New Pig is an American industrial-products company best known for its PIG® brand of absorbents, spill-control, liquid-management, containment, and workplace-safety products. Founded in 1985 in Tipton, Pennsylvania, the company built its reputation around solving industrial problems involving leaks, drips, spills, and contaminated liquids. Its unusual name and pig-themed branding are deliberately part of the company’s identity rather than a reference to the animal-products industry.

New Pig’s own materials currently describe more than 3,100 PIG products being used across more than 300,000 workplaces in over 70 countries. 1

Origins: 1985

New Pig traces its origins to 1985 in central Pennsylvania. According to the company’s history, its founders were looking for a better way to deal with oil and grime in factories. One particularly troublesome method involved spreading clay-based cat litter over leaks, which created another cleanup problem.

The founders experimented with makeshift absorbent tubes made from materials such as old tights, sawdust and rice hulls. Eventually, they discovered that ground corncob was remarkably effective at absorbing oil. They placed the material inside a fabric “sock,” creating the prototype of what became the PIG Original Absorbent Sock.

The product’s nickname came from its appearance and behavior: when the absorbent sock sat in a pool of oil, it looked as though it was “wallowing” in the spill, leading someone to call it a “pig.” Customers liked the name, so the company embraced it.

The founders initially wanted to call the company Pig Corporation, but that name was already registered by a local farmer. They therefore added “New,” producing the name New Pig Corporation. 2

The PIG Original Absorbent Sock

The Original Absorbent Sock became the foundation of the company. Rather than simply wiping up a spill after it occurred, the sock could be placed around the perimeter of a leak or beneath machinery to contain and absorb liquids at the source. New Pig describes it as the world’s first “contained absorbent.”

This concept became central to New Pig’s business: instead of treating spill cleanup as a generic janitorial task, the company developed specialized products for particular industrial situations.

Expansion

New Pig subsequently expanded beyond its original absorbent sock into a much broader industrial-safety product portfolio. The company’s European history records a first European presence in 1993, when it established an office and distribution facility in Glasgow, Scotland. By 2006, the company says its products had expanded to more than 70 countries. In 2022, New Pig opened a new European facility in Gilze, Netherlands, to support European customers.

Today, the company operates internationally and sells through direct and distributor channels.

New Pig is essentially a specialized industrial spill-management company. Its portfolio includes several major categories:

Absorbents

This is New Pig’s most recognizable product category. Products include:

• Absorbent mats
• Absorbent rolls
• Absorbent socks
• Absorbent booms
• Absorbent pillows
• Granular absorbents
• Specialty absorbents
• Oil-only absorbents
• Universal absorbents
• Water absorbents

These products are designed for different liquids and different spill scenarios. 3

Spill Kits

New Pig produces complete spill-response kits for workplaces. Examples include:

• Universal spill kits
• Oil-only spill kits
• HAZ-MAT spill kits
• Water spill kits
• Spill-kit accessories

The idea is to give a facility a preassembled set of materials that can be deployed quickly when a spill occurs.

Spill Containment

New Pig also makes equipment designed to prevent spilled liquids from spreading. Products include:

• Spill containment pallets
• Spill decks
• Containment berms
• Containment pools
• Portable containment systems
• Drum containment
• IBC containment

These products are particularly relevant where drums, containers or industrial equipment hold potentially hazardous liquids. 4

Drain Protection

Another important category is preventing spilled chemicals or other liquids from entering drainage systems. Products include:

• Drain covers
• Drain plugs
• Spill barriers
• Other drain-protection equipment

This connects spill response with environmental protection and regulatory compliance. 5

Leak Diversion

New Pig also sells products for situations such as roof leaks. Leak-diverter systems can capture water leaking through a ceiling and redirect it away from equipment, inventory and work areas. 6

Industrial Wipes

The company sells industrial wiping products in different grades, including:

• Light-duty
• Medium-duty
• Heavy-duty
• Ultra-duty
• Specialty wipes

These are aimed at industrial maintenance rather than ordinary household cleaning.

Material Handling

New Pig’s portfolio also includes products used around drums and industrial containers, including funnels and drum accessories. One example is its Burpless Drum Funnel product line.

Floor Safety

New Pig has expanded into workplace floor-safety products, most notably the PIG Grippy family. The company describes PIG Grippy Mat as an adhesive-backed floor mat designed to improve floor safety and manage spills.

New Pig’s unusual strength is that it doesn’t simply sell generic cleaning supplies. It positions itself as a specialist in industrial leaks, drips and spills. Its marketing slogan is:

“World’s Best Stuff for Leaks, Drips and Spills.”

The company emphasizes engineering, product specialization, technical advice and practical workplace applications.

This positioning allows New Pig to sit somewhere between an industrial safety supplier, a spill-response specialist, an absorbent manufacturer, and a workplace-safety brand.

New Pig products are intended primarily for business and industrial environments, rather than ordinary household consumers. Typical environments include:

• Manufacturing plants
• Factories
• Warehouses
• Automotive facilities
• Maintenance departments
• Laboratories
• Utilities
• Transportation facilities
• Government facilities
• Commercial buildings
• Institutional facilities
• Industrial workshops
• Chemical-handling environments

The company says its products are used in industrial, commercial, utility, institutional and government workplaces around the world.

Because leaks and spills occur across many industries, New Pig has a broad potential customer base. Its products can be relevant to:

• Manufacturing
• Automotive
• Oil and gas
• Chemicals
• Utilities
• Transportation
• Aviation
• Warehousing
• Construction
• Government
• Facilities management
• Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO)
• Laboratories
• Healthcare and institutional facilities

The common problem is liquid management rather than a particular industry.

One of the most distinctive things about New Pig is its branding. Industrial safety companies traditionally tend to use conservative names and imagery. New Pig took the opposite approach. The company uses:

• Pigs
• Pig illustrations
• Pig-related terminology
• Humor
• Bright colors
• Memorable product names
• “Pig” product branding

The strategy makes products that might otherwise be fairly mundane—absorbent socks, mats, spill kits and drum funnels—more memorable. The company itself says it deliberately continued using the pig identity because customers liked the nickname.

Innovation is a major part of New Pig’s corporate story. The company’s first major innovation was the PIG Original Absorbent Sock in 1985. It subsequently introduced products intended to address specific workplace problems rather than simply selling conventional absorbent material.

New Pig reports having received numerous Plant Engineering Product of the Year awards; its current European site states that it has received 32 such awards over the past 31 years, more than any other company.

Examples of products highlighted by the company include:

• PIG Original Absorbent Sock
• PIG Grippy Mats
• Burpless Drum Funnels
• Poly Spill Containment Pallets
• Latching Lids for Steel Drums

7

New Pig’s roots remain in Tipton, Pennsylvania, where the company says its headquarters and manufacturing facilities are located.

The company’s corporate address is:

New Pig
One Pork Avenue
Tipton, Pennsylvania 16684-0304
United States

LinkedIn likewise identifies Tipton, Pennsylvania as the company’s headquarters and describes New Pig as a privately held manufacturing company founded in 1985. 8

New Pig also maintains European operations, including its facility in Gilze, Netherlands, and operations serving the UK and broader European market.

New Pig is a privately held company, rather than a publicly traded corporation.

Founder Bernard “Ben” Stapelfeld has remained closely associated with the company’s ownership. UK corporate records identify Bernard Edward Stapelfeld as a person with significant control of New Pig Ltd. 10

New Pig’s 2022 corporate announcement stated that a negotiated buyout completed in November 2022 resulted in Don Beaver no longer holding an ownership interest in New Pig Corporation or its affiliates.

New Pig has grown considerably beyond its original Pennsylvania operation. Depending on the company’s geographic site and the definition used, current company materials describe:

• 3,100+ PIG products
• 300,000+ workplaces
• Operations/products reaching 70+ countries
• Products used across industrial, commercial, government and institutional environments

The company’s own older corporate material also describes PIG products being used in 100+ countries, so the precise geographic figure varies between company publications and dates.

New Pig’s business has several notable differentiators.

Specialized Product Engineering

Rather than selling only generic absorbent material, New Pig develops products for specific situations—for example, machinery leaks, drum handling, floor spills, drain protection and roof leaks.

Strong Brand Recognition

“PIG” is unusually memorable for an industrial safety brand. The company has turned an initially accidental nickname into a recognizable product family.

Broad Product Ecosystem

A customer dealing with industrial liquid management can purchase absorbents, containment equipment, spill kits, drain protection, wipes and related products from the same supplier.

Technical Expertise

New Pig emphasizes advice concerning regulations, chemical compatibility and product applications, rather than positioning itself purely as a catalog retailer. 9

Distributor Network

New Pig also works through distributors, allowing its products to reach industrial customers through established safety and MRO supply channels.

There is an important distinction here. New Pig is not primarily an environmental-services company. Its core business is industrial spill and liquid management.

However, its products can play an environmental-protection role by helping facilities:

• Contain spills
• Prevent liquids from reaching drains
• Manage leaks
• Reduce workplace contamination
• Protect equipment and floors
• Respond rapidly to accidental releases

The company’s European operation also lists sustainability and recycled-product resources among its offerings.

New Pig is a privately held American industrial-safety manufacturer founded in 1985 that became famous for inventing the PIG Absorbent Sock and has grown into an international specialist in absorbents, spill control, containment, leak management and workplace safety.

From a business-history perspective, New Pig is a particularly good example of turning a very ordinary industrial problem into a highly recognizable specialist brand. The company started with a simple question—how to deal with messy factory leaks more effectively—and built an entire product category around the answer. Its original “sock” eventually became a large ecosystem of industrial products, while the deliberately quirky PIG identity helped distinguish the company in a traditionally conservative B2B market.

In other words, New Pig isn’t really a “cleaning supplies” brand; it is better understood as an industrial liquid-management and workplace-safety company whose flagship expertise is controlling leaks, drips and spills.

1. New Pig One Pork Avenue
2. Who we are
3. Release From New Pig Corporation
4. WHO WE ARE CLEANING UP SPILLS SINCE 1985 As you
5. Absorbents – Product Categories
6. Absorbents, Spill Control & Handling & Plant Safety Products – New Pig UK
7. THE NEW PIG DIFFERENCE
8. New Pig is the world’s leading resource for what a clean, safe and productive workplace can be. – New Pig Ltd Expert…
9. New Pig
10. NEW PIG LTD. persons with significant control – Find and update company information – GOV.UK