Without mentioning any specific brand name products, bathroom cleaners often contain strong acids or harmful solvents. Some of the harmful chemical ingredients that should be avoided are heavy metals, chlorinated solvents, mineral acids, or any of the numerous chemicals that do not readily biodegrade or have other adverse environmental impact. A material is described or classified as ‘readily biodegradable’ if there is evidence from standard tests that it will be broken down by living organisms and thus removed from the environment. To pass the most stringent tests defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is an international economic organization of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade, at least 60- 70% of the material must be broken down within ten days. The best way to avoid these is to use only certified green products or buy from a company that sells only green products such as GreenCleans.com.
Discuss the evolution and development of “green” products – what makes them safer/better than more traditional products?We can write a book on this. Basically, certification entities look at many factors against a variety of criteria prior to certifying or recognizing a particular product as "green". However, there has been a great deal of self-certification and "green washing". Most of the major retail brands fall under this category. The U.S. Federal Government is actively working on setting standards for "green" products in response to the growing demand for environmentally preferable products. That said, it is easy to make green products, but very difficult to make green products that work well at reasonable prices. You can put water in a bottle and call it green, but it will not clean very well. We at GreenCleans.com sell only the Green Concepts brand of Safer and Superior products manufactured by Eco Concepts, Inc. They spent many years and many millions of dollars in Research & Development of truly green products that are industrial strength, cost effective and safer for the users as well as the overall environment. The safer ingredients used are what makes the products safer than the more toxic and caustic traditional products. They are the world’s leading provider of green cleaning products and they carry more third-party credible certifications than any other company worldwide for this reason.
I understand Eco Concepts, Inc., your maker of the products you sell, won an EPA award for environmentally friendly products. Please tell me about the products and the award.In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency launched the Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative. Through the Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative (SDSI), EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) Program recognizes environmental leaders who voluntarily commit to the use of safer surfactants. Safer surfactants are surfactants that break down quickly to non-polluting compounds and help protect aquatic life in both fresh and salt water. Nonylphenol ethoxylates, commonly referred to as NPEs, are an example of a surfactant class that does not meet the definition of a safer surfactant. The Design for the Environment Program has identified safer alternative surfactants through partnerships with industry and environmental advocates. These safer alternatives are comparable in cost and are readily available. CleanGredients® is a source of safer surfactants and can be found at www.CleanGredients.org. In November of 2008, our partner and product formulator, Eco Concepts, Inc., received the prestigious “Champions Award” from the EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) program in a Recognition Ceremony held in The Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
What kind of special training or instruction is needed in order to use green products correctly and effectively?
None. If well-formulated products are used, there is no reason to change procedures. The only difference is that the products are safer, so there is less training required for safety and disposal issues. Our concentrated products are diluted with water. Water is available in any home and consumers can determine how much concentrate is needed per clearly defined label instructions.
What are some of the challenges involved in switching over to green products from traditional ones?
In the past, due to the growing demand for green products and the opportunity for product formulators, green products didn’t perform as well and had higher costs. As a result, consumers had to make changes to accommodate this reality, and this led to dissatisfaction. Although non-performing products and cost-prohibitive products still due exist there are green products that perform as well or better than the older, brown, products and these products are not only accepted by users, but embraced by users in most cases. These cost and performance-effective green products slip right into every day cleaning procedures, and in many cases the people cleaning can move to more efficient procedures with confidence.
What about allergies? Even if “green” products are more eco-friendly, how can you ensure that users aren’t allergic to them? What happens if you get complaints about allergic reactions?
Of course, there is no way to eliminate every material that is not an allergen to some rare individual. Green products in general are formulated to avoid common allergens. For example, some green products and most brown products contain fragrances. Fragrance is the source of many allergic reactions. As a result, the Green Concepts line of products we offer contains no fragrances. If there is a complaint involving an allergic reaction, it is best to send this person to a doctor to determine exactly what caused the allergic reaction. Thankfully, we have never had a person who claimed to suffer from allergic reaction to any of our products. That said, although our products are safer for users and the overall environment, there are hypersensitive people in this world. Thus, we use regulated Warning and Caution statements to protect those that may suffer from potential adverse reactions to our products despite how much safer they are than traditional products.
What about effectiveness? Do green products work as well as more heavy-duty ones? Also, are there some jobs that green products are especially good for?
Originally, this was a major complaint about green products. More recently, there are green products on the market that perform very well. The perception still exists that green products don’t work as well and they cost more to use. Unfortunately, there are enough poorly performing, green products out there that the perception still gets regular reinforcement. The reality is that there are also plenty of brown products that don’t work well and there are green products that work as well or better than the best brown products. At GreenCleans.com, we only provide products that adhere to very high standards of performance and that have undergone extensive laboratory and field testing to meet an internal Safer and Superior New Product Standard in order to ensure that our products perform as well as or better than the more toxic traditional products. 
Discuss the cost of green products vs. traditional ones – is the payback just in peace of mind, or do these products actually return value at some point?
Although many green products are more expensive than brown ones, the reverse is true as well. In many cases a user does not have to pay more for performance effective and truly greener and safer products. In fact, the diluted product cost of our Green Concepts line of cleaning solutions is generally below the brown competition. Allow me to explain: the acquisition cost is the cost of a particular item "as is" in finished product form either on a shelf in a store or when delivered to an account from an online sale. Thereafter, the product is either used straight without diluting it with water or it is diluted with water. In order to compare apples to apples, the size of the product and acquisition cost are only 2 factors that must be considered by a potential user. The diluted cost, generally referred to in the professional cleaning industry as "In Use" Cost, is the true and actual cost of the product that is used to clean. For example, it may cost someone $10.00 for one gallon of concentrate from Company B, where the cost for one gallon from Company G's competitive product is $20.00. The Acquisition Cost face value by Company B is cheaper. However, the Company B product will have to be used at 12 oz. per gallon of water to be effective where Company G only has to be used at 2 oz. per gallon of water. The true and actual cost to the account is much less for Company G's product. In fact, dramatically less in this case as Company B's "In Use" Cost is $0.96 per gallon of use solution where Company G's is only $0.32.
In addition to price of the individual products alone there are other cost-related considerations that should be evaluated. In the example above, Company G's product is in higher concentration and, thus, the account will only need one gallon of Company G product vs. three gallons of Company B product. Thus, the cost of shipping and the availability of storage space will vary depending upon the level of concentration of a particular product.
Further, user motivation, productivity, performance effectiveness and lost time should be key considerations when evaluating labor cost and overall cost. Finally, a home using green products will achieve greater goodwill and satisfaction with the local community, neighbors and visitors of a home.
What do you think about using everyday substances such as rubbing alcohol, household ammonia, borax, dishwashing detergent, lemon juice, and vinegar as cleaning agents?We consider rubbing alcohol and ammonia to be hazardous volatile organic compounds. They are not on in our database of acceptable detergent components. These are good examples of why people should not use the old “home remedies”. In addition, a formulated product combines a number of ingredients to clean soils gently rather than the single component “sledge hammer” approach that can be both hard on the user and the surface being cleaned. Effective cleaning should take into account the surface, soil, application and the surrounding environment. As a result, we provide use instructions and simple dilution devices in order to make cleaning safer for the surfaces and materials being cleaned, the people doing the cleaning, the land and water table underneath the facility being cleaned and the overall environment. Productivity and cost of a particular cleaning agent should be measured against the overall impact, not merely the removal of a particular undesired soil.
Where can people learn more about using green cleaning products in their homes?
Start online. The U.S. Green Building Council has standards for operating and maintaining a green building. They have many levels of certification through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Also look for the major certification agencies endorsement on the products being considered. They are the U.S. EPA's Design for the Environment Program (DfE), Green Seal, and EcoLogo.
What else should one know in considering green products?
We at GreenCleans.com suggest that you look at "impact" and "carbon footprint" as opposed to a brand name, logo or marketing statement on a package. Our products are the result of our Safer and Superior New Product Standard. This standard is meant to ensure that users do not need to lose in performance and cost when switching to environmentally preferable and humanly safer products. There is a reality that there is a need to clean and a job to be done. In many cases, the soils are very difficult to remove and there is a misperception that a toxic product is necessary. This is not true. With good chemistry a truly safer and more environmentally friendly alternative does exist.
Our products are designed with the with the additional benefit of being many times more concentrated than traditionally packaged competitive products. This distinction results in a reduction of energy consumption and solid waste. Furthermore, they are easy to store, easy to use and easy to transport around the home without worry.
In short, we should all be looking a bit deeper than cost, green, performance, and other simple buzz words. There are many factors that dictate the true "impact" of a decision to use this or that cleaning product. Taking and considering all of the factors collectively in light of the overall "carbon footprint impact" should be the standard employed by regulators, formulators, and consumers in general.