One of the lesser known, but very significant, challenges that universities face in the south is dealing with migratory Mexican free-tail bats. During some migratory seasons, as many as 250,000 to 500,000 bats can claim an outdoor sporting arena as their temporary home.

Since the south does not have many caves for the bats to reside, they naturally gravitate towards sporting arenas with open rafters, free spaces and even settle in the restrooms.

This is exactly at one major southern university. While the university took steps to install bat nets over 40,000 square feet of public areas, the facility faced a bigger issue: the massive amounts of guano and pungent odor that came with it. 

The elevator shafts in the stadium served as air ducts that dispersed the guano odor in multiple areas. The custodial and campus services provider to the school was tasked with finding an odor management solution deal with the highly unpleasant guano odor.

They originally tried using perfume-based odor management solutions to mask the odors but it ultimately created “rosy-smelling guano.”

The custodial and campus services provider was introduced to Fresh Wave IAQ at a college and university facility management trade show, where he brought back samples of the Fresh Wave IAQ gel in the elevator shafts.

The impact that Fresh Wave IAQ had on that area was immediate and dramatic. Three to four days after putting the product in the elevator shaft, one of the head coaches was surprised that the odor was completely gone … it smelled like “air,” according to the football coach.

In addition to fully ridding the area of bat guano odor – without masking it with perfumes and deodorants – the custodial and campus services provider is embracing Fresh Wave IAQ because it is an eco-friendly solution that supports the university’s mission of procuring and using green cleaning products.