The brand-new movie you want to see is opening this weekend. You’ve been waiting for what seems like months, and when Friday rolls around you’ll head to your favorite theater, get your tub of buttered popcorn and box of Goobers and nestle into your seat to watch the flick. Whether it’s a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down, the facility’s restrooms are the furthest thing from your mind.

That’s what a big box office weekend means to the average movie buff, but to George Abi-Aad, president and managing partner of Royal Paper Corp. in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., a big movie weekend means his theater customers need a fail-safe odor control program in place. It’s a challenge, considering the theaters’ heavy traffic, not to mention a maintenance staff that is less-than-thrilled about the extra workload.

Abi-Aad’s company is a dominant supplier to the theater market — a segment that provides some unique challenges in odor control. Like schools — and many other facilities for that matter — urine in grouted tile floors is a problem. The snack bars pose challenges, too, and there is the greater volume of litter that goes with larger audiences. In addition, theaters share the same odor potential as other public, high-traffic facilities.

Everything’s Down the Drain
The build-up of hair, soil, dirt, etc., in restroom drains is the cause of many facilities’ odor control problems. Luckily, only a few years ago, a new product group came on the scene that literally devours the source of the problem.

“The classical problem is the drains and the grease traps,” says Abi-Aad. “Everything that goes in the drains festers and lives in those pipes.”

When the solution, enzymes — or pathogenic micro-organisms — came on the market, they gave distributors and end users a much-needed weapon to combat restroom odors. These enzymes can eliminate the source of bad smells, but in order to do so, they must be used correctly.

“The trick is for the distributor to have programs that train the personnel to implement [odor control systems]. If you give them [the tools] and just let them deal with it, it doesn’t happen. But if the distributor is on top of it they can make it work,” Abi-Aad adds.

An advocate of eliminating odors, and not just counteracting them, Abi-Aad’s odor control philosophy is clear:

“If somebody has an infection, and you give them vitamins, it’s not going to kill the problem; unless they take the proper antibiotics, you won’t get rid of the infection.”

Kevin Carlson, president of Mission Janitorial Supplies in San Diego, agrees that odor elimination is the best route to a clean-smelling restroom.

“I think cleaning should be the first line of defense. If a restroom is clean there shouldn’t be any odors and that’s critical to the whole equation. Putting odor control in there to cover it up wouldn’t be my first approach,” he says.

Carlson recommends mopping the floors once a week with diluted non-pathogenic organisms. “The micro-organisms become enzymes specific to that type of soil and will eat the soil.” He, too, recommends pouring it down the drains, and also practicing proper daily maintenance — keeping fixtures clean and daily mopping with a quaternary disinfectant.

Need to Vent?
Eric Nusbaum, a principal with Wheelright Consultants in Greenfield, Mass., says odor problems in restrooms are inherent to their design — seldom do the ventilation systems installed provide adequate air flow.

“People go with what the building codes are and those are minimums,” says Nusbaum. Installing a larger fan can help, and keeping vents clean and free of debris is vital.

“If you go into any hotel room and look at the vents, they’re clogged with dust and grease. With the air moving through, and with the dust and humidity, it sticks to the metal,” he adds.

Helen Kinyon, president of Affiliated Janitor Supply in Lutz, Fla., is well aware of the odor problems caused by restroom moisture. She is well-versed on the subject of indoor air quality, and says there is more to restroom odor problems than meets the eye.

“In the restrooms there’s a lot of water, so many times those vents are mildew-ridden,” she says. Inspecting restrooms from top to bottom will help determine where the odors are coming from. For instance, air conditioners emit humidity, causing mildew.

“Look up under a hand dryer after it’s been there a year. There’s hair, mold, all kinds of stuff that’s in a hand dryer and that’s blowing out on you, which adds to air problems,” she says. “It’s very dirty, and unless it’s cleaned every week, that stuff collects and it’s nasty.”

Every time a person dries their hands the dryer actually blows bacteria around, a detriment to indoor air quality, she adds.

No smoking signs are a good idea for public restrooms as well, she adds.

Common Scents
Beyond odor eliminators lies a whole range of products designed to add a pleasant fragrance to restroom air.

Kinyon says the purpose of fragrance is for the guests’ comfort. A current favorite of hers is a system that combines the emission of fragrance with a soap dispenser. The unit releases fragrance into the air each time a person uses the soap dispenser.

“It’s really an answer to people’s worries that nobody’s filling those cartridges,” she says, referring to odor counteractant systems. Often installed out of reach to prevent vandalism, odor counteractant dispensers are often placed quite high on the wall making them less accessible when the fragrance cartridges need replacing.

Carlson’s company looks at the ventilation before recommending an odor counteractant system to make sure the scent won’t be too heavy, he says. Often, he’ll recommend an aerosol-type deodorant cabinet or a wick system. Recent innovations also allow cleaning agents and dying solution to be pumped through the urinals and toilet. They have a deodorizing feature as well.

Abi-Aad’s approach is based on consistency in scent throughout the restroom. “If you have counteractants and they’re conflicting, they’re going to work against each other.”

Because vandalism is so common with metered aerosol dispensers, Abi-Aad’s company has begun installing them below the sinks. Of course, they may be within a cleaner’s reach, but they aren’t visible, and therefore face greater potential of being forgotten. The only solution is proper training of cleaning personnel, Abi-Aad says. And that, he adds, is up to the distributor.

Training Dilemmas
Training, as always, is essential to keeping restrooms clean and fresh-smelling. Often, much of what’s causing the problem lies beneath the surface, so cleaners need to know the correct cleaning methods and processes or things will be overlooked and problems will begin to arise. Facility managers rely on the distributor to see that cleaning personnel are able to get the job done — a task that can pose difficult challenges.

Abi-Aad says employee burnout results in a huge maintenance staff turnover among his many theater customers.

“It’s a seven-day [a week] job. They burn out,” he says.

Employees leave often, and a new person comes in who again must be trained, he says.

“You have to partner with that theater owner and really have a stake in the image of that theater or the program won’t succeed,” Abi-Aad says.

Difficulties vary from cleaning staff to cleaning staff, depending on the facility, says Kinyon. But sometimes it’s the mere fact that the size of the staff doesn’t measure up to the job at hand, as is the case with many public schools.

“They just don’t have enough people to do it,” she says.

Still, showing the cleaning staff the most they can do, in the least time, in the most effective manner is bound to put a damper on bothersome odors, and that is everyone’s goal.




POSTED ON: 3/1/2002