3 Ways Green Cleaning Products Can Lower The Bottom Line

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Being environmentally responsible (or “going green”) is a hot-button issue these days. Many commercial cleaning companies feel pressure to make the switch, but aren’t sure how it will affect business or worry that it will end up increasing costs. In actuality, going green can be good for your bottom line in more ways than one.

1. Worker Health and Safety

Most industrial cleaning products contain a brew of toxic chemicals that can easily compromise the well being of your employees. Workplace safety is ranked among the top job-related concerns for commercial cleaning workers and for good reason.

According to a review of workers’ compensation from the state of Washington, 6 out of every 100 professional cleaners must take time off from work each year to recuperate from on-the-job injuries. Eighty-eight percent of these injuries involve skin irritation or burns; eye irritation or burns; or chemical inhalation.

Many commonly used chemicals can result in blindness, burn the skin, negatively impact reproductive health, damage the kidneys or liver, and even cause cancer.

Making the switch to less toxic, environmentally sensitive cleaning products isn’t just good for the health of your employees; it can also reduce costs in the long run. Green cleaning products have the potential to reduce on-site injuries (and subsequent sick days), decrease workers’ compensation claims and even lower your insurance costs.

2. Cleaning Products from Concentrate

There are green cleaning products for everything from windows to disinfectants to degreasers. One of the key advantages of green products is that they are typically sold in concentration (meaning they must be diluted prior to use) with minimal packaging. This can save you money in a number of ways:
• First, you will save money on raw materials and shipping costs. Essentially, more of the product can be shipped at a time with lower shipping fuel costs.
• Second, concentrated cleaning products last much longer than their conventional counterparts. This ultimately reduces the frequency in which you will need to re-order supplies from your distributer, further minimizing shipping costs.
• Finally, because concentrated cleaning goods are produced with minimal packaging, they take up a fraction of the storage space that conventional cleaners do. They are also easier to handle and carry.

3. Hazardous Chemicals: Protection and Disposal

Most conventional cleaning agents are highly toxic. As a result, you can’t simply throw these materials into the trash. You must instead follow strict regulations regarding the disposal of hazardous waste.

In addition to the hazardous chemicals and solutions themselves, these products also leave behind a secondary stream of waste that includes rags, absorbent pads, brushes, gloves and others. These secondary products add to the total volume of hazardous waste necessary for disposal. They also dictate a need for additional employee safety training and personal protective gear.

By making the switch non-toxic cleaning products, you can ultimately reduce your hazardous waste disposal costs, decrease money spend on employee training (or perhaps allocate it to another facet of training) and minimize the need for personal protection equipment.

By Briana Davis, National Purity.