The Jan-San Environmental Chemical Revolution

The environmental “green craze” currently sweeping the land has been a long time coming.  We as Canadians pride ourselves on the fact that here in North America we are world leaders in all things important.  The irrationality of this thought is self-evident; the environmental based chemistry of our new green revolution was first tested and marketed in Northern Europe over a decade ago.  The governments of Norway, Denmark and Sweden lead the way by enacting environmental legislation promoting the growth of environmental chemistry within the cleaning industry.

The first attempts in Canada to “green” up our chemistry was a dismal failure.  The concept went something like this; if we cut our conventional chemistry 50% with water, we will have cut the chemical effluent by 50%.  This watered down concept is still in use by many manufacturers of cleaning chemicals.  The idea to reduce the amount of effluent is sound in its basic concept; however, the performance of the product is also typically reduced by 50%.  The Europeans’ approach to this problem a decade ago was to completely replace traditional chemistry with environmental based chemistry. 

Traditional cleaning chemicals have typically relied upon petroleum solvents, caustics, glycols, terpene hydrocarbons, butyls and phenyls to provide performance.  True environmental products are powerful combinations of nonionic organic plant matter (surfactants).  They have parts that are soluble in water and parts that are soluble in oils, providing excellent degreasing properties.  Nonionic surfactants react differently than traditional cleaners in that these surfactants do not attack dirt and oil as with most traditional chemicals.  These surfactants reduce dynamic surface tension (DST) increasing the solubility of a substance allowing water to mix easily with oil and dirt thus encapsulating the soil within the water enabling it to be carried from the surface being cleaned (wash away ability).  Superior penetration and removal of oil/greasy particulate soils provide the ability to clean areas where agitation is restricted.  These types of environmental organically structured products will out-perform most hazardous traditional chemicals on grease, oil, asphaltenes and particulate soils, while providing 48-hour biodegradation back to carbon and oxygen.  The most commonly used organic matter consists of some very effective chemistry with grains, corn oils, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, sugar cane juices, glucoses and corn & soy based esters (alcohol ethoxylates).
      
A surprising component of the crusade for a green Canada is the fact that this is a pull-through market, driven by consumer demand and not the manufacturers of the chemical products.  Canadians are demanding action regarding a number of environmental issues while the industry for the most part has not addressed the issues.  This was quite evident at the “Globe Conference” on world environmental issues held in Vancouver in 2006.  Consumer groups and politicians from several governments were in attendance while industry was noticeably absent.  Consumer environmental product demand is typical Adam Smith (invisible hand) economics; in that the consumer will dictate the wants/needs of the markets while suppliers fill the wants/needs.

This new environmental awareness benefits all of us; we have misused or overused chemistry for too long.  Hydrochloric acid for washroom cleaning, caustic floor strippers and ethylene glycol butyl ether for general purpose cleaning.  While these types of conventional chemicals have their use in the marketplace, over-use is a genuine problem.  In a survey of 32 facilities in Richmond, California regarding 250 janitorial products, the findings were.

• 7% should not be used as they could cause cancer or were very damaging to the environment.     
  
• 56% require extreme care as the ingredients can cause blindness, severe skin damage, interfere with the endocrine system, can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled and subsequently causing damage to the blood, liver, kidneys, nervous system, or a developing fetus.
• 37% require routine care as they may irritate the eyes and skin, can evaporate and affect indoor air quality, or may exceed a building’s allowable waste water discharge limits for certain ingredients.

Environmental chemistry provides a solution for 80% of the cleaning functions we require, while conventional chemicals can meet the remaining needs.  The damage done to the environment will be notably reduced and the health and safety of the chemical user improved upon.

If you care at all, you’ll get some results.  If you care enough, you’ll get incredible results.


Dale Allen
President
Sci-Tech Engineered Chemicals Inc.


Source – “Cleaning For Health: Products and Practices for a Safer Indoor Environment”; Alicia Culver, Senior Research Associate; INFORM, Inc.

Adam Smith – Invisible Hand (The Wealth of Nations)