Written by Paige Daley, Associate Marketing Manager for Optisolve
With increasing concern about the health of our planet, more and more businesses are looking for ways to lessen their impact on the environment. For instance, many global companies are getting rid of plastic for good and others are adopting a circular business model. Janitorial companies can easily do their part simply by adopting sustainable cleaning tools and eco-friendly cleaning products.
In this article, we’ll explore how conventional cleaning products can harm our planet and share three alternative cleaning products and cleaning management processes that are gentle on the earth and safer for cleaning teams and their clients.
How Do Commercial Cleaners Harm the Environment?
Most commercial cleaning products, such as laundry detergent, floor cleaners and disinfectants contain chemicals that can pollute the environment. These can include phosphate-rich compounds, ammonia, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), or other chemicals that can cause harm to water reserves, the air, and plants and animals.
How cleaning companies handle, store and use commercial-grade cleansers can significantly impact their natural surroundings. If poorly handled and disposed of, the chemicals and resulting runoff can find their way into local water supplies, air, and the environment. These compounds can have long-term effects on the environment that can take years of costly remediation efforts to reverse.
While indoor air pollution and locally contaminated water are immediate impacts of using unsustainable cleaning products, there are also other far-reaching implications.
- Unsustainable cleaning products: Cleaning product production processes are often unsustainable. A commercial cleanser’s supply chain also requires a significant amount of energy, which leads to the emission of greenhouse gasses and contributes to climate change.
- Water Consumption: Additionally, the production of commercial cleaners requires a lot of water, which can strain water resources in areas with limited water availability.
- Paper consumption: Many commercial cleaners still rely on large volumes of paper products for their cleaning and verification processes. This contributes to unnecessary landfill waste and overconsumption of Earth’s natural resources.
- Wasteful Verification Processes: Common cleaning verification systems, such as the ATP-based system, rely on unsustainable materials and supplies that cannot be recycled or composted.
3 Sustainable Cleaning Tools Your Business Needs
Fortunately, many sustainable efforts, processes and solutions are as effective as traditional cleaning chemicals but much less harmful to the environment. Let’s take a look at the three of them.
1. Sustainable Cleaning Products
Switching from harsh chemical cleaners that can irritate the skin and lungs and pollute local groundwater to more sustainable sources can help cleaning teams better care for the environment.
What to look for in eco-friendly cleaning products
Look for options that rely on natural ingredients, such as citric acid, sodium citrate or borax and are certified by any of the following organizations:
Additionally, opt for products that rely on recycled material or plastic-free packaging. For instance, Enviro-Solutions® products come in recycled plastic bottles.
2. Paper-Free Cleaning Verification and Management Processes
For decades, cleaning companies have relied on paper records and documents to record, track and manage critical cleaning processes.
Paper records of cleaning processes can be inefficient and time-consuming for cleaning teams, as they require manual data entry, are easily misplaced or damaged, and lack visibility into real-time updates. Research estimates that incorrect data entry costs businesses at least 30% or more of their revenue. Plus, paper production can harm essential natural resources, including trees and freshwater.
Switching to paper-free records helps to save trees and increase efficiency. They provide a better way to manage cleaning teams and keep accurate cleaning records.
For instance, cleaning professionals using SAVI software can track data, verify cleaning processes, manage employee performance and access information in real time without the use of paper records. Customers have been able to get back more than 7 hours a week when switching from paper records and manual data entry. A saving of 25% a year in both material and labor.
3. Eco-Friendly Cleaning Verification Systems
Cleaning verification systems are essential for commercial cleaning teams to test, measure and verify their cleaning processes are effective and consistent. However, the solutions and equipment used in many cleaning verification systems aren’t eco-friendly.
Many cleaning verification systems, such as ATP testing methods, rely on single-use testing materials that generate waste that is non-compostable and non-recyclable. Plus, the inaccurate and inefficient nature of these tests means cleaning teams use copious amounts of cleaning products to clean a surface.
Looking for Sustainable Cleaning Tools?
Optisolve’s family of products helps you to use less and clean more!
Environmentally Friendly Verification: Surface Imaging Technology
A surface imaging cleaning verification system, such as Pathfinder™ by Optisolve, is a sustainable alternative to ATP-based cleaning verification programs. It allows cleaning staff to see precisely where surface contaminants reside on a surface; this means they will use less cleanser to sanitize a space.
Surface imaging verification also removes the need for cleaning companies to purchase and use single-use testing materials that become landfill waste.
Find Sustainable Cleaning Systems from Optisolve®
A facility’s cleanliness and hygiene are vital for guests, occupants and residents to feel safe and comfortable. However, that comfort shouldn’t be at the expense of the natural ecosystem and environment. Fortunately, janitorial companies now have more sustainable options than ever when it comes to cleaning tools and systems.
Optisolve is committed to providing cleaning and maintenance teams with sustainable solutions to ensure your cleaning processes are practical and efficient and always meet the criteria of elite hygiene regulation standards.
Our sustainable cleaning tools are designed to help janitorial teams raise their standards and improve the quality of their cleaning procedures with smarter, green cleaning practices that protect the environment. To learn more about our sustainable products and services, get in touch with Optisolve today.