Posted by Paul Chopra on Tue, May 03, 2011 @ 12:57 PM
Recently Anabec, Inc. attended The Cleaning Industry Research Institute International (CIRI) interactive cleaning symposium titled "Green Cleaning & Science" held in Atlanta on April 27-29, 2011. The program was focused on the science and research needed to underpin green cleaning, its efficacy, performance, green labeling, impact on health and hygiene, plus their economic and business implications.
Various experts and stakeholders from all sides of the issue, presented brief talks and then participated in roundtable style discussions, taking questions from the attendees.
An excerpt from the CIRI Board of Directors on their Green Cleaning Position sums up what I feel is the most important issue regarding green cleaning: “It is imperative that the focus be on cleaning green, that is cleaning first, cleaning for health and hygiene, as well as cleaning in an environmentally preferable manner.”
A commonly held belief and topic at the symposium was that “green” cleaning chemicals do not work as well as conventional cleaning chemicals. While there was agreement on this issue among some attendees and stories of green cleaner failure abounded, there was little scientific evidence to back this up. There seems to be a need / opportunity for a study around this issue.
The highlight of the symposium for me was the presentation of preliminary data from an ongoing study, funded in part by CIRI, presented by Dr. Richard Shaughnessy of the University of Tulsa. The study’s goal is to define a clean standard for the industry in K-12 schools. Preliminarily the study shows that the effectiveness of cleaning has a lot to do with the cleaning process and the measurement system (testing) is very important to determining the outcome. Additional work on this standard continues. I feel a standard of cleanliness is critical to determining if “green” cleaners are effective replacements for traditional cleaners.
A disappointment to me was that green cleaning was never defined in so far as chemicals are concerned. One green certification organization talked about the lack of volatile or semi-volatile organic compounds released into the environment, another talked about the impact on human health, still another consultant quoted Bill Clinton from a 1992 executive order “the use of products and services that reduce the health and environmental impacts compared to similar products and services used for the same purpose.” I don’t know about you but those definitions aren’t doing it for me!
As the conference concluded the major concern for me was the apparent lack of consistency between certification organizations and important players in the marketplace. There are several organizations, each of which approaches defining a “green” cleaner differently, using standards, inspections and testing methods that are specific to that organization. This lack of agreement and standardization within the certification organization will serve to only stall the green cleaning movement and continue to foster confusion in the marketplace.
Anabec's is a proponent of environmental sustainability and will continue to approach our product development and manufacturing with our environmental consciousness in the forefront. As far as going forward with "green certification" of our product line we are going to wait and see where the market forces take the issue. We will continue to be involved in CIRI and intend to support the institute so that they can continue to do the important work of defining clean.
Posted by Paul Chopra on Wed, Apr 06, 2011 @ 12:00 PM
It has recently come to our attention that the Anabec Advanced Cleaning Solution is considered by several manufacturers to be incompatible with chlorinated polyvinyl chloride. Chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) is a thermoplastic pipe material, often used to supply potable water, sprinkler systems, and in industrial liquid applications. This same problem does not apply to standard PVC typically used for plumbing drains, drain tile, etc… Some chemical components found in the Advanced Cleaning Solution can cause environmental stress cracking in the CPVC pipe. This type of stress cracking can ultimately lead to leaks in the piping. Anabec does not know of a confirmed case of our product being the direct cause cracking, but we are diligently looking into all cases brought to our attention.
As can be seen from several manufacturer’s websites (below), CPVC has a long list of incompatible compounds and chemicals. Because of the uncertainty of CPVC compatibility with all of our products and until such a time that Anabec can confirm compatibility we discourage the direct application of any Anabec products to CPVC. If CPVC is present on a work site we recommend, as a precaution that all exposed piping be covered in a manner that prevents contact with any of the Anabec products. Remove the covering only when the final application is complete.
Posted by Paul Chopra on Tue, Nov 02, 2010 @ 10:09 AM
Going forward Anabec is going to author a blog, aptly named the AnaBlog, for the benefit of our customers. We will attempt to develop a open forum to address issues surrounding the microbial cleaning and remediation markets.
Issues such as microbial cleaner chemistry, new applications of our products, our evaluation of application equipment and techniques, changes to governments regulations, upcoming trade shows, developments in trade organizations and almost anything that you (our customer) may want to suggest.
Thanks and I look forward to a healthy discussion!
Paul Chopra
For now please take advantage of our Anasphere promotion. A 3 oz concentrate packet of this product is available FREE with the purchase of a 5 gallon pail of Anabec Advanced Cleaning Solution for the month of November (limit 6 per customer).