As the Gulf spill crisis continues and response supplies are tight, I’m proud that New Pig is able to say WE HAVE OIL BOOMS. Please click here or on the image to get more info OR call us at toll-free 1-800-HOT-HOGS® (468-4647).

Many New Pig customers are going green without changing a thing. That’s because PIG® Universal Mat now contains 50% recycled content.

Believe me, it feels good when you can improve your best-known product behind the scenes in a way that helps customers reach environmental initiatives—and still deliver the same performance and value.

We’ve prepared for questions with the information below. Feel free to ask anything else with a comment here on the blog or by calling New Pig Customer Service at 1-800-HOT-HOGS® (468-4647).

What should I expect from PIG® Mat with 50% recycled content?

You can expect the same great performance you have always known. The recycled content in PIG® Mat is still 100% polypropylene. The color is the same and all of the features you love about PIG® Mat are completely unchanged.

What is the recycled content?

The raw materials used to produce PIG® Mat are comprised of over 50% post-industrial recycled polypropylene fibers generated from sources outside our absorbent manufacturing process. These fibers could otherwise be destined for a landfill, but instead we recycle them into our gray Mat products. This simple change cuts our consumption of new polypropylene in half—and that’s good for the environment.

How do I know it’s still the best Mat on the market?

We’ve developed a process that uses only recycled materials that meet our rigorous standards. Then we perform extensive testing on finished PIG® Mat samples to confirm that critical characteristics such as absorbency, durability, strength, wicking, floor grip, flame resistance and chemical compatibility meet our expectations—
and yours.

Is it still as strong? Will I still be able to walk on it?

Absolutely. We’ve RAT-tested (reciprocal abrasion tested) PIG® Mat to make sure that it still holds up to foot traffic. It still has eight thermally-bonded layers that stay together—even when the Mat is fully saturated.

Will it still be as absorbent?

Yes. Absorbency and liquid retention are unchanged.

Will it still be as chemically resistant?

Yes. It is still 100% polypropylene, so you can use PIG® Mat with confidence to absorb anything that you’ve used it for in the past.

Will it still last all day/week/month?

Since durability, absorbency and chemical resistance are the same, it will have exactly the same longevity as the PIG® Mat you purchased from us last week, last month or last year.

Will the price go up?

No. Unlike some green products that come with a higher price tag, the price of PIG® Mat will remain the same.

Why would we mess with a good thing?

New Pig wants to help protect the environment. We’ve developed a way to incorporate recycled content into
PIG® Mat and still maintain the same performance. Using recycled fibers in our Mat keeps a large amount of process scrap material out of landfills and significantly lowers our consumption of new polypropylene. It’s a simple change that has a positive environmental impact for us—and for you.

A nice little thing happened on a business trip that I just took, and it’s largely due to the PIG® logo.

Dan Silver and I were visiting New Pig customers, mainly learning about their use of  PIG® Lite-Dri® Loose Absorbent and other loose absorbents. We were in Louisville, Kentucky, and we had a little free time before our next hop to Cincinnati.

We headed over to Churchill Downs, the track where the Kentucky Derby is run, just in hopes of getting to see the track.

We asked an employee at the gate about that, and he said there were tours, but we didn’t have time. We went inside the building anyway, sort of hoping for some dumb luck.

We ended up asking two other employees if there was a way to see the track besides taking a tour. The one lady checked about a balcony in the off-track betting area, but she found out that off-track betting wasn’t open.

The other lady’s gaze was kind of fixed on my chest. I get that a lot. Okay, not really. She pointed to the PIG® logo on my shirt and asked about it. Piggers have seen that kind of curiosity countless times. I saw an opportunity.

“If I tell you about the logo,” I said, “would you help us get a look at the track?” A workplace-related exchange, right?

The next thing you know, the lady who noticed the logo said something about going off to take a break, and the other lady shooed us after her. She took us right up to the track, close enough to touch it, and Dan got the pictures below. To say the least, Churchill Downs is really something.  Next Saturday, the Kentucky Derby will be run there for the 135th time in front of about 150,000 people, and we got to see it on a quick stopover.

That, ladies and gentleman, is PIG® power (and Louisville hospitality).

Queen’s University of Ontario has good news and bad news about using detergents to clean up spills of diesel oil on water.

The good news is that it reduces potential impact of the oil on surface-dwelling animals (picture a sea gull).

The bad news is that the detergents, in dispersing oil into water, make the spill 100 times more toxic to young fish, which could be devastating to fisheries (not to mention that sea gull, if he’s looking for a fish to eat).

So we’re glad to offer non-chemical options for removing spills of oil on water, including:

PIG® White Oil-Only Mat Pads & Rolls
PIG® Brown Oil-Only Mat Pads & Rolls
PIG® Oil-Only Socks, Booms, & Sweeps
PIG® Non-Absorbent Booms (to keep spills from spreading)
PIG® Oil-Only Pillows, Pans & Bags
PIG® Oil-Only Loose Absorbents

Images © caudavide – Fotolia.com