Infographic: Lifecycle Costs of a Spill Cleanup

To help understand the financial impact of an oil spill and how your choice product can affect the overall lifecycle cost of a spill on your business or cleanup, we've put together this interactive infographic.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup

A myth in the oil/chemical spill response world is that Imbiber Beads® are more expensive than traditional materials such as Polypropylene.  This study not only dispels that myth, it demonstrate how using Imbiber Beads® can actually save responders time and money.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Traditional

Polypropylene is considered the "defacto" product for cleaning spills, but is it really the most cost effective and efficient tool?

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Imbiber Beads®

Advances in oil/fuel/solvent spill recovery products such as Imbiber Beads® have been proven to be more effective, efficient and add an element of safety for responders at the spill site.

Material Cost

Unfortunately, in most circumstances, only this upfront cost is considered when deciding which spill response product to purchase.  As you read through this Infographic you will see why that is a mistake.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Warehousing

Whether you're a distributor or an end user, having product stored onsite is crucial in the event of a spill.  Warehousing space can be extremely costly, with each pallet position costing an average of approximately $118 per year.  A 50,000 sq. ft. facility can can cost upwards of $1.1 million in fixed and active expenses.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Transportation

Often overlooked, transporting spill cleanup materials to a site of a spill can be both a logistical challenge as well a significant cost.

Labour

A large expense of spill response operations is typically magnified by the poor performance of traditional spill response products.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Time

Traditional spill response products such as polypropylene increase the time a spill response operation takes because more product needs to be deployed / recovered and also because secondary spills need to be addressed when the polypropylene leaks.

Post-Spill Transportation

Just as spill response product needs to be moved to a spill site, it also needs to be removed when the spill response operation is complete.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Traditional Disposal

Because vastly more cubic feet of polypropylene is necessary to clean a spill, disposal costs up to 6x the amount can occur when compared to using Imbiber Beads® products.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Pre-Spill

Before a spill takes place significant amounts of money is needed to be invested in both product and warehousing to ensure that when a spill happens, responders have the necessary product on or near the spill site.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Traditional Material Cost

Although less expensive on a 1:1 comparison, more product such as polypropylene is needed to recover the same volume of spilled oil/fuel/solvent.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Imbiber Beads® Material Cost

When comparing Imbiber Beads® spill response product to polypropylene 1:1 Imbiber Beads® do tend to appear less cost effective, however fewer Imbiber Beads® are needed to clean the same amount of fluid.

Traditional Warehousing

Due to the ineffectiveness of polypropylene and the increased volumes required, it would cost 5x more to store onsite when compared to Imbiber Beads® products.

Imbiber Beads® Warehousing

Imbiber Beads® industry leading containment capacity means you can keep less product on site and still recover the same amount of spilled oil / fuel / chemical.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Clean-Up Operation

The actual clean up operations are the most expensive component of the lifecycle cost of spills, NOT the products used.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Traditional Transportation

When compared to Imbiber Beads® spill response products, having to use 5x's more cubic feet of polypropylene to clean up the same volume of spill significantly increases transportation required to the spill sites.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Imbiber Beads® Transportation

Being able to use less Imbiber Beads® product to clean a spill means less has to be shipped to the spill site and a savings is seen when compared to polypropylene.

Traditional Labour

Volume to volume more polypropylene is needed to clean a spill as compared to Imbiber Beads®.  This translates into more personnel being required to be on site for the deployment/retrieval of polypropylene pads for both the initial spill and subsequent secondary contamination.

Imbiber Beads® Labour

Fewer Imbiber Beads® products are needed to clean a spill as compared to polypropylene.  This means less response personnel required to deploy / retrieve the product on a spill.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Traditional Time

It takes significantly more polypropylene pads to clean a spill and the subsequent secondary contamination as compared to Imbiber Beads®.  The deployment and retrieval of the polypropylene not only increases personnel costs, it also increases time it takes responders to fully clean a spill.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Imbiber Beads® Time

A three (3) year government study tested Imbiber Beads® against ten other sorbent products.  It was found that by using Imbiber Beads® products on a spill, responders could reduce the average time and labor by 60%, providing significant cost savings.

Post Spill

Just because a spill site has been cleaned it does not mean costs associated with the response operation are over. 

Traditional Post-Spill Transportation

When compared to Imbiber Beads® spill response products, having to use 5x's more cubic feet of polypropylene to clean up the same volume of spill significantly increases t he amount of product which needs to be transported from the site of the spill once the response operation is complete.

Imbiber Beads® Post-Spill Transportation

Being able to use less Imbiber Beads® product to clean a spill means less has to be shipped from the spill site and a savings is seen when compared to polypropylene.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Traditional Disposal

Disposal of hazardous waste material can be a difficult and expensive exercise.  While each region may have their own legislation and cost structure regarding the disposal of HAZMAT materials, the reality is that the handling and disposal will cost hundreds of dollars per barrel.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Imbiber Beads® Disposal

Using less Imbiber Beads® product to fully clean a spill means responders can up to 6x's less for disposal.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Total Cost

When you take into account all of the life cycle costs listed above, the use of IMBIBER BEADS products provides industry with 25-50% cost savings when dealing with an oil or chemical spill.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Traditional Total Cost

Although up front product costs are less expensive, the overall life cycle costs of cleaning a spill with polypropylene is anywhere from 25%-50% more expensive than if Imbiber Beads® product were use due to their superior performance capabilities.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Imbiber Beads® Total Cost

Even with a slightly higher initial product cost, Imbiber Beads® is the fastest, most efficient and cost effective way to clean up spills and minimize environmental impacts.

Imbiber Beads – Lifecycle Costs of Spill Cleanup Infographic

Overall Cost

When you take into account all of the life cycle costs listed above, the use of IMBIBER BEADS® products provides industry with 25-50% cost savings when dealing with an oil or chemical spill.