LaminatedFILMS Donates Materials to Clean-Up in Gulf Coast

Absorbable Sheets Help Gulf Agency Rescue and Rehab Dozens of Marine Animal Species

On April 20, 2010, an oil drilling platform located 50 miles off the shores of Mississippi and Louisiana blew up and collapsed, releasing thousands of gallons of oil. Within weeks, the oil spread across the waters and reached the shores of the Gulf Coast.

The spill proved to be detrimental to dozens of varieties of marine mammals, sea turtles, birds and fish—species that rescuers from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) in Gulfport, Miss., continue to diligently work to rehabilitate in hopes of conserving the marine animals’ natural habitats in the Gulf.

This summer, LaminatedFILMS joined the clean-up effort by donating 30,540 specialty sheets of absorption material to IMMS.

Director of Manufacturing Support Rick Garnsey said the donation was in response to a news report that he happened to catch on TV. “We were storing yards of absorption material that we had used to create a specialty bag for a customer, and it was a simple matter to cut the leftover material into sheets, package it in poly bags, and ship them to the marine rescue agency,” he said. “The sheets can also be shared with other agencies if there is a need.”

To date, dozens of endangered marine animals have been rescued, rehabilitated and returned to their natural habitats, including several Kemp’s Ridley Sea turtles, the most endangered species of sea turtles worldwide.