Stericycle

Last updated
Stericycle, Inc.
Type Public
Industry Services: compliant regulated waste disposal, secure information destruction services, recall services, sustainability services, communications services
Founded1989
Headquarters,
Key people
Cindy J Miller, president and chief executive officer
Revenue
  • Increase2.svg US$ 3.58 billion (2017) [1]
  • Increase2.svg US$ 1.913 billion (2012) [1]
  • Increase2.svg US$ 535.619 million(2013) [1]
  • Increase2.svg US$ 468.836 million(2012) [1]
  • Increase2.svg US$ 311.372 million(2013) [1]
  • Increase2.svg US$ 267.996 million (2012) [1]
Total assets
  • Increase2.svg US$ 3,882.797 million (2013) [2]
  • Increase2.svg US$ 3,546.738 million (2012) [1]
Total equity
  • Increase2.svg US$ 1,767.538 million (2013) [2]
  • Increase2.svg US$ 1,557.323 million (2012) [2]
Number of employees
23,200 [3]  (2017)
Website https://www.stericycle.com/en-us
A Stericycle truck StericycleTruck.jpg
A Stericycle truck

Stericycle is a compliance company that specializes in collecting and disposing regulated medical waste, such as medical waste and sharps, pharmaceuticals, hazardous waste, and providing services for recalled and expired goods. It also provides related education and training services, and patient communication services. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois, with many more bases of operation around the world, including Medical waste incinerators in Utah and North Carolina.

Contents

Overview

Stericycle, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, offers regulated waste management services, sharps disposal containers to reduce the risk of needlestick injuries, healthcare compliance services, pharmaceutical disposal, and medication disposal services such as kiosks or drug take back program for disposing expired medication disposal or recalled medication products through incineration processes. In addition, with the acquisition of Shred-it in 2015, Stericycle also offers secure information destruction services including document shredding and hard drive destruction.

The company serves healthcare facilities such as hospitals, blood banks, pharmaceutical manufacturers,. Stericycle also serves myriad small businesses, which include outpatient clinics, medical and dental offices, abortion clinics, veterinary and animal hospitals, funeral homes, home healthcare agencies, body art studios, and long-term and sub-acute care facilities. Medical device manufacturers, consumer goods manufacturers, and retailers are also key customers.

Stericycle has been harshly criticized by residents living near their incinerators and environmentalists across the globe. [4] Currently, Stericycle is being investigated by the state of Utah for burning hazardous, radioactive [5] waste above legal levels at their North Salt Lake location. The investigations also are in response to Stericycle's alleged falsification of records to hide the alleged illegal quantity burning near Foxboro Elementary in North Salt Lake. [6] [7] [8]

International operations

Stericycle has a presence in 21 countries with approximately 640 locations worldwide. Approximately 20% of the company's revenue comes from its international operations. Full services are offered the U.S., Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain. Stericycle offers all services, except for hazardous waste management, in the United Kingdom. Only regulated waste operations are in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, South Korea, and Romania. Only secure information destruction services are provided in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Singapore. Secure information destruction services under the Shred-it brand are also provided in the United Arab Emirates through a joint venture with the company's portion of income reported as an equity investment. [9]

Leadership

Cindy Miller joined Stericycle in October 2018 as President and Chief Operating Officer, and became Chief Executive Officer in May 2019. She was preceded in her role by Charlie Alutto, and prior to that, by Mark Miller, who took over from founder Dr. James Sharp in 1989. Stericycle has been publicly traded on the NASDAQ since 1996 and has 10 people on its board of directors. [10]

History

Stericycle was founded in 1989 by Dr. James Sharp based on his business plan to address the Syringe Tide, where hypodermic needles and other medical waste washed up to the shores of New York and New Jersey. The Syringe Tide led to the Medical Waste Tracking Act, signed in 1988, establishing regulated medical waste management as an industry. [11]

In 1992, Mark Miller stepped in as President and CEO, and as a result of Miller's leadership, Stericycle grew rapidly, going public in 1996 on the NASDAQ (ticker SRCL). Stericycle began to expand internationally in 1998, starting with Mexico and Canada. (4) In 1999, Stericycle acquired 200,000 customers from Allied Waste Industries after Allied acquired Browning Ferris Industries. [12] [13]

The company's international business began in 1997 with a joint venture in Mexico. Since then, Stericycle has created services, tools and resources for healthcare professionals not only in the United States and Mexico, but also in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

In 1999, Stericycle began offering safety and medical compliance training services with the launch of its Stericycle Steri-Safe OSHA Compliance program.

Expansion

In the 2000s, Stericycle achieved growth through launching and/or acquiring complementary business lines, as well as continued international expansion. In 2003, Stericycle entered sharps waste management, acquiring Scherer Healthcare's existing practice and occasionally referring to parts of the service as “Bio Systems” in markets like Ireland. [14] [15] In 2004, Stericycle began providing medical waste disposal solutions[ clarification needed ] in the United Kingdom with more international growth following. [9] In 2008, Stericycle acquired its first hazardous waste removal company and in 2010 started its Communications Solutions business line. The acquisition of PSC Environmental Solutions in 2014 led to the formal establishment of Environmental Solutions focused on hazardous waste. [16] Finally, Stericycle's largest acquisition to date, Shred-it, occurred in 2015, for US$2.3 billion. [17]

In 2010, Stericycle began to include patient notification services with the acquisition of NotifyMD. Several other acquisitions followed, giving Stericycle an interest in telephone support services for physician offices.

In 2014, it acquired PSC Environmental Services LLC in a deal worth $275 million to form Stericycle Environmental Solutions. [18] This enabled expansion in hazardous waste management.

In 2015, it acquired Shred-it International in a deal worth $2.3 billion. [19]

The company lost a contract to provide clinical waste services to GPs and pharmacies in Cumbria and north-east England in April 2017, when their competitor, Healthcare Environment Services put in a substantially cheaper offer, of £310,000, than theirs of £479,999. Stericycle then contrived a legal challenge against NHS England’s decision which was dismissed by the High Court of Justice in July 2018, and the company's behaviour severely criticised. Their commercial director Lindsay Dransfield was described as “a broadly unsatisfactory witness”. The company said it intended to appeal. [20]

Beyond services related to healthcare wastes, in some markets the company has expanded its offerings to include management of certain hazardous wastes as well as patient transport and medical courier services.

In October 2018, Cindy Miller became president and Chief Operating Officer of Stericycle, and became Chief Executive Officer in May 2019. [21] [22]

Services

Stericycle offers the following types of specialized waste management:

Stericycle offers secure information destruction, for both paper and hard drive, through Shred-it.

The company also offers compliance training primarily through online courses focused on applying industry regulations related to information security, human resources, medical billing, and patient communications. [24] They have also developed training software related to compliance. Additionally, they have a communications team that coordinates call centers in emergencies and assists with waste management messaging. [25]

UK

The company has a contract for collection and disposal services to around 700 GP practices across Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex, Oxfordshire and Berkshire and acute NHS trusts in England. In 2020 it suffered from capacity problems and failed to collect clinical waste routinely from 139 practices during September and October. 245 collections were missed. They said that the NHS was producing significantly higher volumes of clinical waste than expected because of the amount of Personal protective equipment being used. [26]

Community involvement

Opioid crisis

In 2018, Stericycle joined the National Safety Council as the medicine disposal partner for a nationwide campaign. Stericycle served as a leading voice on safe disposal practices giving away thousands of Seal&Send Mail Back Envelopes consumers could drop in any mailbox. [27]

The Stop Everyday Killers campaign began with the unveiling of Prescribed to Death: A Memorial to the Victims of the Opioid Crisis in Chicago. The exhibit includes a memorial wall made of pills carved with faces that represent the 22,000 people lost last year to prescription opioid overdose. [28]

In 2019, Stericycle partnered with the National Safety Council to launch the Opioids at Work Employer Toolkit. [29]

SteriCares Hardship Fund

Stericycle operates a fund that allows employees to support other employees in times of hardship. Stericycle employees have helped over 250 Stericycle families with over $515,000 in grants since 2016. During the fund's biggest year ever in 2017, employees raised $160,000 alone in emergency relief following Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria. The company currently operates the fund in the US and Canada, and plans to expand it to Latin America in 2019. [30] [9]

After Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017, Stericycle team members amassed three truckloads of donations that were distributed to families across five Stericycle sites in Houston. [31] [32] After Hurricane Maria, Stericycle facilities in Puerto Rico became gathering zones for hot meals, water, laundry service, showers, and shelter to team members who lost their homes. [33]

Global food aid

Since 2011, Stericycle has supported Feed My Starving Children, an organization benefiting malnourished children around the world. In 2018, Stericycle team members packed over 291 cases totaling nearly 63,000 meals, which will feed over 170 children. [34]

American Diabetes Association partnership

Stericycle has also partnered with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in 2019. Stericycle's partnership with the ADA includes providing consumer-based education, raising awareness and sponsoring key events, such as the Tour de Cure. [35]

Controversy

Pollution violation settlement

In 2011, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality alleged Stericycle "failed to dispose of pathological waste according to approved methods of treatment and disposition" in violation of 30 Tex. Admin. Code § 330.1219(b)(3). Stericycle denied the charges but agreed to a settlement that included a fine of $34,000. [36]

Environmental concerns

Stericycle's medical waste incinerator located in North Salt Lake, Utah has been a topic of hot debate in the community. In September 2013, Erin Brockovich joined in with Utah residents in their call for Stericycle to discontinue their business in the area. [37] [38] Brockovich's visit was spurred by a violation notice from the Utah Division of Air Quality to Stericycle for excessive emissions above legal limits, and manipulating their reporting to show lower amounts of Mercury, Dioxins, and other potentially harmful chemicals emitted through burning medical waste. [39] [40]

The violations in 2013 were followed by criminal investigations at the order of Utah Governor Gary Herbert. [6] [7] Investigations by California's Soil Water Air Protection Enterprise, or SWAPE, in connection with Ms. Brockovich, discovered Dioxin in homes near the incinerator at levels 16x higher than what is considered "safe". [41] [42]

As of December 1, 2014, Stericycle and the Utah Division of Air Quality reached an agreement acknowledging no wrongdoing, though the settlement does require Stericycle to relocate approximately 40 miles to the west of the incinerator's current location in North Salt Lake. The settlement also calls for Stericycle to pay a $2.3 million fine, half of which is forgivable if the move happens within 3 years. [43] [44]

As of October 2017, a $295 million settlement was reached on behalf of a nationwide class of Stericycle customers, following a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of engaging in a price-increasing scheme that automatically inflated customers' bills up to 18 percent biannually, according to a news release from Hagens Berman, the Chicago-based law firm that represented the class.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazardous waste</span> Ignitable, reactive, corrosive and/or toxic unwanted or unusable materials

Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. Hazardous waste is a type of dangerous goods. They usually have one or more of the following hazardous traits: ignitability, reactivity, corrosivity, toxicity. Listed hazardous wastes are materials specifically listed by regulatory authorities as hazardous wastes which are from non-specific sources, specific sources, or discarded chemical products. Hazardous wastes may be found in different physical states such as gaseous, liquids, or solids. A hazardous waste is a special type of waste because it cannot be disposed of by common means like other by-products of our everyday lives. Depending on the physical state of the waste, treatment and solidification processes might be required.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial waste</span> Waste produced by industrial activity or manufacturing processes

Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and gravel, masonry and concrete, scrap metal, oil, solvents, chemicals, scrap lumber, even vegetable matter from restaurants. Industrial waste may be solid, semi-solid or liquid in form. It may be hazardous waste or non-hazardous waste. Industrial waste may pollute the nearby soil or adjacent water bodies, and can contaminate groundwater, lakes, streams, rivers or coastal waters. Industrial waste is often mixed into municipal waste, making accurate assessments difficult. An estimate for the US goes as high as 7.6 billion tons of industrial waste produced annually, as of 2017. Most countries have enacted legislation to deal with the problem of industrial waste, but strictness and compliance regimes vary. Enforcement is always an issue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resource Conservation and Recovery Act</span>

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illegal dumping</span> Act of dumping waste illegally

Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping (UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto land, including waste dumped or tipped on a site with no license to accept waste. The United States Environmental Protection Agency developed a “profile” of the typical illegal dumper. Characteristics of offenders include local residents, construction and landscaping contractors, waste removers, scrap yard operators, and automobile and tire repair shops.

Articles related to waste management include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharps waste</span>

Sharps waste is a form of biomedical waste composed of used "sharps", which includes any device or object used to puncture or lacerate the skin. Sharps waste is classified as biohazardous waste and must be carefully handled. Common medical materials treated as sharps waste are hypodermic needles, disposable scalpels and blades, contaminated glass and certain plastics, and guidewires used in surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biomedical waste</span> Waste containing infectious material

Biomedical waste or hospital waste is any kind of waste containing infectious materials generated during the treatment of humans or animals as well as during research involving biologics. It may also include waste associated with the generation of biomedical waste that visually appears to be of medical or laboratory origin, as well research laboratory waste containing biomolecules or organisms that are mainly restricted from environmental release. As detailed below, discarded sharps are considered biomedical waste whether they are contaminated or not, due to the possibility of being contaminated with blood and their propensity to cause injury when not properly contained and disposed. Biomedical waste is a type of biowaste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shred-it</span>

Shred-it is an information security solution provided by Stericycle Inc. Its services include document destruction, hard drive destruction, and specialty item shredding. The company is also known for its Annual Data Protection Report commissioned with Ipsos, a yearly survey of small business owners, C-level executives and consumers focusing on data protection and information security.

Waste management in Japan today emphasizes not just the efficient and sanitary collection of waste, but also reduction in waste produced and recycling of waste when possible. This has been influenced by its history, particularly periods of significant economic expansion, as well as its geography as a mountainous country with limited space for landfills. Important forms of waste disposal include incineration, recycling and, to a smaller extent, landfills and land reclamation. Although Japan has made progress since the 1990s in reducing waste produced and encouraging recycling, there is still further progress to be made in reducing reliance on incinerators and the garbage sent to landfills. Challenges also exist in the processing of electronic waste and debris left after natural disasters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clean Harbors</span>

Clean Harbors, Inc. is an American provider of environmental and industrial services, including hazardous waste disposal for companies, small waste generators and federal, state, provincial and local governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aragonite Hazardous Waste Incinerator</span> Hazardous waste incinerator in the state of Utah, United States

The Aragonite Hazardous Waste Incinerator is a waste disposal facility currently operated by Clean Harbors. It is located in Aragonite, Tooele County, Utah, United States, located in the western portion of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965</span>

The Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), is an Act of Congress passed in 1965. The United States Environmental Protection Agency described the Act as "the first federal effort to improve waste disposal technology". After the Second Industrial Revolution, expanding industrial and commercial activity across the nation, accompanied by increasing consumer demand for goods and services, led to an increase in solid waste generation by all sectors of the economy. The act established a framework for states to better control solid waste disposal and set minimum safety requirements for landfills. In 1976 Congress determined that the provisions of SWDA were insufficient to properly manage the nation's waste and enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Congress passed additional major amendments to SWDA in the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA).

The global waste trade is the international trade of waste between countries for further treatment, disposal, or recycling. Toxic or hazardous wastes are often imported by developing countries from developed countries.

Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, formed in 1997, is a multiracial grassroots organization based in San Francisco that works with low-income and working class urban, rural, and indigenous communities. It runs campaigns in the United States to build grassroots networks, and advocate for social justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug disposal</span> Safe disposal of unused drugs

Drug disposal is the discarding of drugs. Individuals commonly dispose of unused drugs that remain after the end of medical treatment. Health care organizations dispose of drugs on a larger scale for a range of reasons, including having leftover drugs after treating patients and discarding of expired drugs. Failure to properly dispose of drugs creates opportunities for others to take them inappropriately. Inappropriate disposal of drugs can also cause drug pollution.

Triumvirate Environmental, Inc. is a commercial waste management and environmental services provider company based in the United States.

Healthcare Environment Services (HES) Limited was a company based in Shotts. It claimed to be the largest independent medical waste management solutions company in the UK. On 30 April, HES was placed into liquidation

Michigan Disposal Service, also known as Kalamazoo City Dump, Kalamazoo City Landfill, Dispose-O-Waste and the Cork Street Landfill, is a 68-acre Superfund site in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Davis Creek is adjacent to the site. It is one of six Superfund sites in the Kalamazoo River watershed.

Tradebe is a waste management company based in Barcelona that was established in 1980. It operates in Spain, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Oman. The chairman is Josep Creixell, and the Chief Executive is Victor Creixell.

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