany dividend income (expense)																	(23,815)	(24,018)	(13,282)
Intercompany interest income (expense)																	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations before provision for income taxes																	(276,699)	(282,836)	(249,528)
(Benefit) provision for income taxes																	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations																			(249,528)
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax																			0
Net income																	(276,699)	(282,836)	(249,528)
Other comprehensive income																	(26,265)	27,787	(30,174)
Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent																	$ (302,964)	$ (255,049)	$ (279,702)

[1] Items shown separately on the statements of income consist of (i) accretion of environmental liabilities and (ii) depreciation and amortization.

[2] The third quarter net income and earnings per share were impacted by a $26.4 million loss on early extinguishment of debt in connection with a redemption and repurchase of our $520.0 million previously outstanding senior secured notes. The fourth quarter 2012 net income and earnings per share were impacted by a decrease in unrecognized tax benefits of $52.4 million resulting from expiring statute of limitation periods related to an historical Canadian debt restructuring transaction.