Brinckman Joins Heritage-Crystal Clean

Elgin, Illinois, April 2, 2002 -- Joseph Chalhoub, President and CEO of Heritage-Crystal Clean, LLC, announced today that Donald Brinckman has joined the Company as an Investor, Director and Member of the Executive Committee.

Although he will not be involved in the day-to-day operation of Heritage-Crystal Clean, Brinckman will have a strong presence in guiding the overall development of the Company.

Brinckman is well known in the business and financial communities as the Founder and former President, CEO and Chairman of Safety-Kleen Corp. In 1968, he found a small parts washer company located in Milwaukee called Safety-Kleen and purchased it for $25,000. Under his direction, it grew from a regional firm to an international environmental service company with annual sales in excess of 1.0 billion dollars.

During this time, Safety-Kleen recorded remarkable earnings growth. In 1987, it became the only NYSE listed Company to record over twenty-percent annual net earnings growth for seventeen consecutive years, which was a new American business record.

In addition, for a decade, Wall Street recognized the company as one of the "Nifty-Fifty" companies on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Safety-Kleen was purchased by Laidlaw Environmental Services for over 2 billion dollars.

Commenting on the association of Brinckman with Heritage-Crystal Clean, Chalhoub stated that, "Don's participation in the Company will not only strengthen our position as one of the fastest growing companies in the environmental service industry, but will add a knowledgeable mind to help guide the Company's future direction as we continue our successes of the past two years."

He added: "I have known Don for almost two decades, and have worked with him for a good number of those years. Don's vast experience and the respect he has earned in the business and financial communities will be a great benefit to the Company. We are all very excited to work with him."

Heritage-Crystal Clean, LLC, headquartered in Elgin, Illinois, is a privately-held marketing and sales Company that concentrates on servicing the automotive repair, commercial and industrial marketplaces, primarily in the Midwest and Eastern States.

In so doing, it provides parts cleaner and other fluid supply and waste collection services to tens-of-thousands of small to medium-size customers. In the future, Heritage-Crystal Clean will continue to serve these customers with their solvent needs, while expanding its service operations across the United States through the Company's growing distribution network of Branches and Logistical Hubs.

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