Related Party Transactions (Details) (Mr. Christopher Leichtweis [Member], USD $)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Mr. Christopher Leichtweis [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Indemnification bond	$ 10,900,000
Rate of compensation under indemnification agreement (in hundredths)	0.75%
Percentage of compensation paid under indemnification agreement (in hundredths)	60.00%
Officers' Compensation	324,480
Annual Officers Salaries Change	$ 30,000

The annual rate of change in the officers salaries as stipulated in the employment agreement.

No definition available.

Name:	pesi_AnnualOfficersSalariesChange
Namespace Prefix:	pesi_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Refers to amount of indemnification bond.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	pesi_IndemnificationBond
Namespace Prefix:	pesi_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Refers to percentage of compensation paid under indemnification agreement.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	pesi_PercentageOfCompensationPaidUnderIndemnificationAgreement
Namespace Prefix:	pesi_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Refers to rate of compensation under indemnification agreement.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	pesi_RateOfCompensationUnderIndemnificationAgreement
Namespace Prefix:	pesi_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Expenditures for salaries of officers. Does not include allocated share-based compensation, pension and post-retirement benefit expense or other labor-related non-salary expense. For commercial and industrial companies, excludes any direct and overhead labor that is included in cost of goods sold.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 225

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 2

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.4)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6880815&loc=d3e20235-122688

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OfficersCompensation
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration