How BlastSax alternative sandbags can potentially save the military vast sums in environmental fines
Two kinds of alternative sandbags sold worldwide can protect the environment from pollution and potentially save organisations huge fines totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds.
BlastSax sandless sandbags (pictured below) used by the military and its civilian version, FloodSax, can both quickly and effectively prevent pollution during an emergency by stopping or diverting contaminated water.
All organisations and businesses must retain water on their premises if there is a risk of it polluting nearby watercourses such as streams and rivers.
This is especially the case if there has been a fire or similar emergency with water used to douse the flames potentially contaminated with toxic, environmentally-harming substances.
If this happens they could well face prosecution from the Environment Agency and the fines are unlimited. In just nine years from 2015 to 2024 the Environment Agency successfully concluded 63 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies for pollution offences securing fines of over £151 million.
The scale of the problem was highlighted early in 2026 on the Channel 4 docu-drama Dirty Business.
It means businesses and large organisations must ensure they are prepared for any emergency which could lead to pollution and storing BlastSax alternative sandbags on their premises is a very cost-efficient yet effective way to do this.
BlastSax are vacuum-packed in packs of 7 with 2 packs of 7 (14 BlastSax in all) in a box that can be easily carried by one person. That means thousands can be stored on site in a very space-saving way. A similar number of traditional sandbags would need vast warehouses and a large number of people to shift them anywhere when they are suddenly needed in an emergency.
BlastSax and FloodSax were devised and are manufactured by Yorkshire company Environmental Defence Systems Ltd and co-director Lucy Bailey from the company said: “Someone we know who has used FloodSax for years was visiting a waste management company and spotted FloodSax all around the border and they explained they were needed to stop contaminated water escaping from the site into a neighbouring stream.
“Countless businesses – especially chemical, waste and recycling companies - need to do this if they suffer a fire or internal escape of water to prevent contaminants escaping from the site.
“All floodwater is contaminated to some extent or other but water inside waste management centres can contain all kinds of toxins that could damage nearby watercourses, polluting the water and killing fish, leading to huge fines for the businesses involved.
“This is why it’s always vital for these companies and large organisations to have some form of protection so they can coral water at any time day, night, weekends or bank holidays. Boxes of BlastSax or FloodSax are ideal for that and they’re also very easy to store and quick to deploy.”
Unlike traditional sandbags which can only be used outside to try to keep water at bay, BlastSax and FloodSax (pictured above diverting a major water leak away from a supermarket) are multi-purpose and can be used both inside and out with the many uses ranging from soaking up water to holding it back.
In their dry state BlastSax and FloodSax are very flat with a large surface area to soak up water so FloodSax are used internally in homes, businesses, supermarkets, hospitals and other public buildings to absorb water, drips or spills, often in hard to reach places such as beneath boilers or under pipework. BlastSax are designed for use by the armed forces and specialist police squads worldwide but work in a very similar way to FloodSax.
They are transformed into instant alternative sandbags by simply immersing them in water which the special gelling polymer inside absorbs and retains.
This means that in around 5 minutes they become robust sandless sandbags that can be built into protective barriers to stop floodwater from getting in through doors or air vents, can divert floodwater down drains or even stop it escaping into water courses.
For more information on BlastSax go to https://blastsax.com