Following a brief history described as an overnight success 25 years after it’s start, Jeff Bohleber talked about Elastec’s more recent evolution at Thursday’s Kiwanis meeting. It all began with a bucket. In 1989, Donnie Wilson and Jeff Cantrell were cleaning up oil in the Illinois basin when they became frustrated with the skimmer they were using picking up more oil than water. It was then they noticed that a sideways bucket in the water was picking up oil as it spun. Their enterprise began shortly after.
The discovery was a game changer, Bohleber says, but they had to change the game as well. At that time, state of the art oil clean up was 500 people in the spill with mops. So when Elastec pitched the product, their potential clients said, ‘Well, I’m charging for all those people. Why would I want to get a skimmer and clean it up faster and cheaper?’. Bohleber says it took getting a few clients and for folks to see them getting jobs because they were able to do it faster and more efficiently to break through.
And then, on April 20, 2010 an event that would change Elastec infinitely. The Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill) changed the world with regards to how oil spills are handled. Elastec would prove instrumental in conducting controlled burns and providing recovery efforts.
Since then, Elastec has gone through a rebranding and has turned it’s focus to a broader range of solutions. Certainly, they still remain focused on oil spills, but the company has further diversified. From the Brute Boom containment system that protects dams, water intakes and hydropower plants from floating trash to the Silt Max that shields sensitive environments during marine construction, dredging and remediation projects. Furthermore, Elastec has recently launched a few new products including the Omni Cat which helps keep streams, rivers and oceans protected from surface water contaminants.
Coming up October 3rd – 7th, Elastec will present “It All Flows Downstream”, a training event in Carmi and New Harmony. Twenty oil spill responders from more than a dozen countries will be in the area to view, learn and hopefully purchase equipment that Elastec produces.
Learn more about the innovative pollution control equipment company at www.elastec.com.
