The Green Stuff™ to Clearwater Technologies Inc. OpflexTM is a modified polymer foam sponge that is hydrophobic, repelling and floating on water, but rapidly attracts and absorbs any oil or hydrocarbon chemical present.
WEST HYANNISPORT, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cellect Plastics LLC, a client of Novak Druce + Quigg LLP attorney William Ramey III, is pleased to announce that it has signed a 5-year $30 million contract for the supply of OpflexTM The Green Stuff™ to Clearwater Technologies Inc. OpflexTM is a modified polymer foam sponge that is hydrophobic, repelling and floating on water, but rapidly attracts and absorbs any oil or hydrocarbon chemical present. The captured oil can be easily recovered by wringing out the OpflexTM foam sponge and the material can then immediately be redeployed for further absorption work.
“This amazing green eco-friendly, reusable oil absorbent foam will become one of our core products and is “green”
This makes OpflexTM the most innovative, environmentally responsible, simple, effective and affordable oil removal technology in the world - with many useful applications.
Scott Smith (President, CEO, and owner of both Cellect Technologies LLC and Cellect Plastics LLC), stated, “Since the flood of 2006 that nearly wiped out my entire polymer foam manufacturing operation in St. Johnsville, NY with oil contaminated water, I have been committed to developing a long term solution for oil removal from water and I have spent over $5 million in research and development related to a solution called OpflexTM.
“Although OpflexTM is currently being used very successfully to help clean up oil in the Gulf from the spill and on its way to help with the spill in China, it was not created for this application but to address the problems with storm water runoff and associated oil contamination that annually seriously contaminates precious, and increasingly threatened, water resources throughout the USA and other developed and developing nations.”
Al Dunbar, President and CEO of Clearwater stated, “Surprisingly, the greatest problem we face with environmental contamination by oil is not spills like the Exxon Valdez disaster or even the oil well catastrophe in the Gulf, but the largely unseen, insidious and constant pollution of streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal waters by oil-contaminated storm water and snow melt run-off.
“Every day, many millions of vehicles constantly leak gasoline, diesel, engine oil, lubricants and coolants onto roads and parking lots. This pollution is then swept by the next rainfall into the nearest storm water drain. From there it flows - usually untreated - into water courses. Individually such leaks from 'non-point' sources may be small but, collectively and cumulatively, drip by drip, they amount to a 'torrent' of oil pollution! In the USA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that about 180 million gallons of oil per year escapes into the environment. That’s equivalent to 16 Exxon Valdez spills or one Gulf oil well incident every year! One quart of motor oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of water!”
Most of this pollution (around 60%) comes from untreated storm water and snow melt run-off. Forty percent of all water resources in the USA are polluted to the extent that they are unusable as drinking water sources or safe for fishing or swimming.
OpflexTM is unlike any other conventional white oil sorbent because it is open celled foam that is 70% less in weight and reusable - up to 100 times or more. Floating on water and rapidly absorbing 32 times its own weight in oil, OpflexTM can be wrung out to recover the captured oil (which can then be placed in drums for recycling). As it is both open-celled and water-repellent, the water flows through it while OpflexTM retains the oil, making OpflexTM a true absorbent and not an adsorbent. This improves oil removal efficiency significantly when compared to all other sorbent materials.
With a density of 1.5 pounds per cubic foot, the green OpflexTM is 70% less in weight than conventional oil sorbents, not only making OpflexTM easy to handle and very buoyant - with no risk of getting water logged and sinking - but ultimately having much less carbon impact than 50 – 60 pounds per cubic foot conventional white sorbents that are used once and placed in a landfill.
About Cellect Plastics LLC
Cellect Plastics LLC, established in February 2001, is a global leader in the development and manufacture of specialty low carbon impact foams including biodegradable foams that contain a biodegradable initiator that activates in a landfill. These markets include medical and healthcare, consumer, flooring and carpet underlayment, gaskets and seals, automotive and transportation, building and construction, sports and recreation, and military and electronics packaging. Cellect Plastics LLC employs approximately 70 people in Massachusetts and New York and operates a manufacturing and distribution facility in St. Johnsville, New York. Cellect Plastics LLC is solely owned by Scott C. Smith.
Recently Cellect Plastics LLC’s OpflexTM The Green Stuff™ was approved and ordered by BP in the Gulf of Mexico as a reusable oil absorbent to aid in the cleanup of oil. For more information visit www.cellectplastics.com.
About Cellect Technologies LLC
Cellect Technologies LLC, established in 2006, is a global technology leader in licensing intellectual property related to polymeric materials. For information about the technology or for a license, please contact William P. Ramey, III of Novak Druce + Quigg LLP at 713-571-3400.
About ClearWater Environmental Technologies Inc.
ClearWater Environmental Technologies Inc. is a new company based in South Carolina with associates in California, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, China, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Israel, Ukraine and Russia.
Its mission is to provide innovative and very cost-effective solutions to global environmental problems, especially those arising from oil pollution. The company’s motto is “The green solution to oil pollution”! ClearWater’s President and CEO, Al Dunbar, said: “This amazing green eco-friendly, reusable oil absorbent foam will become one of our core products and is “green” in both color and function.”
ClearWater Environmental Technologies and Al Dunbar may be contacted by e-mail at aldunbar@sc.rr.com, by fax at 1-702-951-5552 and by phone on 1-803-546-5379.
