Bruce Watson from our Spill Control Team was recently able to solve a major problem for a large Industrial Site in Newcastle.

The company had been using a kitty litter product for oil spill clean up and recently when a road sweeping machine drove into an absorbed spill to brush it up, there was so much oil still on the roadway that the sweeper skidded off the road and could not get traction. The absorbent had just covered the spill but had not soaked it up. The problem with many absorbent floor sweeps is their very low absorbency rates. In the case of some products, the Floorsweep does not absorb the oil – the oil simply coats the surface, which is disastrous when it rains as the oil quickly washes off. This is why many Floorsweep absorbents are not allowed to be sent to general waste but must be cleaned or incinerated, which can be very expensive. Buying cheap Floorsweep absorbent can turn out to be a very expensive exercise.

Bruce supplied the company with our Zeosorb absorbent for onsite tests against the Kitty Litter absorbent. The Zeosorb left a dry surface and the company immediately made the change. The best news is that they will no longer need to pay for expensive disposal costs for used Floorsweep as the Zeosorb can go directly to general waste. Our Spill Control Team are also supplying and servicing on-site Emergency Response Spill Kits. Their life, at least around oil spills, will be a lot cheerier from now on.

You can check out the Zeosorb and our other Floorsweeps here.