The Situation
A semi-trailer travelling the Hume Highway near Campbelltown lost its load, spilling approximately 7.5 tonnes of water-based paint across two lanes of the motorway. On a corridor this critical, every hour of closure carries a significant economic and safety cost, so the priority was clear: contain the spill, clean the road surface completely, and restore traffic flow as fast as safely possible.
Evoro was engaged through Ventia SRAP, working on behalf of the asset owner, Transport for NSW. The job called for the right equipment, the right crew and the right response time — all at once, and all on a live road.
Our Approach
Evoro responded as a single, coordinated emergency operation, supplying every part of the clean-up from one accountable team. This involved several key steps:
Mobilise a complete response package
Supply all bins, vacuum trucks and high-pressure cleaning units required to contain and clear the spill — no waiting on multiple suppliers, no gaps in capability.
Contain the spill and protect the corridor
Take control of the site, contain the spilled paint across the affected lanes, and recover the material using vacuum trucks and pressure cleaning to return the road surface to a safe, trafficable state.
Correct a failing third-party containment
When the trucking company responsible for the spill brought in its own bin, which was incorrect and leaking further paint, Evoro switched the load to a compliant Evoro bin on the spot, preventing any additional leakage.
The Results
The entire site was contained, cleaned and cleared in a single shift, and the Hume Highway was reopened to traffic — with no incidents recorded across the operation.
Approximately 7.5 tonnes of spilled water-based paint was recovered and managed compliantly, removing the contamination from the road corridor and preventing further environmental impact.
By supplying the full response — bins, vacuum trucks and pressure crews — from one team, Evoro gave Ventia and Transport for NSW a single accountable point of contact through a high-pressure incident, and a fast return to normal operations on a critical freight route.
On a live corridor, response time is the whole job
Reopening a major motorway isn’t only about cleaning a spill — it’s about doing it fast enough, and cleanly enough, that the corridor is safe to reopen the same day. A complete, single-team response is what turns a multi-day closure into a single shift.
“We wouldn’t have gotten to where we are today without Finovate. The Finovate spent time with us to better understand our processes and where our bottlenecks were.”
