Puget Sound Spill Kit Program

ECOSS spill kit program saves businesses money, reduces liability and avoids pollution problems before they start.

Stormwater Pollution Prevention

Many storm drains (also called catch basins) from businesses flow directly into a local waterway. If there’s a spill, it’s the business’ responsibility to clean it up. ECOSS provides free spill kits, customized spill plans, site maps, and spill response training so businesses can:

Respond to and cleanup spills
Stop pollution before it enters a catch basin
Contact someone for assistance to address a spill if it gets down a drain or is out of control

Getting Results

ECOSS prepares nearly 1,000 businesses every year on how to deal with spills:

Delivered spill kits and follow-up training to over 10,000 businesses in nearly 40 municipalities since 2013
Provided spill response training in multiple languages
30% of participating businesses are owned or operated by limited-English speakers
Spill response training offered in more than a dozen languages including Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, Mandarin, Swahili, Hindi, Urdu and Somali

Saving Money & Preventing Pollution

Polluted rainwater from non-point sources is said to be the number one polluter of our local waterways and Puget Sound
About half of all businesses will have a spill at some point; cleanup costs average $2,700 per incident, and fines can exceed $10,000 if spills aren’t reported when they enter the storm sewer system
Data shows reduced pollution flowing into Puget Sound and other waterways from spill kit trained businesses
After training, 14% of businesses served had a spill large enough to use their spill kit for cleanup; 79% of spills were vehicle fluids
After training, 84% of businesses served have adopted spill prevention practices
Before training, only 21% of businesses served had trained their staff on spill response; after training, 60% of businesses served had trained their staff because of our visit