by Jeff Mackey
A few years ago an evolution took place in the cleaning industry. Many of us in the cleaning industry thought “ Green cleaning” was just a fad, however it has taken hold and a new way of thinking about the environment and cleaning has become more than a passing fancy.
Many facilities, especially the government ran buildings, require the use of green products. However, in the residential market there has been a slower demand for the use of green products. This will possibly change in the future simply because the consumer will expect the cleaning chemicals and equipment needed to clean their carpet to be environmentally friendly.
One of the challenges will be the resistance of technicians thinking that green chemicals are not as effective at removing soil and spots as the conventional chemicals. Also, that green chemicals are more costly than what they currently use today. Green chemicals will usually not save you money but the cost is usually negligible and will often work as well as what is in use today.
Identifying and verifying environmentally safe products may be a bigger issue for technicians because there are at least five different “certifying” agencies testing carpet cleaning chemicals to meet green standards and criteria.
The problem is that standards are not the same for each firm doing the testing so what is green for one firm is not with another. The criteria for “green chemicals” are changing very quickly. What is not green today maybe green tomorrow. Even some manufactures have developed their own standards and are declaring certain chemicals green.
If a company is going to declare it a green cleaning company, it must make sure that the chemicals are undeniably green. Today there is a lot of uncertainty among carpet cleaning companies and this has impeded the transfer to eco-friendly products in the carpet cleaning industry. To find out more about quality carpet care, talk to an expert at Service Master Clean www.ServiceMasteracdc.com
