Berry Plastics (Evansville, IN) is deploying polypropylene (PP) ropes, booms, and flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBCs) made its Atlacomulco, Mexico manufacturing site to help in the Gulf of Mexico oil-spill clean up and containment. Marketed under the brand name X-Sorbs, the Pom-Pom Ropes and Sorbent Booms act as adsorbent rather than absorbent products. Ernie Giordano, retail marketing manager for Berry Plastics-Tapes, told PlasticsToday that while the company had the capability to make such products at the Atlacomulco facility, these particular items are completely new for the company. Production is ongoing and shipping is underway, according to Giordano.

Each Pom-Pom Rope is 50-ft long and designed to adsorb 15 to 20 times its own weight in crude oil. There are 20 8-oz, evenly spaced, 22-inch-long pom-poms attached to each rope, beginning 18 inches from each end of the rope. The X-Sorbs Sorbent Boom is constructed with a PP exterior and is filled with PP filament tapes. Measuring 8-inches in diameter by 10-ft in length, Berry says the booms are ideal for harder-to-reach inlets of water, or they can be linked together to cover larger areas. The lined FIBCs are made from woven PP and can act as a containment receptacle for 3300 lb of items saturated with or dirtied by crude oil. Super-sized FIBCs are also available, which can be a repository for smaller FIBCs or other items containing oil-dirtied items. —[email protected]