With the rising trend of people turning to eco-friendly products and making more sustainable choices in order to help the planet, more environmentally friendly cleaning products are the latest craze. With a little help from Mrs Hinch, cleaning has become trendy! Knowing what products to use, in order to save your business both time and money and still achieve the highest health and safety hygiene certificates, can be a complete headache.

Common commercial cleaners are renowned for being high in chemicals and are usually created from polluting substances. However, they are also designed to provide a deep, high-quality clean to leave your commercial premises hygienic. Balancing the strength of the products with trying to be environmentally friendly can be a difficult task. We’ve put together a guide to commercial cleaning products that you should have in your cleaning toolkit.

Cleaning in catering and hospitality

As we’re sure you’re aware, there are four main categories within the catering and hospitality environment. These include kitchen & catering, front-of-house (glass cleaning and floor care), washroom cleaning and general housekeeping (including polishes and laundry products). Depending on which environment you want to clean, there’s an array of different chemicals to suit your needs.

For example, you don’t want to be cleaning floors with a perfumed product, and a concentrated formula is more suitable for washroom cleaning as opposed to skin care. Maintaining a clean and hygienic kitchen or service environment is paramount for all businesses. With health and safety requirements being tightened and enforced more seriously, you need to make sure your business is using the right chemicals for the right job.

Concentration of chemicals

Something to really be aware of when choosing the best commercial cleaning products for your business is the concentration of each chemical. Different products require different dilutions, and it’s important to work out what is most cost-effective for your business. There are three main categories: ready-to-use, concentrate and super-concentrate.

Ready-to-use, as the name suggests, is a chemical that doesn’t require any dilution and can be used straight out of the container. These are often things like multi-use surface polish, or laundry powders and liquids. They tend to come in spray/trigger bottles and are ready to apply directly to the surface for cleaning. Not only are they time saving, they are also much safer to use as they don’t require mixing with water, reducing the risk of spillages.

Concentrated products have a higher amount of the active ingredient in them and require diluting before use. As they have more active ingredients, they are more cost-effective as a small amount goes a long way. Products like Tannin removers are concentrated and contain high levels of chlorine – thus the need for dilution. One thing to bear in mind is how the chemical is going to be dispensed. If you end up inaccurately diluting the chemical, it can become a costly process.

Super-concentrated products are even stronger than concentrated chemicals and also require dilution with water. They’re often found in livestock cleaning products, such as Green Guardian Hoof Care Solution, as this means a large herd can be treated in one go, with minimal use of the product. As super-concentrated chemicals are supplied in larger containers, not only are they more cost-effective, but they are more eco-friendly too due to less packaging.

Eco-friendly cleaning products

So now we’ve explained the most cost-effective cleaning product, let’s move on to the most eco-friendly. Sustainability in all walks of life is becoming more and more important, and your business can be at a real advantage if you market how eco-friendly it is. It isn’t just about combining produce deliveries to lower your carbon footprint, or sourcing biodegradable straws to serve with your drinks. There are many different ways you can be eco-friendly, and even your cleaning products can be less harmful to the environment.

What to look our for

The main thing to check when you’re looking to purchase eco-friendly cleaning products is the low classification of harmful ingredients. Most plant-based solutions, like our Flite Foaming Washroom Cleaner, are combined with soilguard. This means that it’s free from phosphates, and not only is environmentally friendly, but is also biodegradable. Cleaning products that are free from harmful chemicals also put your staff in less danger, particularly when diluting substances, so are a much better solution all round.

Renewable ingredients are often found in eco-friendly products, such as coconut oils or other plant-based ingredients. Our Eco-Clean All-Purpose Cleaner is a great example of this as it’s derived from natural orange essence that is fully biodegradable and ecologically friendly. The reason plant-based chemicals are better for the environment is due to lower energy expenditure when they are manufactured. Most traditional cleaning products contain crude-oil, which is non-renewable and requires extreme heat and pressure in order to be created.

Sustainable packaging is also a giveaway when looking to source eco-friendly cleaning products. It’s getting easier to source chemicals that are in containers made from recycled plastic. Whilst the @Guardian recently tweeted about the war on plastic waste facing a setback as the cost of recycled material soars, there is still talk about the UK taxing companies that don’t use at least 30% recycled plastic in their products. Why not get ahead of this ruling and start buying chemical cleaning products that are more environmentally friendly now?

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for eco-friendly logos on cleaning products too – they are the quickest way to ensure you are choosing a sustainable solution. Products that have these logos have to undergo strict quality control and environmental testing, so you can be sure when choosing a labelled product that it is genuine.

Choosing the right product for the job

We hope you’ve found this guide useful, and that you’re now armed with the knowledge of how to clean your premises cost-effectively, whilst reducing the impact on the environment at the same time. Whether you require hospitality supplies, specialist products or general bleaches and disinfectants, here at Crown Supplies we have a range of cleaning chemicals to suit your needs. From top brand names to our own eco-friendly range, we have an extensive choice of items suitable for both the catering and hospitality services.