The Big Push If bio-based products have been available for so many years for the home or consumer market, why the recent interest and popular-ity in the professional cleaning industry? There are likely many reasons for the surge of intrigue regarding bio-based products. First, the cleaning performance of these products has improved significantly, making them worthy of professional applications. Additionally, as already referenced, they are usually more environmentally responsi-ble because they are made from more “nat-ural” and sustainable materials when com-pared to conventional cleaning products. Taking this a step further, some have even been formulated in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Design for the Environment (DfE) for-mulation initiative. But, the big push for bio-based cleaning chemicals most likely came when the feder-al government created the BioPreferred SM program in 2002, which was expanded con-siderably in 2008. The goal of the program is to increase the purchase and use of renewable, envi-ronmentally responsible, bio-based prod-ucts for use in federal facilities worldwide. And, because the federal government is such a huge customer of cleaning products and services, JanSan manufacturers responded to meet this increased product demand. Performance And Costs It is clear that many bio-based products can and do have a number of economic and environmental benefits for our industry and country. However, for cleaning professionals, the two paramount issues are: Do the prod-ucts perform well and, if so, are they cost-effective? One JanSan distributor addressed these concerns by stating that several years ago, “bio-based products were not cost-effective and they didn’t work. [However,] in the last 10 years, [there] have been great strides. They work and they are cost-effective.” Along with the federal government’s encouragement to use these products, edu-cational facilities have shown the greatest interest in using bio-based cleaning products. This is mostly because of the sustainabil-ity of bio-based products, which is a central component of reducing cleaning’s impact on the environment. However, cleaning professionals should do their homework when selecting bio-based cleaning chemicals because not all of them are certified as green and perform-ance along with costs can vary. Fortunately, selecting products that have been approved by and formulated in part-nership with reputable green certification programs can make much of this home-work considerably easier. CM Circle Product Information no. 203 on page 32 www.cmmonline.com 23
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