Our guest on Episode 11 of Compounders was Brian Recatto. Brian is the CEO of Heritage-Crystal Clean* (Ticker: HCCI), a $700 million market cap company that provides cleaning and waste removal services to customers in the US. HCCI is one of the key competitors to Clean Harbors (Ticker: CLH), a company whose CEO we also interviewed on this show. Specifically, Heritage operates in two segments: an Environmental Service division that offers parts cleaning and containerized waste management services; and an Oil Business segment that collects, re-refines and then re-sells used motor oil.

Brian took over the CEO role in 2017 and, aside from a brief COVID-related speed bump in 2020, he has overseen consistently improving results and a higher stock price. COVID presented—and continues to present—a number of challenges for Heritage but the company’s strong balance sheet and consistent Environmental Services business have allowed it to weather the storm. With that as a backdrop, Brian and I had a great discussion about:

• How the company has navigated the challenging customer disruptions over the last 18 months;
• The ups and downs associated with owning and operating an oil re-refinery;
• The future of hazardous waste regulation and why HCCI is one of the good guys when it comes to environmental matters;
• The benefits of operating dense route networks and how Heritage defends its market position; and
• How the company approaches M&A and the opportunity to add more scale

Please enjoy the interview at the following sites or further down as a video:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-the-future-of-waste-recycling-with-brian/id1579124518?i=1000538307517
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fGI5l9bIxwCH5dBUfTnK4
Podbean: https://compounders.podbean.com/e/with-brian-recatto-ceo-of-heritage-crystal-clean-inc-nasdaq-hcci/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/bGS2D-Y3aHs

Also, if you have any comments, feedback, or guest recommendations, please contact us at podcast@covestreetcapital.com. You can also follow the podcast on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/CompoundersPod.

*Cove Street Capital owns HCCI common stock and has since 2013.