In your remarks, please factor in the nutritional value indicated.

And do NOT mention this to Sparky. Thank you.

Today’s a day for tooting our own horn! I have to share the wonderful comments below. We received them this afternoon.X

If you’re not a New Pig customer, you really should think about becoming one! You could be the next to email us—after we knock your socks off, too!

We’ll be happy to help you in any of these areas:

Absorbents
Ash & Trash
Containment
Drums & Containers
Drum Accessories
Facility Maintenance
Gloves
GripZone™ Floor Safety
Janitorial Supplies
Leak Diverters
Parking Lot Supplies
Personal Safety/PPE
Plant Safety
Spill Kits
Spill/Drain Barriers
Storage & Handling
Stormwater/SPCC
Wipers & Rags

Images © Michael Brown - Fotolia.com

I’ve blogged before about the dangers of mercury. Short-term exposure can cause coughs, sore throat and headache. It can poison your lungs, kidneys and nervous system.

Unfortunately, liquid mercury doesn’t look toxic, it looks way cool. See the shiny globs below.

I’m guessing that mercury’s sexy sheen is ultimately behind the mess surrounding an Arizona High School. A quick summary:

• Five students got hold of mercury at the school and took it home; officials are still gathering details about that
• One or more spills contaminated three classrooms, a locker room and two buses
• The school was closed for five days of decontamination
• The EPA screened 62 homes for contamination
• Two science teachers were moved to non-science classes at other district schools and replaced with substitutes

Sigh. I feel for everyone involved. The more who know that mercury’s dangerous, the better. The more who know that it demands special precautions during testing, cleanup and disposal, the better.

Image © Cerae - Fotolia.com

Go back in time with me a few hours.

How many? As Dr. Evil might say: One mill-ion hours.

That will take us to sometime in early 1896. Recent events:

• Pencil patented
• First Nobel prizes
• X-rays discovered
• Utah becomes 45th state

Why are we doing this? To appreciate the accomplishment by a California company in a dangerous business—debris clearing and demolition. They’ve gone one million worker hours with no lost-time accidents.

And that’s the second time they’ve done it!

Let’s have one big sweeping doffing of the hard hats (once we’re clear of the danger zone, of course) to EEC Operating Services. Well done.

Now somebody find a safety scoreboard with room for lots of digits …

Sunshine Cleaning (opens March 13) has officially made my list of movies to absolutely, certainly, definitely, positively, unquestionably, maybe, possibly see.

Absolutely because: Two sisters work to send their son/nephew to school.

Certainly because: They enter the business of cleaning up crime and trauma scenes, also known as CTS Decon. This means handling the ungodly messes from murders, suicides, accidents, decomposing bodies, meth labs and more.

Definitely because: New Pig has many customers in this field; they deal with a wide range of hazards and materials; see below for products commonly needed.

Positively because: CTS Decon demands not only a strong stomach and a strong back but a strong heart  because workers often end up consoling those close to victims.

Unquestionably because: Sunshine Cleaning stars accomplished beauties Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Yeah, yeah, Oscar-winner Alan Arkin as well.

Maybe because: My wife will not want to see this.

Possibly because: Will it play in the nearby metropolis of Altoona?

*

How Stuff Works gives a fantastic overview of CTS Decon here, including striking details: brain matter hardens like cement … blood gels up … meth labs can remain toxic indefinitely if not cleaned properly …

We also reviewed purchases by customers in this field. Products used include:

Absorbents
Medical waste disposal services
Biohazard waste bags
Biohazard waste buckets
Biohazard waste burn bin
Sharps disposal services
Poly disposal bags
Trash container liners
Trash container dollies
Power-washing containment & recovery equipment
Poly drums
Pails
Hand cleaners
Stain removers
Mops and buckets
Brooms and handles
Shovels
Industrial wet vacuums
Floor scrubbers
Level A suits
Boots, overboots & overshoes
Disposable footwear
Chemical-resistant gloves
Disposable nitrile gloves
Disposable vinyl & polyethylene gloves
Disposable latex gloves
General-purpose gloves
Work gloves
Safety goggles
Reusable respirators
Disposable respirators
Respirator filters and cartridgesWipers and rags

I recently read an article about how the states of Ohio and Michigan are encouranging residents to purchase water barrels to collect rainwater for watering their plants, trees and shrubs.

Kudos to the states for encouraging these efforts and offering the barrels at a discounted rate. Every little bit of conservation helps!

But let’s take this one step further. Instead of paying for a new water-collection container—which is essentially an open-head 55-gallon drum with a fitting and hose in the bottom third of the drum—why not check with local businesses to see if any of them happen to have any leftover drums?

Drums are a huge source of waste for facilities, and in many cases, they will gladly give them out to anyone willing to haul them. (Just make sure that they’ve been well rinsed of any chemical residues!)

After you’ve filled the bed of your best buddy’s pickup truck, head to your preferred home improvement mecca and purchase a good length of hose, hose barbs, a couple of gaskets, a hole saw and a threaded fitting, and for a few bucks, you’ve got an entire herd of rain collection barrels that are likely to look identical to the $89.95 model advertised.

While you’re going green, the Joneses across the street will be green with envy.

Image © robybret - Fotolia.com

Listening to customers—something we’ve always prized at New Pig—takes on fresh meaning in an age when online outrage leads a major brand like Tropicana to pull new packaging within two months of introducing it.

Orange you glad you have such power?

Using means like this blog, Twitter and more, our sizable ears will get even bigger—the better to hear you with.

Image © Simone van den Berg - Fotolia.com

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Click to see products for emergency spill response