Water is money

Achieve more with less
In general there are three types of cleaning agent formulations:

• Ready-to-use products like glass cleaner in a spray bottle
• Standard concentrates like all-purpose cleaners in 1-5 L packages
• Professional super concentrates,  in 1 L bottles or pouches

A concentrate is a product designed to deliver similar performance as a ready-to-use alternative but with a far lower consumption. Dilution with water is done at your site instead of at the factory.

When moving from ready-to-use to super concentrates you reduce the volume and related costs by up to 100 times, when moving from standard concentrates to super concentrates you reduce it times 4. 

Imagine the potential savings for your operation, both in money, storage and transportation. There is a substantial cost involved moving all this water around, causing huge CO2 emission. A small mountain of plastic & cardboard waste is left behind.

The dosing challenge
With higher concentrated cleaning agents, there is a new challenge: Using the right amount safely. 

With concentration levels of 0.2%, dosing the right amount of concentrate into a bucket or application bottle can no longer be done on feeling. Empirical studies show that without dosing aids the overuse of standard concentrates is over 30% and in the case of super concentrates can exceed 100%. 

To avoid counteracting the savings of concentrated products, new dosing aids need to be implemented when converting. Dosing needs to be done right each time, no matter who is doing it. The most reliable options are closed, temper-free systems like Diversey´s SmartDose.

Choose the right system
A system that solves the dosing challenge for your business should work without adding extensive training. Easy-to-understand icons and dosing mechanisms are premises to ensure the quick buy-in of users. With a suitable dosing system you have full cost and consumption control and can reduce your total spend.

Besides ease of use and reliability, user safety is an important aspect when choosing a dosing system. When used as intended, a closed system insures the operator does not get in contact with the undiluted chemicals at any time.

A primary feature to look at is if the container can be opened. This implies the risk to spill larger amounts. Once opened, the container can be refilled with any product so the user can never be sure that the label shows correct information. Another important aspect is whether or not the container can drip or leak after dosing.

Sustainable alternatives
Eco-labels are a great indicator to help us choose environmental friendly alternatives. When it comes to concentration and dosing though, the complexity is too high to be captured by an eco-label alone. Even ready-to-use products can rightfully receive an eco-label for their environmental friendly ingredients; however the eco-labeled concentrated version will be even more beneficial with regards to the environment. These two approaches together (eco-labeled concentrates) complement each other. So when making the switch to concentrated cleaning products, look for eco-labeled or even plant based cleaning agents that fit your needs.

3 simple steps to get started

• Examine your current usage in cleaning chemicals: Which ready-to-use products do you have and where is consumption high? These are the focus areas to rapidly decrease your spent and footprint.
• Look for product alternatives with a higher level of concentration for these focus areas. Check different dosing systems and aids to see what fits your need best. 
• Finally, make calculations of the volume and cost reductions of your new products to see the differences you can make.  Don’t be surprised when you find out that opening the tab will strongly decrease your spent on cleaning agents.