Oil spill cleanup veterans join forces
Two veterans of the oil spill clean up industry have joined forces to collarate on new spill control products.
The effort joins Donny Beaver – co-founder of New Pig Corporation and currently co-founder and CEO of HalenHardy, a manufacturer of environmental and safety products – and Derek Yurgaitis, a long-time executive with SPC Products and Brady Corporation and now president of Meltblown Technologies.
The two companies have joined forces to market a new line of leak and spill cleanup products called Spilltration.
According to oil spill cleanup experts, more than 80% of all hydrocarbon spills happen on land due to vehicle accidents or equipment failures, such as blown hydraulic hoses. And, the vast majority of these spills happen during inclement weather. Wet conditions cause oil slicks to spread quickly toward storm drains and waterways.
Two major challenges arise in wet conditions when trying to deploy traditional spill cleanup products: 1) Old-fashioned sorbents operate at less than one-third their capacity in wet weather, and 2) Standard sorbents are bulky and require significant storage space, forcing workers and cleanup teams to equip their vehicles with an insufficient amount of sorbents.
To tackle these problems, spill cleanup pioneer Donny Beaver began to search for oil cleanup materials that worked well in wet weather by absorbing oil and filtering water at the same time. Another attribute Beaver sought was the ability of the materials to be compressed into small packages.
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| Donny Beaver |
“Our goal was to cut wet-weather oil spill cleanup time in half while reducing storage space by at least 75%,” Beaver noted.
After several months of research and development, Beaver and his team discovered a family of fibers that exceeded their original criteria. As a result, the Spilltration line was born.
The Spilltration line of leak and spill cleanup products is:
- Comprised of durable, recycled materials and is engineered to absorb and contain oil-based leaks and spills while allowing clean water to filter through
- Designed for easy setup around industrial equipment, vehicles, in outdoor worksites and near storm drains and waterways, and;
- Effective on oil-based liquids, including motor oils, hydraulic fluids, diesel, transmission fluids, and more.
Once the Spilltration line was developed, Beaver reached out to a long-time industry friend, Derek Yurgaitis, to get his feedback on market potential. Yurgaitis was immediately interested.
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| Derek Yurgaitis |
“What I loved about the path Beaver had chosen was that it not only solved numerous issues with current spill control technologies, it accomplished this while reducing the overall cost to control and clean up outdoor land-based spills," Yurgaitis said. "From the perspective of our distributors, we aren't just taking another slice out of the same old pie, we are, as Beaver says, ‘Baking a new cake.’ These products add new, untapped customers for distribution partners.”
“We’ve been competitors since the 1980s, now we’ve joined forces. It’s very exciting,” added Donny Beaver, CEO of HalenHardy. “Derek and his team have been building strong relationships with industrial and safety distributors for decades. When we showed them our unique line of Spilltration oil spill solutions, they immediately wanted to help us get the products into their channels. It’s a win-win-win-win situation for customers, distributors, MBT and HalenHardy.”
Spilltration's innovative approach to solving the challenge of outdoor hydrocarbon leaks, drips and spills is a perfect marriage with the mantra of today's industrial and safety distributors – productivity, speed, cost savings, problem solving, Yurgaitis said.
"One of the challenges for any manufacturer is being able to innovate while executing on its core business efficiently," says Yurgaitis. “Our partnership with HalenHardy allows us to focus on our core strengths and continue to build great relationships with our distribution partners while providing innovative solutions to their customers."
This alliance will better position Spilltration products to service the following markets: environmental engineering, road building, heavy construction, oil and gas exploration, pipeline operations, power plants, emergency responders, spill cleanup contractors, transportation, utilities and many other indoor and outdoor industries.
The exclusive distribution agreement between HalenHardy and Meltblown Technologies will provide both companies an opportunity to focus on their core strengths and lead to better market penetration and faster innovation than either company could provide on their own. The agreement will capitalize on HalenHardy's relentless pursuit of solutions and problem solving, and leverage Meltblown Technology’s access to the safety and industrial distribution channels, according to the two companies.
MeltBlown Technologies, based in Sandersville, Georgia, manufactures the highest quality spill control products in the U.S.
HalenHardy LLC, based in Bellwood, Pennsylvania, develops innovative environmental and safety products focused on serving industrial and mobile workforces
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The March/April issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Joyce Lansdale and Vallen. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and David Kahle, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
