Green: Door Opens for Bio-Enzymatic Cleaning Products

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Green cleaning is evolving. For those distributors that thought green cleaning products were all about reducing cleaning’s impact on the environment, you were right; however, we are now going far beyond that.

Today, green is taking on a much broader picture: sustainability. End customers not only want products that help protect health and the environment, but also help safeguard natural resources for future generations. And there is one type of green cleaning product category that tops the list when it comes to being both environmentally preferable and sustainable: bio-renewable cleaning products.

Bio-renewable cleaning products, include bio-enzymatic, oxygen-based products, as well as products derived from other natural resources. They are not new to the professional cleaning industry. And like early green cleaning products, they did not always meet performance expectations.

However, what is new is that some are now certified and proven green by the most respected certification organizations and recent technologies and new formulations have made much more effective and cost effective as well.

A good example of this is the new generation of bio-enzymatic cleaning products. These products contain specific quantities and qualities of bacteria along with enzymes that essentially digest chemicals and organic soils. Contrary to popular belief, enzymes are not “living” ingredients. They are a type of protein that is designed to break up complex molecules into smaller pieces so that they can be easily removed when cleaning.

Other things distributors should know about bio-enzymatic cleaners:
• They convert bacteria (soils to cleaning professionals) into carbon dioxide and water thereby cleaning and eliminating the cause of odor — the bacteria.
• Some bio-enzymatic cleaners are designed to work up to 80 hours after they have been applied to a surface.
• They have proven to be particularly effective in cleaning restrooms, food service areas, general cleaning, and to remove spots from carpets.

Bio-renewable cleaning products will not replace more traditional green certified cleaning products. However, now that many of the green-certified bio-renewable cleaning products perform as well if not better than comparable green and conventional cleaning products, are cost effective, and environmentally preferable, what they offer distributors is more ammunition in their sales arsenal, more marketing opportunities, and more tools — allowing them to better address the many different cleaning challenges their customers face.

Mike Sawchuk is the vice president and general manager of Enviro-Solutions and Charlotte Products, both based in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.