Since COP26, sustainability is driving many economies throughout the world. Several countries have called for reducing the net emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses by 50 percent before 2030 and to no net emissions by 2050, a goal collectively known as Net Zero. This goal is also driving the commercial cleaning industry, particularly in terms of customers’ demands for greener products and greater sustainability. Cleaning companies are already starting to implement green initiatives, but many opportunities still remain unexplored.

Exploring the green cleaning trend

Green cleaning protects both health and environment. It combines the use of chemicals, equipment, technology, and tools that are more environmentally friendly than traditional options. Green cleaning products also make heavy use of natural, renewable materials or recycled materials. Even the packaging of these products makes use of less paper and plastic.

Businesses and professional associations in the cleaning sector throughout the world have been aware of the trends toward sustainability for years. Green cleaning has been described as the strongest trend in the industry by these associations. We explore the green cleaning trend with industry experts, Aruna Narayanan, Senior Advisor ESG & Sustainability, The Partnerships Advisory and Alp Aksoy, Hospitality, Africa, ME, and Turkey / Global Strategic Accounts.

As ESG and Sustainability are gaining traction, companies are looking not just at the macro strategies, but also implementable actions. Particularly facilities management companies are paying keen attention to embedding sustainable practices within operations. In this context green cleaning is gaining importance. Green cleaning aims to approach cleaning from 3 perspectives namely planet preservation, people protection, process implementation.

Through usage of non-toxic and biodegradable ingredients, green cleaning greatly reduces the harmful effects on the environment, thereby contributing to planet preservation. Lesser foam and lather due to reduced chemicals contributes to less usage of water. The non-toxicity of these products makes green cleaning safer for cleaning staff and reduces health hazards.

While the benefits of green cleaning and usage of green products is evident, there still remain some concerns. Since these products do not have strong chemicals, it takes more time and effort during the cleaning process. The effectiveness is also being questioned in few cleaning scenarios like clinics and hospitals that need complete disinfection. The higher cost of green chemicals cannot be ignored as well.

While the debate continues, green cleaning is here to stay not as a ‘good to have’ but as a ‘must-have’. With many corporations committing to net-zero strategies, every aspect of business and operation will have to evaluate and monitor its footprint. Large FMCG brands are accelerating their research in low-carbon chemistry and sustainable production processes. Customers are increasingly choosing greener options over cheaper options. All these collaborative initiatives will support in overcoming the existing challenges in green cleaning and making it a preferred and desirable option in the future.

Green Cleaning – what does it really mean?

We are coming from an era when people believed Green Products were actually of the color green, and using these green products, they would still think they saved the world and made it more sustainable, another notion that is also commonly misunderstood, and open for a deeper discussion. With technology moving on, we have taken large, positive strides towards Green Cleaning, which actually would mean environmentally friendly formulations, yet is it really a thorough point of view that we should be looking through for a brighter future for our world, kids, and maybe our business?

Here, as in the dispute if electric cars in the USA are actually environmental or not, as their electricity is manufactured in coal plants, we run into certain dilemmas or maybe, positively thinking, choices. In today’s technology, although not a rule, green formulations mean milder formulas, sometimes not delivering to the speed or efficacy expected. Having milder formulations might mean that you may have to use more of the chemical which could mean that you would need more trucks to transport the material, thus creating more CO emissions, and be ‘less friendly to the environment’ or navigate further from ‘green’.

On the other hand, a respectfully crafted formula for a balanced concentration in a special pouch could mean a quick result, an enormous reduction in plastic waste, and as the concentrates need less space, thus less many trucks to transport, a good reduction in the CO emissions. Then there is more to being environmentally friendly than the Green Formulations, that we may have to look into the time spent, water used, or the final waste created, chemical, but also plastic from the packaging.

Just to make it more complicated, one should raise the question if being environmentally friendly is the real sustainable thing to do, as indeed, green cleaning is a product for the global effort for a more ‘sustainable’ world, often narrowly understood and misused. I believe the most advanced and complete definition of sustainability was introduced by the United Nations at the end of the previous century with the Brundtland Report in the form of the Triple Bottom Line; solutions would only be sustainable if they respected and served these three at the same time, People, Planet, and Prosperity.

In the realm of cleaning, a sustainable product would be safe and easy to use for the People, delivering results in no time; should be affordable, and ideally smart to deliver savings from water or energy while protecting the assets to maintain Prosperity or Profits; and in total have the least impact on the Planet on its way to work, meaning occupy least space for transportation reducing CO emissions, and once it is done, leave us with the least chemical, and plastic waste.

The world of Green Products is not ‘black and white’, a product that may be green can be less sustainable in the end, and a product which is not green, possibly identified by the lack of a certification, might actually be most environmentally friendly.

Back to the initial question, what is a green product? The simple answer to this question today is if it has an environmental certification, such as the Green Seal, Green Globe, LEED or BREEAM, etc., it is a green, by definition environmentally friendly product. Yet a concentrate product through a company with strong R&D, global resource and innovation may deliver for you an even more environmentally friendly formula, without the certification, and be more ‘green’. Thus, the answer is not in the ‘black and white’ territory and some background study would help you define the smarter way to be responsible for the future generations, and also for the operations today.

If you are looking for an honest recommendation, I would do my investigation for any product on the People, Planet, and Prosperity bottom line. First question would be if the product is simple and safe to use, and if you are the head of an operation, don’t even stop there and ask if the supplier can back your team up with proper training. Next would be if the product actually delivers side benefits next to cleaning, like does it extend the life of what you are cleaning, does it speed up your operation to help your labor costs, save you from electricity, energy costs or water which is becoming more and more valuable every day. With all the planes, ships and trucks carrying the products, a concentrate may prove to be your most ‘green’ choice. And surely, the product has to be an effective cleaner, and a protein swap may help you figure that out with ease.

In today’s fast moving world, we are constantly being bombarded with information, where reality often needs a deeper dive than what the marketeers choose for us to know. Thankfully, green formulations are catching up with technology in some applications, and are able to deliver to the needs of our operations, with reduced costs as more people buy the products to create a critical mass for mass production; and surely with the ‘green certifications’, they deliver for us a peace of mind that we are doing the right thing for our future generations. Still our options do not end with these, as bright scientists do studies to cut down on the total environmental impact of a product, and even perform better from a complete sustainability perspective, and it may help to keep an open mind.

Pros and cons of green cleaning chemicals

Sustainability is an essential practice for businesses in the cleaning industry. Adapting to the new demands of green cleaning will benefit cleaning businesses, their customers and the world as a whole.